LAST EDITED ON Jul-14-09 AT 09:58PM (MST)[p]I agree with 4000fps on this one. Also if one of my customers called my tannery and gave them the business asking them about their cape, I would be very unhappy.
Taxidermists send in hundreds of capes and the tannery will do them 15-20 at a time over a 3-7 month period. This way the taxidermist can pay the bill in small increments and will have room to store the capes. It also allows the tannery to keep all the taxidermists happy instead of just a few.
If you expected your mount to be done sooner, you should talk it over with your taxidermist and figure out when you need it, and how he can deliver it to you by that time.
Most shops can mount 1-3 animals per day, so if they take in 150 animals, someone is going to get their animal way sooner than others. Sometimes the difference is decided by who's cape is tanned first and shipped by the tannery.
Another tip I'll give you guys wanting your mounts quicker is to decide on your pose right when you drop off the deer, and leave the antlers with the taxi. I can't tell you how many times I pull capes out of the freezer to mount them and the guy hasn't decided which pose he wants, or he still has the antlers at his house admiring them.....So I put the cape back in the freezer and get another one out that I have the antlers on hand, and his pose is decided, and I mount it up.
The last tip is if you truly want a quick turnaround, pay the guy extra to rush the tanning. Most tanneries will rush a cape for an extra charge. Some have 30 day, or 60 day rush services. The tanner will charge an extra $100 or so, and the Taxi will charge an extra $??? to put you in front of the other customers. I have 30 day rush service, 60 day, and 90 day rush, but I charge the heck out of them because it takes a lot of extra attention, shipping, and planning to pull it off. Some guys rush every animal they bring in. They still get the quality, but they don't take the chance of being the last cape out of the tannery if they go the standard route.
I have an attorney from Vegas that brings me a lot of animals, and he has rushed them all except the last one which is a buffalo hide. He decided it was too much to pay for rush service on the tanning. Well, by luck his hide is one of the last 8 or 10 pieces of tanning I have left at the tannery. He's called me every month for 6 months and all I can tell him is it's still not back from the tannery. He has been very patient, but I'll guarantee he will never go the cheap route again. He's just not going to wait. I get a kick out of it because it's eating him to have to be patient when he knows he could afford the extra couple hundred bucks.
Anyway, this is too long of a post, but I thought it might be interesting for some of you guys out there.
One more thing I just remembered. Right now I talk to a lot of taxi's that are being stiffed by customers right and left that won't or can't pay for their mounts. I have over $10,000 worth of completed mounts hanging in my shop that I can't collect the money owed. If you have the money to pay for your mount, you may want to call your taxi and let him know you have money and will come get the mount as soon as it's done. For me, that would put you at the top of the list in a hurry. It's tough to tell which guys can or will pay these days. Seems to be a lot of rubber checks and slow to pay guys with this rough economy.
On the other hand if you don't have the money or can't afford the mount right now, you should also give him a call and ask him to hold off a while. It will be better for you both. It sucks to spend the money for the materials and tanning, then take the days to mount the animal, then find out the guy can't pay. It puts you in a cash flow crunch, which will slow the whole process down for everyone. Cash speaks with much volume!
Ok, I'm done.
DBD