Ok,My partner and I made another great Brown Bear Hunt last Fall in the Cold Bay area,both took good bears....Taxidermist on board got our bears,promised,well,alot of stuff..did he come through,Hell no! ..Now,finally the 10'3" gets delivered 7 months late,wrong position,2k more than original quote and the damn thing smells awful?!We roll it out the garage daily to"air out"...Has gotten a lil better..Now for the Best part,it may Not be the right bear?Not sure,but Bill my partner swears his suspicions may be correct?!..What do we do,what can we do?Considering a attorney that my be familiar with this kind of unique case and could possibly help out...Anyone been here before?Thanks!!(My Bear still there and no contact with this guy in months) PS.Bills First Brownie and he is 70 and this has really taken the fun out of his once in a lifetime hunt/bear!

Time for a visit in person. Get your bear back as is no matter what would be my advise. Didn't you get a contract?

What state is the "Taxidermist" in? If you can prove through pictures it isn't his bear, you may have a fraud case and not just a breach of contract. My suggestion although I hate to deal with them, get the DNR or wildlife service in the "taxidermist's" area involved and have them pay the dirt bag a visit. If it isn't the bear, I would guess there are other illegal/unethical things going on also. Nothing gets things sorted out with an unethical taxidermist quicker than calling Wildlife officials. Given how strictly brown bears are managed, you may wnat to get US fish and wildlife involved.

Ben Britton

Ben, your advice may sound good (and is to a point) but those of us who do this kind of work smell an even greater problem in this story.

A bear that size may or may not have gotten back to you from even the best taxidermists. Guys doing this type work, unless in VERY LARGE OPERATIONS, can and usually do take up to a year to complete a piece like this. It SOUNDS as if he promised you the bear within 6 months which is a stretch considering professional tannery times.

Next comes that "smell". Professionally tanned hides have a sweet lanolin smell to them. Some people find that nauseating, but most think of it as unique to new mounts and it quickly subsides. Any "smell" other than that comes from improperly prepared hides. Which leads us to the last issue: size.

If this person was using (Please, God forbid) a dry preservative to cut corners, save on tanning bills and to turn your piece around quickly, that hide can be mounted on a form 3/4 the size of your bear and it will shrink to fit it as it dries. So it may, in fact, be your bear. It just wasn't (1) tanned and (2) wasn't put on a properly sized form. So the avenue to take before Ben's advice comes into play is to produce a work order (if you didn't get one, then there's one more nail in the coffin of both the taxidermist and YOU) and a picture showing the relative size of your bear.

Many hunters accuse taxidermists of "making a killing" with our prices, but after your experience, you've already admitted that the price wasn't that great regardless of what you paid. We charge fair prices for fair labor and we know "one size fits all" may be OK in hats and socks but damned sure not in taxidermy. We order that "one size" but then we alter it to make it look like YOU want it to look. There's a tired old expression in taxidermy that I cringe to read, but in your case, you'll see the truth. "The Bitterness of Poor Quality remains long after the Sweetness of a Low Price is forgotten."

quote:

Originally posted by bulbwerks:
What state is the "Taxidermist" in? If you can prove through pictures it isn't his bear, you may have a fraud case and not just a breach of contract. My suggestion although I hate to deal with them, get the DNR or wildlife service in the "taxidermist's" area involved and have them pay the dirt bag a visit. If it isn't the bear, I would guess there are other illegal/unethical things going on also. Nothing gets things sorted out with an unethical taxidermist quicker than calling Wildlife officials. Given how strictly brown bears are managed, you may wnat to get US fish and wildlife involved.

Ben Britton

Thanks Ben,but we have received several good PM's from some good memebers on this...Basically we are screwed as we didnt get a contract(didnt think we need one,nver even crossed our minds,but thats a hard lesson!) ...Anyway,the Bear is smelling a lil less and the distance between us makes it to difficult to pursue this.I may post his name later,but not yet...He is in Homer...Thanks to all of you...PS.Get a contract when you get your Bear
George,thanks to you to,but you are so right on all counts....Price was helpful then,but the convience was what really sold us and his photo album was impressive...So,Now we know

Try spraying the mount down with a odor eliminator product, you can buy it a hardware store or try using the kind archery dealers sell for hunters. Again if it was me I would NOT let this guy finish the second bear no matter what I had to do. I mount alot of big lifesize brown bears and sometimes even after recieving them back from a well known commercial tannery they can smell a little fishy or off because that smell is so ingrained into the roots of the hair. It can be fixed and any taxidermist with any experience in these things should of fixed it no problem. As for size, I hate guides telling clients there bear is 9 or 10 foot when any fool can see it is a 8 footer on a good day. (nose to tail) A taxidermist that does NOT write out a contract and state clearly a bears true actual size in writing before mounting is a fool and deserves nothing but scorn and problems surely to be coming his way. BTW the original yellow Cities tag attached in the field should still be attached to the bear where it first attached, usually in the belly area or on the side of one paw. I never remove them throughout the tanning and mounting and delivery process I let the client remove them upon final reciept of the mount. Those numbers should all match up with your paperwork.

george roof;
All I was saying is that if you have suspicions and if the tag #s don't match as sculptor said about the cites tag; you have ways of addressing it. While you may not reap the benefits of an investigation, at least you will know no one else will be taken advantage of in the future.

I unfortunately have had several geese done that weren't cured/tanned or what not properly that were estroyed when fluids seeped through and stained the feathers. I know this isn't as drastic as an improperly tanned bear hide but all I'm saying is that I feel for the hunter becasue it takes just a little bit away from the memory. Instead of just remember the hunt, adventure and comrodery; there is now the issue of being taken.

Sorry I kind of went off on a tangent.
Ben Britton

Sorry you got taken. You always go to the professional studio and they will tell you how to ship items,etc..., some times I think fed ex lives at the studio. It's time to shake up his world for it sounds that he has another job and just scabs on the side. First get the phone number of the sheriff and the DA in Homer,yes do both just in case one knows the scab personally, tell them the story and fill out a claim with them on the bear that is still up there ,the smelly one you have now is toast-you cannot prove anything with the mounted item and it will always smell when it's in a closed in area and it will get bugs too.
Your seals will still be on the hide and they should get it back for you, its their job and record all for a paper trail and then bring in to a professional studio if it's still good. If you want to contact me go to www.african-montana-taxidermy.com Good Luck

Ben, I didn't think you went off on a tangent at all. In fact, Sculptor is probably like me in being pissed when we hear stories like this. These "bad apples" give all of us a bad name if true. My only point is that for every safeguard, there's a way a crook can avoid it if that's his intention. The tag could be right and the bear still be wrong, OR it could be an explainable mistake that perhaps the guide misjudged as Sculptor relates and the smell might well be tannery residue. Either way, as a taxidermist, the thoughts of any unhappy customer under reasonable situations is deplorable. And in this case, the bigger ticket the item is, the more deplorable it gets. I'd simply puke if I messed up someone's unique trophy like this one.

george roof, WELL SAID, we need more professionals in this business like you! If only everyone could live and do business with honor and respect I wouldn't be as stressed but I would probably be out of a job because work for a law firm.
A good taxidermist is like a beautiful woman who likes to hunt; you don''t want to let them go.
Ben