Dont mean to bring you down, but the deposit you gave him for a bear of that size would not cover the cost he would have into mounting it. he might have a day into fleshing, 3-4 months at the tannery, a week to have supplies shipped, a day into form preparation, a day into mounting, a few weeks for the mount to dry, a few days into habitat recreation, and a few hours into finish work, give or take. That doesnt add up to years. Bears are expensive to do, and like i said, 500.00 would not cover his cost. My guess is he used your deposit and hasnt had the money to buy the supplies for your bear. As far as the bear still being mountable, if it was properly tanned, it should be fine. If the raw skin has been in the freezer all this time, there is no way of predicting until it is thawed out and checked. I have had raw skins that were wrapped good, with very little trapped air that were fine for a few years. I have also had deer that customers had frozen from archery season until after Christmas that have had serious freezer burn. It basically comes down to how he cared for the skin. Bears can be a lot of work, and can be difficult if you are not experienced with mounting large lifesize animals, but they are also a big payday for a taxidermist. I cannot see why a taxidermist would let a bear sit for years, unless there was a problem that he is not telling you. Good luck.

Well said Conntax, and great information. As far as my 2008 missing bear I gave my 36 years in the business taxidermist from Uniontown an 800.00 deposit never to see my bear again. The WCO now serving your area is aware of my situation and the Fayette Co. political/law officials also did me no good. I think the part in your post where you said a problem he is not telling you about is the unknown for me. My taxidermist was also working without a license for months while he was arguing with me. Take care

pm sent

Any updates Wolfie?

To answer your original question that is way too dang long!

I know you said the guy was working part time and you were willing to accept a couple of years but we are almost talking decades here!

Also, I am not trying to be rude, but it sounds like on one hand you are asking if this is an unacceptable amount of time and on the other making excuses on his behalf.

There is absolutely no way he should take this long. I am not a taxidermist but I am sure a life size mount does take longer than a shoulder mount but again you are talking about a lot of years......two different Presidents, the life of a small child, the shelf life of MiracleGro. That is almost 10 years of your life......you might as well smoke cigarettes because you ain't getting those 10 years of memories of looking at that beautiful mount back.

I am being to harsh, I am sorry. I had to go through this a couple of years ago myself. Took way too long to get a shoulder mount back and when I finally pushed the issue I got junk back.

All I am saying is you should have pushed the issue a few years ago.

I hope that in the end you at least get your money back. Good luck!

in reality your bear rug was probably sent out "wholesale" done by another taxidermist.

your lifesize mount could have been sent out too, but was lost, destroyed, damaged and your guy is trying to afford a replacement for you.

hopefully this isnt the situation. it happened to me with 5 ducks i had sent to a world champion bird taxidermist who judged competitions and did seminars, ...all gone, lost it all.

hopefully this isnt your case.

Backwoods was your bad taxidermist located about a half a mile from rt. 51 just north of Uniontown?? Cause I got a junk bear with a cut off tail thats shot full of nails.

No he was located in Monongahela. I think he is out of business now.

If he isn't I hope that my ruined deer was the last he ever ruined.

I use Dave Dillon at Acme Taxidermy now. Plus Dave was able to take my ruined buck and redo it.....made it look great.