Hate Deer From The Processors

Yep I do agree , I have it that most my clients bring the deer to me to skin , I don’t charge them as I figure it will save me time in the long run having to fix all the screw ups .

 

This yr i had a 16 yr old kid harvest a 743 lb black bear, brought it to the butcher he deals with told him skin it for a lifesize mount, it came to my shop with no legs and paws and no belly skin, not easy finding replacement parts for such a large bear

 

That really sucks . Yea ida had that brought to me also if possible. Skinned it right in his truck . Ida rolled that sucker back in his truck Then he coulda took it to the butcher. To late now for ya tho .

 

I have a few processers that not only do a terrible job skinning, they do not freeze the head/capes. After two weeks when the customers meat if done they bring me a stinkin, slimy cape. If poor skinning is the only issue a visit to the shop with an offer to give instruction can be helpful. This one was cut short and was too nice a cape to toss so we did the habitat route.

 

Had a customer call me from the butchers, just shot a good one. He asked me if I could do something differt.I said how about a life size or 1/2 mount, gave him a price and he said lets go with a life size, I can put in my office. A week later he shows up with a frozen hide in a box. Did the paper work got a 1500.00 deposit. The next day I unfolded a useless hide with no legs/feet and cut off at the ass, unbelievable . I called him and told him, he came and picked it up and took it to the butcher. Butcher said no one told him, that was BS, he told the guy doing the skinning. I have done 6 shoulder mounts for him and after that ordeal, never saw him again.

 

how about the twenty pounds of meat left on most butcher shop capes

 

The best way I found to deal with this crap is to make sure to point out all the problems to the client and charge them properly for all the extra time and expenses including replacement capes at the going price plus shipping.

 

In my family we skin and butcher all our deer ourselves now. There was only one processor we ever used that was any good and he quit. All the others quit too. I only know of two places to take them now. The one is too too far away and the other guy is a nasty SOB I wont deal with.

 

That one really bothered me to and I pointed that waste of resource out to my clients every time too. It was just pure laziness on the processors part to leave half the neck bone/meat with the head. Because of health code reasons, a taxidermist can't give the meat back to the client here, but I do bone out the good looking ones for my dog.

 

I haven’t had a lot of problems with processors, but I’ve gotten capes from some big hunting ranches that also offer their clients the taxidermy work. Several times I have gotten capes that were cut to pieces, had meat and blood all over them and had been left out in the heat in a black plastic bag. You can’t tell me those guys at these big operations don’t know how to properly cape and care for an animal harvested on their ranch! I always have the customers look over the cape with me before they leave my shop.

 

That’s because when the client tells them No I’m not leaving it here it pisses them off so they could give a rats ass about there animal or mount , Ive seen it more then once , if they tell them the mount is staying there not one hole or even a Nick is put in the cape .

 

If that's the case, I don't know how they can survive with that shoddy business model. Their hunting clients will certainly be pissed and besides never returning there, they will spread the word and now days, with the internet, bad reviews will kill a business. That is why taxidermists need to document and photograph all this kind of needless damage and relay the information on to the clients, so they know what's going on. Too many taxidermists just keep quiet and don't charge appropriately for those jobs. I have even heard of some taxidermists providing replacement capes for free which makes no sense.

 

I've had Africrap like that for years. Word got around the the outfitter was going through the hides. If they were to be mounted in Africa, quality hides were pulled and substitutes were sent. I got a kudu with the completeveye orbit missing, a neck shot impala that the hunter had pictures of with a shoulder shot, and a Steinbeck with one entire leg/ hip missing.
As for meat, I had a local butcher sending me capes with the entire neck. One had 25 pounds of meat left in it.. I called him up. He said he was scared of messing up the hide. I told him I'd come and show him. He said he was a butcher, not a taxidermist. I told him that I was going to post a note on my door and on my fliers that anyone bringing a deer from his shop would incur an extra $50 charge for extra camping and meat disposal. A couple days later he called and asked if I could stop by and show him how I wanted them skinned. He admitted customers were complaining theyvwere being shorted on venison. No wonder.

 

The neck meat is damned good too. What a waste.