LAST EDITED ON Sep-23-11 AT 11:08AM (MST)[p]You need to contact the county Sherif's department. Tell them what has happened and ask if they will pay the man a visit.
Also send him a certified letter that he has to sign for upon reciept. Tell him in the letter that he is in breach of contract, and was in breach of said contract by taking the trophy animal across state lines. You would like the cape and skull back in an as is condition and you will take care of the rest. State that he has 3 days to contact you in order to arrange the receipt of your trophy, or you will involve an attorney and take him to court.
In the mean time contact Cablea's legal department, I lost their number, and just ask them for information for an attorney who can help you. They are very willing to help, even though they are not involved.
My guess is that he no longer has the cape, and likely cannot get the cape back. The two primary tanning operations in the intermountain west both filed for bankruptsy in the time frame you have stated. That means another taxidermist may have purchased the capes and hides from the bankruptsy court. YES that is legal, sorry you can't do anything about it. If you contact the Helena School of Taxidermy they may be able to help you find out what taxidermist purchased the hides. That is how I found my bear, and my dad's and brothers bears, all shot in 2006. They were tied up in the tanning bankruptsy mess that happened in 2008.
GOOD LUCK!!
Also you may want to try and contact Marc D Jozovich
(406) 494-2285
For some reason he seems to know a lot about wierd deals like this. He is a whole sale rug taxidermist. If you have a rug done by anyone here in Utah or Idaho, he most likely did the work and your taxidermist just charged you a premium for his work! But like I said he seems to know about odd ball deals when a trophy gets "lost"