I am sitting here with a couple buddies. My one friend has a buck mounted that he killed last year and the more I look at it I swear the neck was bigger than it is now on the mount! My question is if you take an animal to a taxidermist and you are not happy with the outcome what will/can you do? Has anyone ever had this problem? I have never had an animal mounted but before I do i know I will take measurements and assure the taxidermist that I will not be happy unless it is close! Is this wrong?
I do know that they cant fit the exact shape of the animal because of the body they get for the deer. My brothers deer was the same way, it had a nicw thick swollen neck but it soon dissappeared when it was mounted. A good taxidermist will work with you if your not happy though.
The sized forms used by different taxi's will vary. The best thing to do is to just make sure you see examples of the taxi's work and tell them what you are expecting your mount to look like.
The dermist I went too for mine, will re-work the forms to match the deer if a big difference is present. Not sure how or what he does but I know mine came out amazing! I don't care as much about the neck as I do the eyes, mouth, ears, and NOSE. Those are the things that seperate sh**** taxidermists and good ones.
If your taxi is good he should have taken different measurements from behind the ears and halfway down the neck to accomodate for the "swell"...
^^^ this. Taxidermy is one thing I will not skimp on. I've seen a lot of ratty looking mounts. Some just didn't last, others sucked from the get-go. I've only mounted one deer, but I did my research and ended up driving 4.5 hrs to the taxi I chose. I don't regret a dollar of what I spent on my mount. I figure, if it's going on the wall, it better last a long long time...
I shot an absolutely enormous buck about 7 years ago. The buck was so big that the largest McKenzie deer form was too small for the buck and left some loose skin. My taxidermist wasn't pleased with the results, so she removed it and ordered a small elk form and reshaped it to match the size of the original buck. That's the kind of service one gets from a taxidermist who cares about the artistry of their work.
I've worked as a taxidermist for 30 years. Measurements are the absolute most important thing you can provide the taxidermist. The question is, how good are you at those measurements? do you hand him a cape skinned clean, or a cape with the head still in cut off at the skull, or do you bring in the whole deer from the shoulders forward? Animal skin begins to shrink almost instantly once removed, even taking measurements the next day they will be smaller then when alive. Once the skin is tanned it will be much smaller then when alive. If the taxidermist does not know what the original size was, all he has to go on is what he sees in front of him. Most good tanneries will provide a product that can be stretched back to normal size with some rehydration and effort. However the quality of that hide will be based on the field care from the moment of death until the moment it's mounted. The taxidermist is only able to account for the quality from the time he gets it. Just last week I had a fella decide to mount a large bear. He said he had the hide with skull and paws still in the ice chest with ice......... for 4 days now! That soggy bloody disgusting mess was hideous! It was ice cold, but the quality of that skin is questionable going to the tannery now. During my years doing this, I held a number of skinning clinics to show sportsman how to get the cape off the animal, trim the fat, and properly salt them. Go see your taxidermist of choice and ask to let him show you how to do this stuff. He will gladly show you how to properly cape a deer in his shop and then handle it for preservation. The better you do the better he can do the final work. Okay enough of the "pro taxidermist" stuff. Now the other side of the story. Most taxidermist will make the job as easy as possible by using pre made forms a bit smaller then actual, because it's way easier to sew up skin your not pulling tight all the way. It also allows the gluing process to go smoother without fighting the hide constantly. It's also become the exception to modify forms to fit perfect, and easier to just use one off the shelf pull the skin over and call it good. The end result is better and longer lasting when the hide is not over stretched to the point of the eyes and face looking like a bad facelift. The quality is better when the hide is fitted properly but not over stretched to make it have to fit the exact original measurements.
I had it happen about 8yrs ago. The buck I shot had a huge neck, full rut. When I got my mount back, it looked great...but it had a skinny neck. I told him my buck had a MUCH bigger neck and wasn't happy. He questioned me, said he doesn't make those type of mistakes. I brought him the picture of it and he agreed to re-mount the buck for me on a bigger form. This guy does a nice job, I guess that everyone makes mistakes once in a while. At least he owned up to it and made it right. I agree with taking measurements on your buck before taking it in. I bet 99% of the folks don't do that. I know I will from here on out. That's assuming I ever get another buck I want to mount...LOL
