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Taxidermist Issues

This guy's a real turd. He agreed to do the work originally and has at least a deposit from you if not full payment. I would think it would be worthwhile for him to complete the work as opposed to wrecking it completely!

If he would intentionally wreck it, I think that is a different matter but still hard to prove criminally. I would let it cool off and maybe try reasoning with him (or someone else on your behalf).

Just really upsets me when stuff like this happens. I mean it shouldn't be a big deal if you have something done at another place! I had 2 different taxidermists do work for me. 1 buck was worth the extra money and the other wasn't...I knew his work was not as good but the buck was significantly smaller and I didn't want to spend a lot for the better work. Maybe this was the case for you??? Could help to explain it to him if it was.

Just still +@#$$ about this for you.


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I'd explain this situation to a CO and try to arrange a meeting at the taxi's place with the CO present. Usually taxis have to adhere to CO inspections (at least around here). It would not be in the taxi's best interest to be unprofessional/adversarial with a CO around.
 
Homebrew454 said:
This guy's a real turd. He agreed to do the work originally and has at least a deposit from you if not full payment. I would think it would be worthwhile for him to complete the work as opposed to wrecking it completely!

If he would intentionally wreck it, I think that is a different matter but still hard to prove criminally. I would let it cool off and maybe try reasoning with him (or someone else on your behalf).

Just really upsets me when stuff like this happens. I mean it shouldn't be a big deal if you have something done at another place! I had 2 different taxidermists do work for me. 1 buck was worth the extra money and the other wasn't...I knew his work was not as good but the buck was significantly smaller and I didn't want to spend a lot for the better work. Maybe this was the case for you??? Could help to explain it to him if it was.

Just still +@#$$ about this for you.


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A friend of mine had a mount done by someone and it looked good, so I decided to try them out. A good looking mount and the chance at a faster turn around seemed like a win win situation.
 
Did you put a deposit on the mount? In MO a conservation officer can check any licensed taxidermist with no warrant needed, not sure how much authority they have in your state. But if green jeans is there looking in his freezer he probably won't be real argumentative anymore

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There’s no reason for him to act that way. That said how funny would it be if your mounts been ready for two months and he’s po’d because instead of paying him you took this year’s deer and gave the other taxidermist the money you owed him. It would still take a jerk to act like that but it would make more sense. He could possibly even have you confused with someone else. Still not excusable and I wouldn’t take another animal to him. I would probably pay him whatever the balance owed and pick up my trophy in whatever stage of the process it’s in.
 
I would give him a couple weeks to cool down and try to get it back peacefully again before I do anything. Having a friend try to remove you from the situation isn't a bad plan.

I'm not clear- did he actually deny that he would return your deer to you or is he just not talking to you. I think you need to get that clarified before you can do anything. If he says he won't return it to you, then you can start some action. Honestly the way most likely to get him to return it or change his tune is to tell him you are going to run him down all over social media and the internet saying he wouldn't return your stuff. If for some reason that doesn't work I would have a lawyer write up a formal request to have it returned or he would be sued before I even thought about going to court.
 
Idk..... my knee jerk reaction is that he screwed up your 2020 mount. By him getting upset could be a distraction. After all it’s been a year and if the 2020 mount is not ready don’t seem like he could want or need more work. I would definitely offer to pay any balance and pickup ur 2020 mount. If that don’t pan out , I would just go talk to the DA office for the area and go from there. Lawyers cost ..... Da is a public office.
 
Mschmeiske said:
Long story short I dropped off my Deer in 2020 to a guy to have him do a shoulder mount for me. This year I chose to use someone else.

I ran into him the other day and he asked what I did with my deer this year and I said getting it mounted. He went ballistic and gave me the finger so I reciprocated and told him the same and that he was a clown. He then proceeded to try and fight me, call my girlfriend names, and threaten us with the ol’ “don’t let me catch you in a dark alley at night” until the establishment finally removed him.

I let a couple days go by to see if he would cool his jets and needless to say, he hasn’t and he hung up on me.

I’m not sure what to do at the moment….

I’m assuming small claims court is the only option? Just curious if anyone else has gone through this.
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Do you have a contract?

Does he have a Facebook page?
 
Plebe said:
Do you have a contract?

Does he have a Facebook page?
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I’ve got a receipt and he does have a FB page. Last night I spoke with a friend who’s a lawyer and we formulated a plan. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have a case built for small claims that he thinks is solid. So for now, I’m not going to pour fuel on fire…
 
Mschmeiske said:
Yeah I think you’re right.. I’m going to try it anyway, but small claims court might be my only option.

Someone mentioned the other day before I left, that they over heard him say I’d be getting it back in pieces…if I was lucky too at all. I worked hard to shoot that buck (as most of us do) and it was going to be my first shoulder mount. Turd…..
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Hate to say it but I've ben through this once with a pronghorn. It's been a few years but IIRC my only recourse was small claims court. I basically threatened him with small claims and he said "I'll just show up to the hearing with your mount". After repeatedly hounding him I ended up getting it back before the law got involved. The mount did not look good. The COs finally got involved when they had numerous complaints. They basically seized all the antlers in his possession and set up a day for everyone to come prove ownership.

Customers accuse taxidermy of running afoul

My advice is do whatever is necessary to get your antlers and cape back before he does anything with them. If you know a LEO take them with you when you ask for them back.
 
JDHoosier said:
Hate to say it but I've ben through this once with a pronghorn. It's been a few years but IIRC my only recourse was small claims court. I basically threatened him with small claims and he said "I'll just show up to the hearing with your mount". After repeatedly hounding him I ended up getting it back before the law got involved. The mount did not look good. The COs finally got involved when they had numerous complaints. They basically seized all the antlers in his possession and set up a day for everyone to come prove ownership.

Customers accuse taxidermy of running afoul

My advice is do whatever is necessary to get your antlers and cape back before he does anything with them. If you know a LEO take them with you when you ask for them back.
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I would counter advise to not bring a LEO friend with you. I have known many LEO colleagues of mine that got in trouble (even fired) for either injecting themselves into civil issues or by essentially operating outside of their jurisdiction. If you called an agency and got an officer who was on duty and within their jurisdiction to just standby to keep the peace that would be perfectly acceptable. But I would not bring an off-duty friend to that location. LEO enforce criminal law and will enforce judgements when required to. But they should not get into civil issues as their power is derived from criminal law.
 
Petrichor said:
I would counter advise to not bring a LEO friend with you. I have known many LEO colleagues of mine that got in trouble (even fired) for either injecting themselves into civil issues or by essentially operating outside of their jurisdiction. If you called an agency and got an officer who was on duty and within their jurisdiction to just standby to keep the peace that would be perfectly acceptable. But I would not bring an off-duty friend to that location. LEO enforce criminal law and will enforce judgements when required to. But they should not get into civil issues as their power is derived from criminal law.
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Sounds like good advice. I was thinking more along the lines to "keep the peace" as you stated. I really wanted to say to take a gun in case he decides to came after the OP but decided against that. I thought an LEO was the next best thing.
 
JDHoosier said:
Sounds like good advice. I was thinking more along the lines to "keep the peace" as you stated. I really wanted to say to take a gun in case he decides to came after the OP but decided against that. I thought an LEO was the next best thing.
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We stand by on calls all the time when people think there will be an issue. Just recommend that it be an on duty LEO within their jurisdiction. We call it a civil standby.
 
I’ve considered stopping by and trying to say hey, give me the cape and antlers.. But idk if any officer would be willing to lend a hand to make sure things are ok. I’m not sure if any would lend a hand or how to ask… when I called the police station, a woman said small claims and that was that.
 
Mschmeiske said:
I’ve considered stopping by and trying to say hey, give me the cape and antlers.. But idk if any officer would be willing to lend a hand to make sure things are ok. I’m not sure if any would lend a hand or how to ask… when I called the police station, a woman said small claims and that was that.
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Definitely depends on jurisdiction and the police agency. Our agency does it all the time, some agencies refuse to get involved in any civil issues. Sometimes a helpful hint would be to call and ask to speak to an on-duty supervisor and run the situation down to him and see if he would send an officer. DISPATCH is not necessarily the keeper of the gate so to speak, but on-duty supervisor‘s can definitely make that call.
 
Mschmeiske said:
I’ve considered stopping by and trying to say hey, give me the cape and antlers.. But idk if any officer would be willing to lend a hand to make sure things are ok. I’m not sure if any would lend a hand or how to ask… when I called the police station, a woman said small claims and that was that.
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Did you pay in full?
 
Plebe said:
Did you pay in full?
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I did not, I have $200 down, and a predator platform, which sadly will go unaccounted for i bet…. The rest is in writing…. I traded the platform in good faith. Maybe a foolish move now.
 
Mschmeiske said:
A lesson lived, is a lesson learned.
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To be clear, I'm not piling on. Bad dealings with taxidermists seem to happen from time to time and are a strike against the trade, suffered by both hunters and professional taxidermy businesses.

While I'm no expert, I would encourage folks to work with their taxidermist through a contract. Are there reputable taxidermists who do exceptional work and have a trustworthy history who don't, sure. But, imo, that is what tips the cards in the customers favor, if anything.

I think you're on the best possible track to a positive resolution working through your advisor.

It's a shame, this situation. I'm hoping for the best.
 
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