What takes taxidermists so long?

[DRT]

If a taxi is that good, that much in demand and that backed up, he isn't charging enough.

Gary

[Native Texan]

Is 32 years too long to wait???

I'm still waiting for my Brother-in-law to mount my first bow killed coyote. I even put down a $150 deposit for materials in 1988.

I've cut him some slack because he's probably mounted 20 animals for me since I gave him that coyote...top museum quality mounts mostly at cost or no cost

[BarBBar]

My taxi told me before I placed the order this December that it would be a two year wait-I told him I would probably die before then since I am 67. I guess I have an incentive to take better care of myself. His dad did two shoulder mounts for me for free years ago, so I feel I owe him, and he delivers good quality. He also scored it for me so I would know if it qualified for the TBGA, although an official B&C scorer had to score it later to apply.

[twosixteens]

I have always figured that good taxidermists were artists. i have several artists in the family (aunts and uncles) one uncle is a taxidermist retired now. They don't do anything fast but if you wait around long enough something incredible usually happens.

[DUKFVR]

Thanks. He is an 8 point and is taller than the pic shows. It took 3 shots but i got him. Happiest moment i ever had

Congrats! Hope it is the 1st of many!

[tdwinklr]

Ok yall make sense but dont yall think over a year is a little to long to take on an animal that someone else shot? I like good quality but i wouldn't want to wait a year or more to be done.

Understood, but have heard of some folks waiting up to 4 yrs on theirs, usually because they have a taxi that is really backed up but don't want anyone else doing it.

[Texas8point]

Im good with under a year anymore than that and im moving on.

[C-dubyah]

They spend the money of liquor, forget to write things down and flat out don't give a...

[UltraMax]

Crap I just finished a badger mount that Was given to me to mount in late november and I feel bad about how long I’ve had it. Sheesh. Two years is ridiculous IMO. I won’t let myself get that backlogged and I put caps on how many animals I’ll do a year because I do it part time.

[UltraMax]

He was my first i know he's young.

No need for an explanation. When little bucks get mounted, they usually mean more than the trophies. Usually they are a kid’s (or adults) first deer, a first bow kill, first deer to rattle up, etc. I like when someone brings me a little young deer, that’s the type of mount that I know will be cherished. Little bucks are mounted for memories, not the trophy factor.

[buck_wild]

i just posted this to another hunting site about a similar topic about the general lack of business knowledge in the taxidermy profession.
I've wanted to post from the day I saw this open but have resisted until now. Well indeed the general notion that lots of taxidermy shop owners lack business knowledge is probably true as most have risen from learning taxidermy to being business owners with no formal training to do so. From my experiences, to drill down even deeper into WHY a lot of taxidermy shops are not great at the business end is that most don't understand the profit doesn't come until the piece is COMPLETE and PICKED UP/PAID in full. If they understood that, then pieces wouldn't tend to drag on over 12 months AND any work carried over a 12 month period doesn't fit into annual profit margin, it falls into the next 12 month cycle so to speak. I've known several "broke" taxidermist with freezers full of work !! Living on deposits and not turning out work within a reasonable annual cycle is self defeating. Taxidermy shops are always fighting that "dry year" when for whatever reason intake is down thus they do need to build a 4-6 month cushion over the 12 month cycle I suppose. But what happens is taxidermy shops tend to live and pay themselves on DEPOSITS which creates various cash flow issues and the need to take in more and more work to pay the current expenses and salaries despite less and less going out. The moment the taxidermy shop stops taking the profit upfront and makes it's business model as the profit comes from the finished and paid piece, then they will have a chance at being successful.

Now I know this has been about the taxidermy business that isn't run efficiently but there is a WHOLE other discussion about customers that never show to pick and pay TIMELY. But alas that might be for another day.