I just talked to the taxidermist that has my leopard, hyena, buffalo and roan trophies. The hides were delivered Dec 1, 2003, and the entire mounting process for all was to take about 6-7 months.

It is now July 2nd, and the hides are "still at the tannery" and the taxidermist says they "have seven shipments to come in before your shipment so I expect it will be a month or so before we see it". The tannery they use is in North Carolina, I don't know the name. This is the first African work I have had done in the US, the other work was done in SA and if they had problems I was sheltered from it, and completion time was guaranteed at 8-months. Obviously, the next concern is how long it will take to get the mounts done once they have the tanned skins, and if their promises of delivery dates can be trusted.

Is this typical? The taxidermist does good work, not a huge shop but not a 1-man operation either, like who I used for a moose, elk & wolf which was a terrible experience - the guy did such a horrible job on the wolf full mount that I paid another taxidermist $750 to remount it. Incidentally, this taxidermist from Myerstown PA does great work and is honest (imagine that!), but unfortunately I only met him in February or he'd have the trophies in question..

Does anybody else find the "taxidermy" process to be the most frustrating part of the entire hunt?

In my somewhat limited experience with taxidermists I have found that many of them are pretty slow. Perhaps they take on more work than they should, maybe outside sources like tanneries are the holdup, maybe they are just quirky artists who do things at their of pace? On my first couple of mounts I couldn't wait for them to be done and stressed out over how long the process took, on the other hand I'm in no big hurry for my african trophies to be done as I'm still recovering from the cost of the hunt. I guess my advice is to be patient and consider how important quality workmanship is over "production" time. I'm guessing when you had to have to wolf done over again it added a few months to the tally, wouldn't you have preferred that it was done right the first time? It is frustrating though! Good luck with the mounts.

If they went to carolina fur dressing then they are in good hands. I have used them for about a dozen years now and never had any problems with a single hide. They do offer an expedite service with is 45 days but that doubles the price.

I shot a wild boar in Tennesse this past winter and it will be #16 SCI all time. They have that cape so you know I trust them! I paid the expedite service and I don't have the cape yet but only sent it to them in Late April. So its really just two months now. If it's another tannery(doubtful) then I don't know what to expect.

Once the hides are back and rehydrated so the taxidermist can stretch and measure the capes the forms can be ordered and he can slap them together quickly. Tanning is the usual delay. However if tanning is poor your trophys will be too. Any competant(full time) taxerdimist can mount a couple shoulder mounts a day once he has the tanned hides and forms. The mounted heads need to dry and depending upon humidity that coule be a week or more. Then detail work will be another day or so to finish the clay and paint work.

Put another way from the time he gets the parts to assemble everything he can have a shoulder mounted buffalo done in ten days or so. However he may have customers ahead of you???

Carolina Fur is known to be very busy and thus slower. I have never had a taxidermist use them for my goods but the two tanneries here in Pa take a good four to six months to turn things around and if you have a Zebra that will take longer as most send those hides to an outfit in Texas as it takes special equipment for them.

Taxidermist are like good gunsmiths, the best are the slowest because they are in more demand than the fly by night operations....

Forget your skins, then they will be a grand surprise when you get them, same with custom guns...thats a reliable outfit your dealing with, has had a good reputation for a number of years..