I had a customer pick up a deer head yesterday and was very pleased with the mount. He calls me the next day (this morning) and said that he thinks their might have been a mix up with the cape. He said he was looking at a picture of the deer he took in the back of his truck and the fur was not the same color and the neck was a lot bigger then than now. He kept saying the mount looked good but was not happy with the color and size. His neck size when I measured it was a little over 16" and I put it on a form 17 1/4" so I stretched it some anyway.
I know for a fact that the capes were not mixed up. I tag everything extra well to keep this from happening. I have been doing taxidermy for around 11 years now and am trying to go full time and do not want my name trashed. Any advice? Sorry this is so long. Thanks.
Return to Deer Taxidermy Category Menu
Get your digital camera(if you have one)and take some pics before you skin it out then you can show him exactly what it looked like when he brought it to you...just an idea?
Smiley
ask him to the shop and show him your log book and orginal invoice with any notes on it and show him how you tag everything and tell him of your years of success with your tagging system, tell him how light is absorbed by hair on film and a even a slight shadow or sunlight can make color different, be firm and say "its your cape" then send him a thank you for his business the next day. Waffle and you loose.
I always thought the necks were smaller on deer I had done until I started mounting deer myself. They always look bigger in the pictures.
You need to explain to him that the deer in the photo is dead. The neck looks bigger because there is no muscle tone holding it in an anatomically (sp?) correct position.
Tell him to stand in front of a mirror with his head held in a normal position. Now tell him to try to touch his shoulders with his ears. His neck is gonna' look a lot bigger. hahaha, funny sounding but true.
As far as the color goes.....I haven't had to deal with that one yet.
You can't make him believe you if he doesn't want to. The best you can do is explain your tagging system and let him know that you are 100% positive that a switch didn't take place.
If you can't convince him.....don't worry about it. If he attempts to trash your name.....well, deal with that if the time comes.
Good luck
If the cape is long enough, punch his initials in the hide that folds around the back of the form and when you mount it, leave that area stapled to the back and shaved so he can see his initials.
Photo colors are never 100% accurate. So ask him what his camera settings were, F-stop and shutter speed and if they used a flash or bright sunlight. Without these his argument is not even close to being a qualified question.
To prove the point the color of his car or truck pretty well any color is never accurate.
Crap even the pro photographers cant adjust colors right so how can someone who takes their picks to walmart even make this claim.
... I can take 5 pictures with my KodCrap Easyshare and there will be 5 different colors easily distinguished by any human eye. None of which actually resemble the actual colors of my fish either!
In all fairness, I'm sure a lot has to do with the color of my backdrop. Outdoor pictures/lighting is much better. But even with the best of cameras you'll have variations in color. This is why professional photographers "bracket" their shots. They'll take several pics of the same thing with several different light meter settings.
In the future, take digital photos of everything when it comes in and when you (un - lol) thaw it. Photgraphing the packaging that it came in with the animal usually is the clincher.
Explain the variances in photo colors and explain your tagging system and assure your customer there's no way in h-e double toothpicks that there was an error. Show him/her the redundancy in your system so that it's impossible to make an error...
Tell him to pack sand and go some where else,he is any way ..HeHeHe
they bring in there deer, BLOODY , shot to doll rags, dirty (never had a bath in its life (until I gave it one).
You bet it dont look exactly the same, Hell alot of the time I cant beleive myself how dark or light these deer turn out.
if it has a big hole, when you sewed it up it lost some inches, or they didnt give you enough neck (3") to make an accurate measurement.
explain all this and then tell them that the only part of the deer that you really have control over in size is the face and the neck at the top......where you measure , the rest of the neck is pretty much up to the artist who made the form that you put his deer on........
dont offer him any extras, if you do, he will think something is up and not beleive your answers (NOT EXCUSE).
In my opinion, photos just don't cut it. Besides inspecting the specimin and documenting problems in front of the customer at dropoff, I also video every specimin that comes in. Most of my specimins are frozen when recieved, so video tape is cheap insurance against problems. Just before I cape it out, I video the face and neck measurements (outside) and also detail any damage that I find. If there are any problems that affect the outcome of the mount, including the price, then I can show them the footage when they pick it up. If I do find problems that they neglected to tell me about, , i I do take a couple digital photos of the finished mount though for my records.
They are like fingerprints. Hopefully, the brisket shows in his pics and you could compare the stripe pattern and color. Aside from that, I would firmly state that it is his cape and offer no other words or jestures. Let him talk until he gets tired and feels foolish.
I got a customer this past fall who wanted a redo of a 10 point he got several years ago.The cape on that mount wasn't any bigger than a yearling cape I had in the shop. It had a 16" neck and was 61/2" at the eye.
When I took it apart to retrieve the antlers, I saw where the other taxidermist had cut larger holes to accommodate the larger antler girth.
To top it all off, the customer is an ENCON officer! Some nerve of that haxidermist, huh?
Todd
I ran into this a couple of years ago, a new client thought he had been ripped off by another taxidermist, so he brought the mount and a photo of the dead deer to me, by reviewing the picturre along side of the mount I was able to point out some distinct markings and scaring on both the mount and picture to prove to him that he wasn't ripped off . Look for double thoart patch or torn ears, small scars around the eyes or the bridge to the nose, something other than color to prove it is his cape. When the client left he was more than satisfied that he had received his cape back. His original concern was that the color of the cape on the mount and in his picture didn't look the same
Good luck
KJ