Typical Taxidermy Nightmare Pics

I shot my first archery buck this last August took him to a taxidermist in the Cache Valley area that has done work for me in the past Turkey fan, fake european, and taught me how to mount a duck. I took him my deer and he said the velvets awesome it will turn out great, as he set it by 5 other velvet bucks that were all going to be europeans. I felt pretty confident in the job being done right. April came around and I felt worried I gave him a call he answered and said yeah the velvet didn't turn out as good as I hoped but it's done, I just need to order a plaque so he said I'll give you a call in a week, 2 weeks came around and his spouse answered she said oh we moved shop to Wyoming but still have our clients, so I asked where is my deer she said Wyoming then corrected herself and said Utah, and said (John Doe) handles our deliveries/pick ups in Utah, and gave me his number he answered and said "Velvet buck?? I haven't seen a Velvet buck come through here since December. Finally after multiple phone calls John doe says the bugs ate your horns.. After a little bit of information they didn't do the process right of cutting the horns off etc. they put basically a wrapping around them and the bugs got in..
The horns had been rotting in a box since December they stunk of rotting velvet! I told him I should of just left them on my fence post they'd look just like this and it would of been cheaper. He agreed!
The taxidermist didn't talk to me except for the first time, and to this day hasn't called. I know accidents happen, but to this day he hasn't talked to me to explain what happened.

Sorry for the rant.
On a brighter note!
I took the horns to Josh Hunt at Deer Creek Wildlife Studio. Who did an awesome job staining them, and was good to work with!





Thanks Again Josh Hunt!

Sorry to hear that but glad everything worked out in the end for you.

If you would like the Velvet look, you could send them to my friend Grady Miller of "Living trophies". He can match the original Velvet. He is located in California and can be reached by going to the California section on mm taxidermists.

Velvet is hit or miss anyway. It seldom looks "alive" like it was on the deer. Usually it ends up matted down and smelly after treatment.

Sorry to hear about your disaster. Hope you didn't pay him a dime. What a joke. I shot a caribou several years back, and lost the velvet. I had the taxi send them off to have the horns flocked. They came out perfect, and not one person that has seen the pics and the mount has been the wiser.

Thanks guys I paid him in $100 bucks and gave him my cape, First two mistakes there... Lesson learned but hard horned looks good!