??? of the Day ... Taxidermy Turnaround Time

Question of the day ... what's your average taxidermy turnaround time? What's the longest you've waited? What's the shortest time you've waited? What time frame do you expect for your trophy to be complete?

Let's hear it!


I think the longest I've waited is 2 years, then I took my stuff somewhere else. Shortest time was when Paul Pennie was using my heads at a show (3 months).
Turnaround time I expect is 1 year. I believe a taxidermist should be able to finish my work within a year.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
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Brian

Good question man.
I would say a year is a good turn around time. I had a similar deal you had with my elk. Taxi had it for two years. I wasn't in a hurry for it. then he hit a rough patch in life so I went and got it back. It was all tanned and ready to go. Took it to a guy that finished it up for me in about 3 weeks. The taxidermist that has my goat wrote down 6 to 8 months. Which is fine with me. That stuff isn't cheap so a little bit of time is a good thing.

Most animals I have had done have been less than a year so I think a year is a good number.

I have a moose out now that has been 16 months. Not sure I will use him again. If a taxi is going to be more than a year they should tell you.

Longest was over a year. Don't remember exactly.

Shortest was 3 months; no show involved. But I didn't take it in to get mounted until May. Had the elk back in August. Fantastic work.

Took him another bull in Dec. He says 6-8 months. I like that.

I have used 7 different big game taxidermists over the years. By far my newest guy is the best; not just for quick turnaround, but for quality of work as well( which to me is more important than turnaround time).

BTW, Founder, I used your old taxidermist for several mounts. He does nice work, but his shop is a freaking mess and he takes too long. Plus he mounted a whitey and pronghorn both in the wrong positions! He claimed the whitetail was the first time he ever did that, but then he did the same thing on my very next mount( pronghorn)! So I guess he's done it twice.

Anything over a year is too long, IMO.

Quickest was my moose at 7 months...I think a year wait is fine, but anything over is unacceptable.

Shot my bull Aug 31st, dropped it off at the Taxi Sept 3rd, picked it up Oct 31st. It helped shooting it so early and being the first one in the shop for the year. I was pleased with the 2 month turn around because I was really looking forward to getting the bull set up in my front room. He even made the custom base himself.

I would say most taxidermist won't stay in business too terribly long if their turnover time is more than a year. I get quite impatient after a year. If you find a taxidermist that does exceptional work and have a trophy of a lifetime to have mounted it is likely worth how ever long it takes to have it done right! I started doing my own fish taxidermy. My longest mount has been a 20 lb rainbow I've been doing myself. It's been around 2 years and I'm finally putting the finishing touches on it. I put a lot of time into putting extra detail into several tipping layers and don't have a whole lot of time to devote to it.

Here is a breakdown of the actual time it takes to mount something.
Once the animal is dropped off, it's about a week to turn, flesh, salt and dry it. Another day to box it up and ship it to the tannery. Now this is where things can change. The actual tanning process doesnt take that long, maybe two weeks total time. If your tanner is taking months to get back to you, your hide is sitting around most of that time, it's not being worked. A lot of the extra time is caused by slow tanneries taking 6-8 months getting your hides back to your taxidermist. I use several tanneries depending on what it is. My tanner that I use for all my deer, elk, lions and bear type animals is typically around 30 days. Small game like fox, coyote and beavers is about 60 days.
So once you get your hide back, it's a day to shave it out, sew up any holes and prep the skin.
Now, if your taxidermist is on the ball, he should have measured your skin before sending it to the tanners. He should have ordered the form while the hide was out at the tanners and he should have the base made. At least it should be roughed out, ready to mount the form to it. The form will take at least a day, sometimes 2-3 days to alter, prep and get ready to mount.
Another day to prep the hide once it is returned from the tanner. Now the actual day of mounting a shoulder mount is 1/2 day. A life-size can take all day or a day and a half.
After two weeks to dry, the finish work can be done in a day, sometimes two. There may be another days work to finish the base and it's ready to deliver. So if your taxidermist is taking a year or two to get a mount back to you, something isn't right. I guarantee all of my European mounts back in 4 months but most are done in around two months. Shoulder and life-size mounts are guaranteed in 6 months, but most are done in 4. This does take a lot of work staying on top of each project and getting things done as soon as it can be done. But as you can see by looking at the actual timeline, it can be done. If your mount is taking a year, it's sitting around for months with nothing being done to it at all. If it's taking more then a year, find another taxidermist that is actually working each day and not working some other job.

Rocky Mountain Wildlife Studios
rmwildlifestudios.com

mine have all been right around 6-8 months depending where I fall in line at taxidermy... If it takes more than a year I feel something would be wrong with taxidermist cause they will be getting a whole new batch of animals in and thus be even farther behind.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

Fullcry, if you were the taxis only customer all that might be awesome in a perfect world, but my taxidermist is extremely busy ( the sign of a good taxidermist) so I think a year is acceptable, but my philosophy is there are two people I will never rush and that is a vasectomy doctor and the other is a taxidermist