Taxidermy woes

So i posted nyala pics on the bragging board and its horrible but thats not the worst of it. A few years ago i took a huge mt lion. The outfitter is a long long time cat hunter. He has a record of taking over 10 cats per year in some cases more than that in colorado nm and arizona primarily but some in other states as well over the last 40 or so years. He is a good friend now and we have been on many hunts together. When i shot this mt lion he is just freaking out and states its easily top 3 cats hes ever taken and likely the largest. He knows i dont really care about scores but bc it was so big we did a green score initially and it was right about 15 3/4?. All time b&c starts at 15. I was pretty proud of this one and he convinced me to get an official score done thru the taxidermist if not for me, for him. The cat went straight from me to the taxidermy company drop point in kerrvile texas. I cut 3 large grooves in the eye socket of the skull to mark it. Then dropped it off. I got the mount back a year or so later and since we knew we were moving i just put the mount in storage and placed the wrapped skull in a box w other wrapped skulls. Well i asked for the skull to be scored by the taxidermist and it didnt come to me with a score sheet at drop off soooo i called and was told they forgot. Oh well i thought. With this nyala arrival and debacle i went and unwrapped the skull. Tiny with no grooves and no filler. I was told i wouldnt be able to tell the filler by the taxidermist and thats what her guys wouldve done to fix it. I am lucky to have access to an xray and ct scanner at work. No filler not my skull. I dont have calipers but on a simple measurement done with the tools i have itll be luck to hit 14?. Clealry not my skull. Not my cat. Im pretty mad and trying to figure out what path i should take. Gimme any recommendations any of you have.

If you have the resources I would lawyer up. Uphill battle but who knows.

shoot first.... ask questions later.....

I feel for you. It must feel like being robbed of your memories and achievement. Although I have little experience with taxidermists, the ones I've seen seem to be chaotic and its a miracle that anyone gets their right trophy. Of course most people don't mark their stuff and will never know whether they got the right one or not. All to easy for the taxidermist to fob them off.
If you lawyer up it'll cost a lot of money. Only you can judge whether its worth it. First off though I'd be talking to the taxidermist and advise him that you've scanned the skull and its definitely not the one you marked. It may be an honest mistake on his part that he can rectify if the correct skull hasn't already gone out to someone else. If he is still unwilling to help then you need to decide what to do next. Either write it off to experience, take legal action, or expose his conduct on all the local hunting forums.

Ugh, I feel for you. Not a fun situation with an easy answer. I would rather spend my pennies on bullets and powder then lawyers, but it would burn me and I would be sure to spread the story on all the hunting forums and any place I could leave a customer review. Maybe even a call to the local BBB to file a report. I would follow Walkingthemup's suggestion of showing them the evidence first.
How much shrinkage is to be expected? 1.75" out of 15.75" is 11%

Well I can feel your pain and tell you there is no easy answer. I had a bear skull "misplaced" and even in court if you win you won't probably recover the original skull. I have never seen or found out what happened to my skull and I used every legal means at my disposal.

One of those 'nitemares' that come along. Feel for you.

That sucks. Sorry to hear that. Sounds like it would be a waste of time and money to take him to court. Just subscribe him to every piece of junk mail and feminine product samples you can find, then pay for a couple of gay porn magazines with his name on them to be sent to his neighbors address.

I would start by checking with the state of his residence. I don't know if all states require a taxidermy license but I would think so as they are handling regulated game. If they are required in his state to be licensed then I would assume there has to be some official record kept of all specimens received. I would go through his state's licensing body and stir up whatever trouble you could. And don't talk to the receptionist or operator. Ask for whomever is responsible for issuing and overseeing the taxidermy licenses. It may even be something the local game warden may be responsible for investigating.

A letter from an attorney may be sufficient to scare him into returning your property or making it right and shouldn't set you back too much.

MARK: THIS IS REY GARZA, Esq., UNFORTUNEATELY, I BELIEVE THE ONLY THING AN ATTORNEY CAN HELP YOU DO IN THIS SITUATION IS RELIEVE YOU OF MONEY. I DOUBT IF THE KLUCK'S THAT SCREWED YOU HAVE THE CORRECT STUFF, AND DAMAGES WOULD BE DAMN NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE, AND MAYBE EVEN HARDER TO COLLECT. YOU HAVE JUST BEEN INCREDIBLY UNLUCKY. IN ALL THE TAXIDERMY I EVER HAD DONE I NEVER HAD ANY SUCH PROBLEMS. HOPEFULLY YOUR LIFETIME OF BAD TAXIDERMY LUCK HAS BEEN USED UP.

I wouldn't imagine any taxidermist gets that many lions in at any given time, so I would think they would have a list of clients that brought in lions and be able to contact them with their tail between their legs and try to sort it out that way.

That is of course if they didn't do something really shady like sell it out from under you because of its size. then I am sure they will offer no help.

IF not resolved I would do like KRAL said and make their name Mud.

Good luck sir,
That is a shitty hand you have been dealt

MARK: RE BB's COMMENTS ABOVE, IN 1995 I SHOT MY FIRST LEOPARD AND HAD IT AND OTHER SKINS, SKULLS, etc. SHIPPED TO THE STATES FOR THE TAXIDERMY. IT WAS A LARGE PAC (PROBLEM ANIMAL CONTROL)FEMALE. I GOT A COMMUNICATION FROM ANOTHER HUNTER WHOSE TAXIDERMIST HAD APPARRENTLY RECEIVED MY LEOPARD SKIN WHILE HIS SKIN HAD GONE TO MY TAXIDERMIST. THRU THE OUTFITTER (A VERY GOOD ZIMBABWE OUTFITTER) HE HAD SORTED OUT THAT HE PROBABLY HAD MY SKIN AND I PROBABLY HAD HIS MALE LEOPARD SKIN. WE GOT THE TAXIDERMISTS IN TOUCH AND THE APPROPRIATE EXCHANGE WAS MADE. IF YOU CAN GET YOUR TAXIDERMIST OFF HIS ASS, HE SHUD BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHO MAY HAVE YOUR SKULL, etc. IF THEY DO NOT WANT TO AT LEAST TRY THEN MAYBE YOU SHUD LET US KNOW WHO THESE GUYS ARE. IT MAY BE MORE DIFFICULT TO SORT OUT WHO MAY HAVE YOUR NYALA HORN OR HORNS.

A taxidermist relies on their reputation to stay in business. I don?t know the taxidermist you speak of and I?m certainly not suggestion anything criminal from them but we all know there is a huge market for trophy animals. With the lack of responsibility that seems rampant I would certainly share my experience with said taxidermist far and wide. By name. And so for all others involved.

In my opinion, the first step is to contact the taxidermist and lay out the evidence that you have. If you get no satisfaction there, contact Texas Parks and Wildlife (you said Kerrville?). That falls under their jurisdiction. Things will get ugly for them from there because I?d lay money this is not the first time they?ve done something like this.

Well you did the right thing by marking it & if that cat is a world record & it sounds like it was then somebody will see it sooner or later. You can't keep something like that quiet for ever. Who wants a world record kept in secret.
My brother shot a 41 1/2" mule deer about 30 years ago & someone stole it from the taxidermist, we've never gave up & you shouldn't either. Good luck!

Dick

Thanks guys, all good advice. Im still sorting things out. Dick, i would be even crazier if it was a world record, itd need to be an inch bigger or so
To get close but the thought and recs were kind dick, thanks 👍 but it was an even bigger cat body wise than we had initially thought. Pic is on my bragging board. To give a size reference, im 6?0 and about 275lbs in that photo. Thay said, ibe contacted the taxidermist and of course got nowhere but i will weigh my options carefully.

The taxidermist is wildlife gallery out of michigan, they just had a dropoff facility in kerrville. I dont want any of the fine taxidermists in kerrville to get blamed. 45man, thanks for the advice as well specifically as you are a lawyer and KRAL i think we have a winner!!!

You must be reading my mind...😜😜😜...I haven't commented yet. LOL

It is very frustrating when something like that happens. It it only makes it worse when the taxidermist won't cooperated or own up to the mistake and try to make it right. The size of the taxidermist or amount of work they do has nothing to do with being responsible and having good buisness practices. Mistakes will be made by everyone, but the one that corrects or makes it right with the customer is the one who shows good character and integrity.

I really feel your pain on the cat. I had a similar incident on a bear. I went the lawyer route, and all I got was madder and poorer. I ended up just being a lot more careful about my taxidermist. Good luck in your pursuit.

I feel for you, Tradmark. I have had two bad instances with taxidermists; one "lost" a trophy deer cape (I'm sure he sold it as it was extra large) and the other time I had a 6X6 elk mount on display at the Gander Mountain Store in Denver off of I-25 North. They went out of business and called me to come pick up my elk mount. When I got there it was missing but there were others still there.

Well it turns out they had a Taxidermist come and pick up a half dozen heads at once and one of them was apparently mine. They told me I had no recourse as I had signed a Liability Waiver when I displayed it there. They eventually gave me a small broken "raghorn" mount that had gone unclaimed. I asked for the name of the taxidermist and they would not give it to me.

Tradmark, again I can say that I feel for you; I would go to the Game Authorities as someone previously stated and watch the record books for Mountain Lion although if they change the details as in date and area, etc. that may not help.

A friend of mine has a barn full of his elk racks and his latest one scored around 350. He hired a day laborer who it turned out collects horns and Jim showed him his collection. Darned if a few days later the kid quit. A week later Jim noticed his biggest (most recent) elk rack was gone.

He called me for advice and I basically told him the same thing: call the Game Warden and call all the local taxidermists to see if they heard anything or were offered an elk rack for sale.

Good luck buddy.

Gregg

It's been so long I forgot to mention it but I've mentioned it before. Back in 1970 or 71 we were shooting Rock Chucks along the Snake River canyon outside of Twin Falls, Idaho & I shot an Albino Rock Chuck. When I first shot it I thought it was a field lion (feral cat) but when it started flipping around we all knew it was a Chuck. I ran out into the Alfalfa field & stepped on it with my foot. Luckily I had only hit it across the bridge of the nose so no damage.
One of the guys with me had a sister living in Twin Falls so we took it to her place & put it in the freezer & hunted another day then I took it to my life long buddy & taxidermist who just died 2 months ago.
He skinned it & sent it off to California where he always sent his hides for tanning. A couple weeks later he got a letter saying the hair had slipped & they had to dispose of it. My Albino was gone!! That was it, no other explanation. True Albino, pink eyes, feet, nose, gone!!

Dick

DICK: "HAIR SLIPPED" MY ASS! TOO BAD.

Rey, you're right, someone in California has my Albino Rock Chuck in their trophy room! Crazy thing is there were 2 more of them in that field & we went back the next week end hoping to get them.
I had my old Air Force buddy visiting me from Runge, Texas & he wanted one pretty bad. I got a small one & there was another small one & a full grown one.
No luck, either somebody beat us too them or they just weren't out when we were there. Have never seen another one in almost 50 years of looking but I've heard of guys getting them.

Dick

Well i am sure someone has yours sitting in their living room dick. I thought i would chill out a bit but im more mad now than before. I meed a drink

IN 1998 I SHOT A LION IN ZIM, WAS HAVING HIM LIFE SIZED STANDING, CLAWS ARE RETRACTED WHEN THEY STAND, SO I ASKED THEM TO PULL THE CLAWS SO I CUD USE THEM FOR JEWELRY OR WHATEVER. THEY FORGOT TO DO IT AND WHEN I BROUGHT IT TO THEIR ATTENTION THAY SAID NOT TO WORRY, THEY WUD SEND ME SOME SPARE CLAWS. NOW YOU DO NOT GET "SPARE" LION CLAWS AT THE DOLLAR STORE, SO I GOT SOMEONE ELSE'S CLAWS, CUD NEVER GET MYSELF TO USE THEM. THE WORLD OF THE TAXIDERMIST!