Taxedermy question

seasley

seasley

New member
I know this is not the right part of the forum to be ask8ng this, but the fur forum doesn’t have as much traffic as this one

My question is, how long does it take to get furs back from tannery?

I gave two bobcats to my Taxedermy man December 22nd 2016

Now, my problem is I had to call him in June to see how long, and he told me the tannery said all of his furs were slipping that he sent in, and he was waiting on a answer back from them to see how bad they were

Now, I texted him the last of August, and he said he would call and find out and I have not heard back from him to this day

The other issue is, I paid $150 a cat to have tanned, so that’s $300 bucks that I’m kinda getting the feeling I’m fixing to get screwed on

If I am being impatient, then please say so, cause he told me the day I dropped them off that I would have them back late April, early may
 
Don't think you are being impatient. 4 months past the time he said he would have them and it makes me think you are going to get screwed. Doesn't sound like he is too interested in finding out about your hides to me. Just my opinion and not worth much...
 
I had issues with my hide and the tanner. It came back stiff and looked bad, my taxidermist did not charge me anything for it and apologized his butt off. He said then even lost a couple hides from Africa he had sent in. I don't know the companies name but he does not use them anymore. His work is top notch so I know it was not his fault.
 
Mr. Neitzke is right, never pay up front. That said, I have to wonder why anyone calling himself a "taxidermist" would bother to send a cat hide out for tanning. Generally speaking, the only hides that would get sent out for tanning should be the ones that are very thick and need to be shaved down first in order to be tanned and/or mounted. Other hides that warrant it are the very large ones that require a pretty big tank just to tan. A good example of this is a buffalo hide, for both reasons. As taken off the animal, some hides are so thick that they wont tan properly without shaving them thin enough to do so. A bobcat is definitely not one of them.
When I first got into taxidermy, back in the 80's, tanning at home was just starting to interest taxidermist to the point where many were giving it a try. It was not done, as it is so often today, for the superior mounts it affords. It was more of a thing where customers just wanted a hair on tanned hide. Today, the chemicals are so much more easy to use and success is almost a given, so sending small or thin skinned animal hides out is typically not done that much.
Bottom line, I have to wonder just how "good" a taxidermist is that sends out a bobcat. I mean, why??? The animal is small, doesn't need shaved and is just too easy to tan right there. He has to know that anytime you add time to handle a hide you increase the chances of hair slipping. Successful taxidermy hinges around the hide being taken off the animal and properly prepped for mounting as soon as possible.

Edit: if a hide is gassing {stinking because it has started to turn rotten} when the taxidermist receives it the only thing that can be done to try and save it at that point is a denatured alcohol tan and then you have to go ahead and mount it. Hides that are done in alcohol will dry rock hard and stay that way...they must be mounted, they cannot be relaxed and "broken" to make them soft. But, it just might save a rancid, slipping hide.
 
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Just to clear things up on my end, I paid half which was $150 down

Guy has two locations here in Oklahoma, one in Haskell and one in wagoner

Receipt is dated 12-20-2016 with his name and phone number

Like i said previously, he told me last of April, first of may

I contacted him in July and he told me all hides he had sent off to tannery, were slipping but a couple were good, but my two were slipping on the head

I texted him last week, and he said he would call tannery and find out what is going on and I never heard back from him

And, to top it off, just had a member from this forum PM me and said they had a very bad experience with this guy
 
Now, not trying to be a jerk about this, but would you ask for your money back, plus what the furs are worth?

I feel like I have been patient about this, but I also feel like he ruined the hides and doesn’t want to admit it, or make it right

Just asking what you guys would do, cause I’m kinda pissed
 
The price he charged seemed right, for my area at least. He's making some profit for sure but that's why he's in business.

That being said, your in a tough place. Once he sends them out to the tannery he's pretty much hamstrung until he gets them back. The fact he says the tannnery says some of his were slipping raises a red flag to me because most tannery's wont recieve them in unless they're thoroughly dried. He must not have taken much care. For reference did you give him skinned and dried furs, or the whole animal?

I send mine to moyles, salt dried. Standard turnaround was like 7 months. I've sent a few for the 40 day turnaround service and they did arrive within the 40 days.

For what it's worth, my taxidermist also sends his out for tanning (wall hangers, etc.) unless he's doing a mount in which case it's wet tanned in house.
 
Originally Posted By: LARUEminatiThe fact he says the tannnery says some of his were slipping raises a red flag to me because most tannery's wont recieve them in unless they're thoroughly dried. He must not have taken much care.


Yes.
The first thing I thought when I read "some" was poor prep work on the part of the taxidermist.
 
Originally Posted By: seasleyI know this is not the right part of the forum to be ask8ng this, but the fur forum doesn’t have as much traffic as this one

My question is, how long does it take to get furs back from tannery?

I gave two bobcats to my Taxedermy man December 22nd 2016

Now, my problem is I had to call him in June to see how long, and he told me the tannery said all of his furs were slipping that he sent in, and he was waiting on a answer back from them to see how bad they were

Now, I texted him the last of August, and he said he would call and find out and I have not heard back from him to this day

The other issue is, I paid $150 a cat to have tanned, so that’s $300 bucks that I’m kinda getting the feeling I’m fixing to get screwed on

If I am being impatient, then please say so, cause he told me the day I dropped them off that I would have them back late April, early may


Did you skin and stretch the cat? If not then your guy sucks, and should be slammed to the hilt on social and any review website to stop it from happening again to Someone else.(based on the "fur slipping" that is all on the fur preparation, also assuming that you got the cats to him within a day or two or frozen) If you are a taxidermist and have hair slipping they are a bad taxidermist, or using a bad tannery, either way it's the same end results.


I have been through this before and it's terrible. I had a guy that a group of predator hunters brought over from Scottland who is a Game keeper, and we skinned out the first coyote (real beauty) and trying to be careful with it, i took it to a guy with good reviews. I didn't flesh and stretch, preferring to let the pro do it. after a year of excuses, no pelt and wouldn't call me back. Sounding just like your story.

I think you had better call him and tell him you want a full refund and failing that you need to get ready to take him to small claims. if you want to go that route.

I say this because he's either lost, or ruined your pelt.


For starters tanning a fur is listed at this price at Moyles.

Bobcat: Cape TAG REQUIRED $37.00
http://www.moytown.com/docs/MMT_pricelist_taxidermy.pdf


A little more information would help.
standard Tanned, and wet tanned(for mounting) is different.

I use two tanneries now and moyles has been a 2 month turn around as long as it's not during the deer/elk season. in my experience, i may have just been lucky.

The other is https://www.pergamena.net/
Their website can be misleading, but if you contact them, they usually respond in a day. I send them my Elk hides. I flesh, and partially dry (you can't fold an elk hide that is dry, so you have to dump plain salt all over it as soon as it's not tacky then fold), so that i can shove it in a large flat rate ship box. (if it fits it ships. lol Let's just say that it doesn't have to be square, it still ships if it's roundish) I send them the hide, and they run it through with their cow hides, flesh again, and tan and stretch, they will Dye it to any color they offer (like 10) and then send it back, usually within a month but sometimes 2 for $70. I have several tubes of the leather all nicely tanned and dyed ready to use on projects i do from time to time that use leather.

 
Originally Posted By: viperI had issues with my hide and the tanner. It came back stiff and looked bad, my taxidermist did not charge me anything for it and apologized his butt off. He said then even lost a couple hides from Africa he had sent in. I don't know the companies name but he does not use them anymore. His work is top notch so I know it was not his fault.

might have used the same guy.
 
I gave him the whole animal

They were less than a hour killed when I took them to him

The thing that I’m starting to get concerned with is, he said the tannery said all his furs were slipping but a few and that was back in July

He also told me then, that it would be a couple of weeks and he would have them back

Now, that being said, do I pursue this further and ask him what’s going on as I did last week and he responded that he would call tannery and find out and never heard anything back from him

I just don’t know how to go about handling this, or what to do or ask for

He told me he uses a tannery in Michigan or somewhere up north

Would just like some feedback on what you guys would do in this situation if it were you

Like I said earlier, had a member pm me and say he had a very bad experience with him
 
I was only going to have them tanned with head and paws just to hang in my hunting room

Like I said, he got them within the hour of harvest, so what he did afterwards, I have no idea other than he told me right then that he would start skinning them when I left

The Taxedermy is outdoor life Taxedermy in Haskell and wagoner Oklahoma
 
really sucks, and sorry about the issue.

I would ask for the claim number and tannery information. Call and verify that information you have been told.

Ask about the bobcat pelts for that claim tag, it couldn't be that many. They have to be tagged and if you wrote down the tag number or, go back to where you got them tagged, you can get that number to then use when you talk to the tannery. (they should have been tagged, or there could be more to this story. Cats must be tagged)

If you can't get that, then i think you may be getting a line and they are lost or something else. And, i would then ask for a full refund.

If he starts balking, then your only option is to go to small claims. Getting money for the hides at all, will be hard to do since you didn't get them graded or have an offer from a buyer.

The last thing is that you can file complaints with the better business group, and then also google search on the place, and write review after review on any match about what has happened.
 
Yes, I got them tagged at the Jenks wildlife department.

I hate to jump the gun on this deal, but I just got a bad vibe from him when he told me the fur was slipping

So, what your telling me is I can call the wildlife office and get my tag numbers, and then call tannery, and use those numbers to see what is going on?
 
yep, that is about all i can see as an option. How else are you going to figure out what is going on and if you are getting the whole story.


Your local shops are good though..
I couldn't shoot two cats in my backyard and get to the wildlife office, get a tag on two cats, and then to the taxidermy guy within an hour of killing. AZ Game has the worst hours and cat tags always seem to take forever, probably 20 minutes.

Either way, you dropped of two cats, and it's been months and the guy doesn't seem to be interested. Talking to the tannery can confirm there is an issue, or that they are actually there. That is really all you can do right now (imo)
 
Yeah, I got lucky killing two cats, and I was 15 minutes away from wildlife dept so it all worked out

Guess I will be calling this guy and see what he says
 
Okay, just called the Taxadermy man from my moms phone so it wouldn’t show up under my name and he did answer

This is what he told me

That he had to call them and place the order, and he would be contacting me in the next few days

So, when you send hides off to a tannery, do you have to place a order after they have received them and done the work?

I am really starting to feel like I’m getting lied to, or the given the run around

I asked him if the hides were ruined straight up, and he said that there was some slippage around the head as he had told me before, but no more

The excuse of placing a order has me questioning his honesty, but I do not know if that is something you have to do
 
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