Hide tanning time

Whats the longest you've ever waited to get a tanned hide back???

Reason I ask is, I shot my first fox last year. March 7th will be 1 year to the day that I dropped it off at the taxidermist, put down a deposit that covered half of the cost for the tanning and skull bleaching. Taxidermist told me "it'll be ready by early September"(6 month turnaround).
I went through a taxidermist because I have ruined tails on coyotes simply from lack of experience and didn't want to do it to my first fox!
So....I called him in early December looking for any info because I haven't heard anything. Left a message when he didn't answer and he called back within 10 minutes but I missed the call and he left a message saying "your fox hasn't come in yet but when it does I'll call you". I didn't call back until last week as I still haven't heard anything. Got to talk with him this time. I asked "could you call whoever you sent the hide to because 11 months is almost twice as long as you told me it would take" and his reply was " I'm not calling anyone, when it comes in I'll call you, and if you aren't happy with the time it's taking then go somewhere else next time!!" I was honestly dumbfounded by that, I wanted to rip into him but knew I could just kiss that fur goodbye if I did.

So is 11 months or more crazy or not?
I'm starting to think that
A) he messed up the hide (because of his last comment)
B) he kept or sold the hide (also because of his last comment)
C) he never put any needed info with the pelt and it's sitting on a shelf at a tannery
D) the tannery is really that backed up
What do you think??
 
I send plenty from Colorado to New Jersey for tanning 10 week turn around Max.
I would go with he messed it up or completely forgot about it.
 
Too long. Are you wiling to let him jerk you around for another year? Look at this NJ TANNERY site for an example of prices and turnaround times. You can also look up Moyle Mink, but they do not show turnaround times right now as they are a very high volume tannery but 3-6 months would not be unusual.

If it were me, I'd call ahead and pay be him a visit with my written contract/receipt/deposit ticket. Get the skull and pay for it. Get the pelt and pay for it or demand an answer. If he sends it out then maybe something happened to it at the tannery - the tanneries tell you up front that furs can be ruined and they are not resposible. In the end, every customer deserves honesty from a businessman.

If all else fails, take him to small claims court and file a BB complaint if he won't give you a straight answer. If you continue getting jerked around, post his info here so others don't make the same mistake.

Good luck.

 
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Originally Posted By: erictToo long. Are you wiling to let him jerk you around for another year? Look at this NJ TANNERY site for an example of prices and turnaround times. You can also look up Moyle Mink, but they do not show turnaround times right now as they are a very high volume tannery but 3-6 months would not be unusual.

If it were me, I'd call ahead and pay be him a visit with my written contract/receipt/deposit ticket. Get the skull and pay for it. Get the pelt and pay for it or demand an answer. If he sends it out then maybe something happened to it at the tannery - the tanneries tell you up front that furs can be ruined and they are not resposible. In the end, every customer deserves honesty from a businessman.

If all else fails, [/b][/u]take him to small claims court and file a BB complaint if he won't give you a straight answer. If you continue getting jerked around, post his info here so others don't make the same mistake.[/i]

Good luck.


I was thinking about doing this right after the one year mark
 
I use moyles. I got my fist batch of coyote hides this year back in under a month, but I do pay for the expedited turn around. I got my lion hide back in about 2 months, no expedited on that.
 
I'm a taxidermist and that is way too long. I will tell you there are a lot of taxidermists out there that are shady and will take in money and do nothing with peoples skins. Lots of unscroupulis taxidermists out there that give us good ones a bad name. If you've never used one before you need to ask hunting buddies who they use and how they've been treated. Find a good one and use them only or watch youtube skinning videos and skin them, flesh and salt them and send them to the tannery on your own. I guarantee you that guy never even skinned your fox until maybe after you called. Moyles, South Texas Furs and my personal favorite, The Wildlife Gallery are all great tanneries.
 
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I waited 9-10 months for a bunch of trapped furs. I think it had to do with when I sent them and how big of a lot they had to tan of "like" furs, but not sure. I use Tubari, Inc, and they do a really good job.
 
I have a relative that makes crafts, including beaver fur trim on some mitts/choppers. Another relative has sent off a few hides to get tanned for her, takes a while.

I think this year I will try some home-tanning with some Beaver, it’s been a while. I mostly need to preserve the hide for trim in the mitts.
https://trubondtanning.com/

As of now I plan to try the tanning product from True Bond Tanning, linked above. It gets rather good reviews. With the price of Beaver in the gutter, a good year to use the hides in crafts.
 
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