1.5 years salted and the taxi forgot to take it to tannery

[Bullelkklr]

So - as the title suggests, my taxi forgot to take my interior 7' Grizzly bear skin into the tannery. I gave it to her Sept 12, 2012.

She said I can "pull it" and she will understand and that I have a refund coming for my down payment.

She also has my wife's caribou from the same trip and she said it is going good and should be done by the end of may.

The skin apparently is salted and dried and she says it is okay.

I like to think that the refund part is the whole down payment that I gave her for it. Her price for this rug was 1550.00 and I gave her half.

My concern twofold - 1) is whether the bear is mine (I will be able to tell based on bullet placement) and 2) is the skin still any good. She said IF I have her finish it, it will be 3 to 6 months to get the skin back from the tanners.

I am pulling it and she has lost my business over this tardiness issue and other times for being late and poor with getting back to me when I leave a voice message.

I don't want to pull it until I see the caribou - don't want her to get mad and not do a good finish up job on the bou.

[JuliW]

How can a taxidermist forget something like that? Good grief, sorry you have to deal with that! poor, poor, poor customer service and business operations. Worse than poor, pathetic.

Ok - yes, your bear hide is probably still good. It depends on how well she fleshed it. (or how well you fleshed it if you did that work) if there was a lot of grease left on it, it could be grease burnt - that can weaken leather/hides over time, but generally doesn't completely ruin a hide (although I have certainly learned in my life to never say never)... She is correct on timeframe of having the hide tanned. BUT,she OUGHT to be mailing you bear next day air and paying for a rush on tanning (30 days turn around at most tanneries) AND she better not charge you for it the quicker tanning. where the heck did she leave a salted bear hide where she couldn't see it or remember it?

As far as knowing if the bear is yours - she SHOULD have put a tag with your invoice number AND punched your invoice number into the hide. Bullet placement is also a good identification as well as color, size, sex of the bear...I would presume you have plenty of pictures, too.

I hope both mounts turn out well for you. Sorry that you have to worry about your bear! (and bou)

Juli

[Hoytguy]

Replied to your PM but said your inbox is full..

[FL2AK-Old Town]

I must be missing something about taxidemy work. Why does it take soooo long to get anything done? For example: 6 months at a tannery? What's that about? I see or hear horror stories like yours frequently enough that it make me want to not even bother with a hide.

[JuliW]

I must be missing something about taxidemy work. Why does it take soooo long to get anything done? For example: 6 months at a tannery? What's that about? I see or hear horror stories like yours frequently enough that it make me want to not even bother with a hide.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/...ermy-in-Alaska - this should answer your questions about tanning time

Finding a reputable taxidermist is like finding a reputable home builder...you just have to do your homework..visit the taxidermy shops you are interested in using and get a feel for the taxidermist...educate yourself about quality taxidermy...Most lay people cannot tell the difference between an 'ok' mount and a 'very good' mount...let alone an 'excellent' mount..because most lay people don't really know the details or of the anatomy of their animal...However, with education, lay people CAN identify between poor and excellent quality.

A lot can be told about a taxidermy business by a number of things.
Is the shop clean - I think this is NUMBER ONE in importance. Yes there are times in the year when a taxidermy shop smells like 'wild animals' and it should! but that is not the same as dirty, dusty, unkempt, 5 day old flesh remnants on the floor, etc.....Heck, I recently made a grievous taxidermy sin (in my book) by forgetting to grab a muskrat carcass in a garbage bag on the evening of my 'friday' (monday)- ughhhh - talk about EMBARRASSED when a customer arrived on my 'monday' (thurs) with a bear...thankfully it was in a bag and the smell cleared out quickly!
Does the taxidermist have good references
Is the taxidermist up to schedule with his or her completed mounts.
Does the taxidermist keep his or her customers informed about the status of their hide or mount - ie, when it was shipped to the tannery, when it returned, when it is being worked on, etc.
Does the taxidermist have good record keeping - ie, punching AND tagging hides...work orders, invoices up to date with deposits, payments, customer choices, customer contact, etc
Does the taxidermist have GOOD people skills

amongst other things

Juli

[AGL4now]

If it was me I would want to inspect that "Salted" hide.......Now. Before it gets sent to the tannery. And I would photograph it as it is NOW. And inspect it again when it comes back from the Tannery. And even consider having it inspected by another expert.

[JuliW]

If it was me I would want to inspect that "Salted" hide.......Now. Before it gets sent to the tannery. And I would photograph it as it is NOW. And inspect it again when it comes back from the Tannery. And even consider having it inspected by another expert.

Absolutely..a great idea if he knows what to look for.

[FL2AK-Old Town]

It ust seems to me that the very idea of someone having an animal for a YEAR (and a half) should just be completely unheard of. I'm thinking the OP should have been calling in like a few weeks: where's my bear? (Obviously, I don't deal with taxidermy folks, so I'm probably in left field.)

[Milo]

Based on your last sentence, you clearly no longer trust her. There's your answer.

[JuliW]

It ust seems to me that the very idea of someone having an animal for a YEAR (and a half) should just be completely unheard of. I'm thinking the OP should have been calling in like a few weeks: where's my bear? (Obviously, I don't deal with taxidermy folks, so I'm probably in left field.)

no taxidermist should have a salted dried hide for a year and a half, provided the customer met the taxidermists criteria for deposits. I ask for 30% deposit on all mounts BEFORE I ship to the tannery, so if someone leaves an animal with me, I know I have at least a partial payment before the hide is shipped to be tanned.

18 month turn around for a completed mount is not unheard of, especially by taxidermists who have clients that are willing to wait specifically for that taxidermist's work. Most taxidermists try to have a 6-12 month turn around time.

[limon32]

I must be missing something about taxidemy work. Why does it take soooo long to get anything done? For example: 6 months at a tannery? What's that about? I see or hear horror stories like yours frequently enough that it make me want to not even bother with a hide.

Exactly why I have been practicing with chemicals from the taxidermy supply shop on-line. I have done several hides now from caribou to squirrel with good results. I won't be sending any more out.



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[FL2AK-Old Town]

Exactly why I have been practicing with chemicals from the taxidermy supply shop on-line. I have done several hides now from caribou to squirrel with good results. I won't be sending any more out.



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Self reliance. I like it.

[limon32]

Self reliance. I like it.

Me too, when I got my lynx mounted I was stressed about it for a year, even using a taxidermist that came highly recommended I had a bit of a scare.

Tanning is not nearly as hard as some make it out to be, particularly if you order the right supplies for the expected use.

Where I think a lot of peoples home tanning goes bad is actually in the fleshing, they don't do a good enough job and then the hide slips. They think the tan did it but it was really the bad fleshing.

I did send out a moose hide to be tanned this winter, decided it was too big a job for me to flesh by hand and try to rinse outside in the cold. Sure enough it's months over due and I can't get a hold of the tannery (furs for fun).


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