I won the coueswhitetail.com contest for 2009 for the biggest archery Coues buck so I won a FREE mount from Wild Heritage Taxidermy in Young, AZ. In March of 2010 I dropped off my Javelina to them and they told me if I wanted an open mouth it would be 100.00 more. What it is suppose to be for free and who the heck would get a Javelina mounted without the mouth open? I think that is why they said that so they could get a little money out of the deal. What could I say but ya okay that sounds good a whole mount for 100.00. Well in December they finally called and said the rug was done and he would have to just paint the mouth and it would be finished so I confirmed with him it would be 100.00 right? Nope now he says its 150.00. Why I asked he said thats what the price has always been. I then told him your wife told me 100.00 so he said he would talk to her and he would call me back when the mount was finished. On 1-29-2011 his wife called me and told me the mount was FINISHED and I could pick it up the next day which was sunday. Cool I will be there so it is 100.00 right? NOPE she says its 150.00. I told her that is not what she told me and my dad she told us 100.00. She said that is what it has always been. I told her I would meet her in the middle and give them 125.00 since I had to drive all the way up there and also since it had taken almost a year to get back. I told her we would be there between 9:00 and 11:00 because my dad and I were going to hunt on our drive up there. We did not see anything so we got there at 8:30. She comes up to us and says you guys are early we are not FINISHED with the mount yet. WHAT? you said yesterday it was all done. By now I am getting a little pissed and hoped the mount would cheer me up. When he was finally finished with it 2 1/2 hours later it still did not look right. The lips were way too pink but they said thats what it suppose to look like. I just took the pig and ran. Where the heck is the tail? Now the tail is not long at all about 3 inches but still it should be there right? NOPE no tail. You will see in the first picture is the original pig look at the lips THAT is what they are suppose to look like not the 2nd pic which is the mount. Needless to say I am not impressed with the jerry rig job that was done.
The original lips and tounge.
Here is the picture of the lips on the mount.
Here are just some other pictures of the mount. He did do some great work on the corners of the eyes and the back of the rug was also exceptional work from the ruggery people.
Here is the pic of the whole rug which looks great except there is no tail. LOL
Feel free to comment on his work. I will always remember this pig because she was my biggest that I have ever shot.
My dad and I have the same hunt this year too that starts tomorrow 2-4-2011 HAM hunt and hope to be able to harvest another one of these fun to hunt little creatures. If I do that will make like 7 years in a row that we have got drawn and that I have killed. Lucky number 7 lets see what we can do this year. I will have some friends going with us so hopefully they can capture it on video and if so I will be back to show you all the video. Thanks for visiting the BLOG.
Clay
"Coues Life"
Nice! Ugly buggers, though...
ReplyDeleteActually Clay I'd say that mount deserves a little more credit that your giving .. but that said I believe most Arizona taxidermists and maybe this one would have painted over to your satisfaction if you had a little more time. I'd hope your just a little peeved over the little extra expense (I believe the taxidermist could have eaten the extra $125 ) I know the bind a good taxidermist can get himself into and in the push ..priorities can get scrambled .. trying to take care of all the folks .. this was not the recognition a good taxidermist needs during these starving times.
ReplyDeleteFrom a X-taxidermist with a couple of son's in Arizona in the business of catering to the Arizona sportsfolks.
Looking forward to seeing those video's it's great to get out with friends and loved ones that time of year, good luck to all.
I guess what I was trying to say was that I know this taxidermist can do very good work. Anonymous again.
ReplyDeleteI never said this Taxidermist could not do good work as I have seen GREAT work out of him. But for having this mount for OVER a year you would have thought out of all the times he has done Javelinas you would think he would understand the colorization of the mouth. For that being said I was told the day before I picked it up it was DONE and when I arrived the next day the mouth area was not even finished. He could have told me it was not finished yet and took more time on it but instead calls me and says it is finished when it was not. For him having it a year and doing all the last minute work when I get there is not good customer service in my eyes. Heck I only talked to him about 3 times he had my mount so I DIID NOT RUSH HIM at all. This was his choosing at the last minute to do this type of work. Of course maybe it was because this mount was FREE is why he had done this. To that I am not saying it SUCKS its just I would have paid more attention to the mouth than he did. But hey what do I know I am no taxidermist. Oh and you should not have to be imbarrased of your post by signing it as anonymous. Thank you for your post as you must see the coloration as correct.
ReplyDelete