selling your own mounts

Charge what it's worth. It's up to you, nobody can really answer that for you.

 

Just be sure it's legal and not a sting. In Ohio it is illegal to sell wild game/fish/birds with a few exceptions. Check your state rules. If these are reproductions you are fine but if they are skin mounts you may not be able to legally sell them.

 

Also, you might investigate if there's a difference between selling mounted fish from private vs public or state owned waters...

 

I sell everything I can...especially my competition pieces. On regular mounts I charge the price of mounting and I put a price on the specimen. Depends on the specie. Since I don't have a show room ( the whole shop is a showroom) everything you see on the wall is for sale. This keeps my mounts current and not old as if I had them in a showroom gathering dust for years. If I had a particular mount that I really wasn't in a rush to sell I put very high price on it. If it sells...great , if it doesn't no problem. A few years ago I mounted a 24 pound Atlantic lobster and sold it to a collector for $1500...and should have asked $2500. Check your state laws and abide by them...they're different in each state. Good luck...JL

 

I think if you have to ask . JUST GIVE IT AWAY !!!!

 

A $buck in the hand is better than 2 in the bush
JL hit it good
commercial mounts "Best offer"
competition quality $50.00 per inch
and I do not keep extra fish hanging around long
Carl

 

Dr Walleye..........( it would be nice to know all real names on here.)

Your DNR buddy is entirely incorrect. It is not legal to sell or barter ANY critter parts in Wisconsin. i have gone the rounds with this crap and on a given day, some idiot will give you a different answer. Read the regulations. You cannot pick up even a dead (and very common) bullsnake off the road to make a hat band with. I stoppped buying freeze dried fish from a supplier because they could not provide evidence that they were raised on a licensed fish farm. I cannot even go catch fish on my license and sell them. Some DNR stooge gave you the wrong information. Talk to the top tier and they will set you straight. Probably, you will never get caught. Fish are not a huge priority here and I have never been checked in 35 years. But, read the regulations. They are clear.

 

It might be that WI laws are like those in MI. Here in MI it is "unlawful to sell games fishes or parts thereof" but that law does NOT apply to mounted fish. After they have been mounted they can be sold...legally. If it's illegal to sell MOUNTED fish in WI....well, that's really extreme.

 

I guess my point is this.........read the statute. Little room for interpretation. You can sell part of a "personal collection" whatever that means. Just another nebulous clause to confound and confuse........typical DNR rules. So, you cannot go out and legally catch 20 musky, mount them, and then sell them. One outfit here in WI had some yahoo out on the lakes stacking them up to use as specimens in a school. It was a big time bust.

In short, you cannot rack up harvests of wildlife for profit, whether they are panfish or sturgeon. I could go buy 20 extra deer tags for $12 each and sell the mounted heads for much more. Legal? NO WAY.

 

Exactly correct. I think of collections as estate sales, etc. Also, if a customer does not pick up a fish, it equals part of my "collection." That said, it is a grey area and the DNR loves that. I once called them about the fact I was hunting deer over bait and had a turkey tag. I know it is not legal to bait turkey, or shoot even squirrels over bait, so I asked them how far away from the bait would i need to be to legally shoot a bird or small game. Long pause......."well if you can't see the bait, I would say you are okay."

Hmmmmm......I immediately thought that if I took a bead on a gobbler, closed my eyes and fired, I would not see the bait! Always a loophole!

But yeah, I could go legally catch and mount 30 panfish, make them part of my "collection" then sell them on Ebay? I don't know. It seems it I pay for a license and legally take the fish, i should be able to do what I want with them........but that is not the case.

Good for you for checking up........the backwoods CSI can be a bunch of sneaky operators.

 

From your recent replies on this thread it sounds like you have contempt for the WI DNR, or does that extend to states beyond WI?

 

Our duck hunt club is called " the grey area duck hunt club". All kinds of grey area when it comes to the dnr and their regulations.

 

I could go on forever about the "sticklers" out there who would arrest their own family for picking up a bullsnake killed on the road and making a hatband from it. (Yes a big time violation in the great state of Wisconsin.) Let's just say I at one point after learning this from the top legal beagle in WI DNR had to unload a few items from the freezer. A great freeze dry guy in MN who catches his own fish and has no license for a fish farm mounts and sells "chaser" fish. I have always liked his work, but stopped buying when the DNR told me it was illegal.

I will stick by my grandfather's reply to the "righteous" retards. He was bird hunting a bit after hours and was questioned.

"Hell, I am not hunting pheasant.........time to go after coons!"

He gave one fellow a bottle of hooch now and then and was allowed to hunt along the Desplaines River near Chicago in the forest preserve........swatting ducks with no questions asked.

But then, Chicago has always been home to crooked cops, eh?

When I was recorded on a wire by 2 jackasses about his doings and threatened with legal action for God knows what, I played my own game. I let them know I grew up in a family associated with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, on tape, and gave a few names for them to punch into their computers.......and the first thing I learned is not to be a rat.....or you could end up in a dumpster. shortly after that they left and I can guarantee they will never be back.

 

my sister-in-law's brother traps white fish in Minnesota he smokes them and then sells them by the pound. he was told he could not sell fish in Minnesota by a warden but he told the warden he was not selling the fish he was selling the processing of the fish. he told them if he wants a fish come over to the house and he would give them fish but if they want the Whitefish smoked you would be charged for that processing

 

There are many amusing anecdotes among these posts...and I could give a few myself. However the law is the law and if they want to they can burn you. These "funny" little loopholes won't add up to a hill of beans if you ever get prosecuted. The Judge won't be amused.

In most states it is illegal to make money on wild game with a few exceptions.

 

Last time I knew In PA. you can not sell a mount of any kind that was taken in the state. A taxidermist can if its a non pick up item. He needs to get a permit in order to do so and follow a protocol. A resident of PA. that bought a license to hunt or fish, harvests a specimen and decides to get it mounted. Picks up the finished mount and that individual also can not sell his mount.