Taxidermist was 8 months late in getting my turkey done. That's alright and the $375. that's probably a bargain because i respect the difficulty of the profession.

But the way he mounted it is really eating at me. It was perched on a white birch limb. Nice. But the limb was attached to a 6 x 6 piece of 3/4 inch pine board. One edge of the board it looked like he cut with a dull handsaw and left saw marks all over. The corners left sharp, no attempt to dress up with a routed edge. The limb wasn't centered. The board was stained oak. Okay so instead of staining the board before he mounted the white birch limb, he stained it afterward and so the oak stain was slopped a half inch up on the limb like he used a 4 inch paintbrush.

So, he's a taxidermist not a woodworker. But To me it seems like lack of attention to detail... and so i'm wondering if he cut corners in the actual taxidermy part.

Professional taxidermists, i need to know. In your work, does the attachment/mounting placque count? I guess what i'm worried about is that if he cut corners on mounting the animal, i'm hoping he didn't do the same with the perservation method. It is a nice turkey, looks great (after i attached it to a new placque) but sloppy way he did the woodwork makes me worry about how long it is going to last and if his preservation method is just whatever is easiest/cheapest.

Penny

quote:

In your work, does the attachment/mounting placque count?

Yes it does.

Attention to detail should apply to all aspects of the mount.

As for the preservation, most birds are not "tanned" but are preserved with a dry preservative. This is fine as long as the skin is completely cleaned down to the feather tracts and all meat and fat are removed. This is very time consuming. If this has not been done you will probably eventually find out. Grease may bleed into the feathers, the bird may develop an odor etc..

$375 is an extremely low price for a turkey IMO but I can not say anything about the work without seeing it.

quote:

Originally posted by Grafton:

quote:

In your work, does the attachment/mounting placque count?

Yes it does.

Attention to detail should apply to all aspects of the mount.

As for the preservation, most birds are not "tanned" but are preserved with a dry preservative. This is fine as long as the skin is completely cleaned down to the feather tracts and all meat and fat are removed. This is very time consuming. If this is has not been done you will probably eventually find out. Grease may bleed into the feathers, the bird may develop an odor etc..

$375 is an extremely low price for a turkey IMO but I can not say anything about the work without seeing it.

I second that.

First of all, for $375, It sounds like you got what you paid for???
The national average for a full body turkey is between $550 to $750.
For your "detail" question, the Base or Habitat can make or break a mount. Sounds like yours is Broken.

quote:

Originally posted by bo-n-aro:
First of all, for $375, It sounds like you got what you paid for???
The national average for a full body turkey is between $550 to $750.
For your "detail" question, the Base or Habitat can make or break a mount. Sounds like yours is Broken.

Bo-n-aro....i paid what he asked. It's not like i was looking for a cheap guy, he is the ONLY guy around here. I just asked the gunshop about a taxidermist, they gave me his name and he named a price. I sure didn't try to bargain with him, that would be classless. You're saying national average is between 550 and 750. WV isn't a big money state so it might affect the price. Anyway, the placque is fine now, my husband made me a beautiful one out of cherry wood and it looks great! Guess time will tell if the preservation was good. At this point, i'll just keep checking it for grease and odor and hope for the best. Thanks for help.

Penny

quote:

Originally posted by Grafton:

quote:

In your work, does the attachment/mounting placque count?

Yes it does.

Attention to detail should apply to all aspects of the mount.

As for the preservation, most birds are not "tanned" but are preserved with a dry preservative. This is fine as long as the skin is completely cleaned down to the feather tracts and all meat and fat are removed. This is very time consuming. If this is has not been done you will probably eventually find out. Grease may bleed into the feathers, the bird may develop an odor etc..

$375 is an extremely low price for a turkey IMO but I can not say anything about the work without seeing it.

Thank you for your professional opinion which seems very sound. I think maybe he did use a dry perservative, because i was fluffing some feathers in place and a fine mist of powder could be seen in the air. I really hope he took the time to get all the grease and meat. ....just seems like that would be a LOT harder than doing a neat job on the base...hence my misgivings.

But hopefully, everything will be fine. Thanks again for your input. Don't mean to complain, just worrying out loud sort of, thanks for listening.

Penny

Penny, you are very welcome. Ask all the questions you want. That is what this forum is for. Enjoy your bird.

The white dust is probably the dry preservative and most guys use plain old Borax and it works fine. I price my birds at $650.00 and base work is extra depending on how extravagant a person wants to get. Right now Im working on a bird that is coming with a glass and oak display case that added $350.00 to the mount. Yup thats dang near a $1,000.00 for a turkey.

Ive have heard the comment about WV taxidermy being priced low. But a turkey should be 1/2 again as much as a deer. Here we get $425 for a whitetail and as I mentioned $650.00 for a turkey.

Hugh

Taxidermy mounts are all about attention to detail, BUT it sounds like you got what you paid for because his price is even below a good bird taxidermist wholesaler. I charge 795 plus extra for anything extra and my price is about average for the west from a full time pro. www,jamesmarsico.com

no matter what price you payed, you should have told him exactly how you wanted it mounted and what you wanted it mounted on. if you didnt do this , then you really can't complain.

just put it on what you like.

in my area i can get deer shoulder mounted for around 300.00

quote:

Originally posted by srw:
no matter what price you payed, you should have told him exactly how you wanted it mounted and what you wanted it mounted on. if you didnt do this , then you really can't complain.

just put it on what you like.

in my area i can get deer shoulder mounted for around 300.00

Well that's very true, srw, and i'll remember it next time. Thanks everyone for the input.

Penny

Next time you want a turkey or any bird done right the first time, try Shane Smith.

http://www.waterfowler.net/Artistic/

If there was no other taxidermist in the area, then I'd drive as far as it took. I have a 2.5hour drive to my taxidermist. There are plenty of taxidermists in my area, but I have a high standard of what I expect. I had a waterfowl taxidermist that I used for years and got some great work out of him, one bad bird and I dropped him like a hot potato. At the prices they charge anymore, I refuse to spend $350 for a duck that is not top notch.

BTW, the turkey I have out right now I think is going to be $650. I really don't get into price with taxidermist, I just pay what it comes to, but in turn I expect top of the line work.

Here is one of my favorite mounts from about 10 years ago. Ran about $700 back then but was worth every penny. Who knows what it would run now days.



And this is the mount that made me go somewhere else. Note the crappy head on the drake. Great habitat, but crappy job on the drakes head.

Just curious. Are the bills on those ducks artificial? The reason I'm asking is that the bill on that drake old squaw, which you dislike, looks like a surf scotter bill!

Did the taxi make the error of getting the wrong head for the plumage? I can see it happening especially if the taxi has hired help, apprentices or just did not pay attention as to what the supplier shipped... etc....

I would have related my concerns expecially that old squaw are not rare!

I do taxidermy as a hobby. I do quality commercial work as opposed to competition quality or art, that way picky clients are pointed to competition quality taxis, etc. I can do without picky. I find picky takes too much of my time. However I will redo, replace and re-emburse if a client is not happy. Also, I price accordingly. I am low, so picky won't find me.

Exit31

I only do gameheads and clean skulls, hell I don't even do rugs.

I wouldn't touch a turkey, if a guy insisted I would send it to Pat Rummins in Montana and charge the guy 15% over what Pat wanted to charge me.

The guy would have a hell of a nice bird, though. Pat is the best.

It will be nice to be back in the states again, so I can continue my work.