What takes taxidermists so long?

[Cbb1722]

So i've seen a few threads that show people getting their mounts back from the taxi when they shot that animal a couple years ago. My deer mount took 4 months when it was ready. So what takes them a couple of years to get an animal done.

[NMStickFlinger3]

Mine takes about a year due to being backed up with work, not that it takes a year to do a shoulder mount. Probably the same for most I would assume.

[Fishndude]

Mine (Chance) takes a while (no more than any others) because he's the best!

[txstringbender]

It can be a long process. They gotta send the hides out to be tanned and such. Sometimes the tanneries are backed up. They don't send the hides in one at a time. They usually get a batch of them and send them all in together. Cost measures. If they are like my Taxi, he works alone or him son helps sometimes. He has a good rep so people pile it on him. It took him 5 months to get me mine. I thought that was pretty fast.

[Horitexan]

Backlog. If I get my deer in during bow season, I'll usually get it back between Christmas and the end of the season; but, if I get it in during rifle season, I may not get it back until the following summer.

What I don't get, and don't sympathize with, is Taxis taking more than a year to finish a job. If it's taking them longer than a year they're taking more orders than they can handle; and it means that each year the backlog is getting longer and longer. That's an unsustainable practice that's 100% avoidable - either limit your orders to what you can handle or hire more people. Not doing so is greedy and disrespectful to clients. No matter HOW good they are, I don't want to patronize a guy that's gonna do that to me. JMO.

[bowhuntermac]

Mine runs around 9 months. He's busy because he does a good job at a reasonable price. I would rather wait a little while and get back a quality mount than skimp on price or use a guy who doesn't take his time and his work reflects that. Replacement caped aren't cheap if someone does a hack job on a mount....

[tef]

Exactly. I've been doing taxidermy for almost 25 yrs, I learned early on that guys want their animals back asap. So I committed to timely service with quality work. I tell people it will be appx a certain amount of time, if they want to wait then fine. But I limit what I take in. I can usually get a wt shld mt back within 2 months, but I do my own tanning which helps a lot.

[PSD Ryan]

It's custom work. I'm waiting 12 weeks for a holster. Not cause it takes 12 weeks to make, but cause a million people are in front of me, only one or two guys are making them, and it takes a day two each probably to make. But the quality work is worth the wait, and quality guys usually are known to be quality and will have a longer line of people wanting their services.

The taxi I use generally quotes me ~9 months, which isn't terrible.

Fast, quality, cheap...pick 2

[Cam-Mac]

From what i have seen... Being a good taxidermist is an art, and there are several really talented artists out there. But running a business is a whole different thing. Sometimes the guy that is a great artist is not a great business man. I would say- most of the time.

[Abcdj]

Good taxi work is worth the wait. For a lot of them it's a second job I would say.

[The Insurance Guy]

The only time it would be greedy or disrespect is if the taxi didn't give an honest timeline at the time of drop off. If you don't like the wait time they quoted then go somewhere else.

Hiring more people would only make the quality of work go down. A good taxi is doing the most crucial steps theirselves. Adding more people to the equation would make them more of a manager at a factory.

If people only knew how much work it takes to make a mount look great.

I hope some of our taxis on here will chime in.

[flywise]

Volume
Good ones have lots of work and even a taxi likes a day off from time to time

[Cbb1722]

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.

[PondPopper]

So i've seen a few threads that show people getting their mounts back from the taxi when they shot that animal a couple years ago. My deer mount took 4 months when it was ready. So what takes them a couple of years to get an animal done.

Would love to see a pic.

[trophy8]

Mine (Chance) takes a while (no more than any others) because he's the best!

Word....



I am going to look at the mount for the rest of my life. I dont care if it takes a few extra months as long as it is as close to perfect as it can be.

My mule deer that chance did turned out amazing. He now has 3 more deer of ours there and at least one is getting a shoulder mount. You get what you pay for and it usually takes awhile in the taxidermy business.