bobcat mount, couple questions

[wtnhunt]

Taxidermist has had my cat for going on 3 years. He finally has it mounted, last I talked with him over a month ago it is drying in, it should be done by now and he has not called me. We checked periodically every 6 months or so and he was going to get to it soon every time we talked to him. He is not a bad guy and he did a pretty decent job on a couple deer for me, but real disappointed about this cat.

First question is if you as a taxidermist had an animal that you could not get a form that the customer wanted what would you do? We wanted a laying down pose, even took the man a page from van dykes catalog with the exact form we wanted. Problem he said he had was that my cat was way too big for the form, longest form they had was only 27 inches and my cat was 31 inches. Said also the girth was too big as well otherwise he could have added to the form we wanted and filled in. He never called to tell me he changed anything until he had it mounted on another form which is standing, not what we wanted.

Next question? Picture he sent me of the cat shows the ears being looking kinda off to me. One ear is lower than the other, does not look right. Maybe just the picture, don't know. Is it normal to offset one ear lower than the other without asking the customer, if we don't like it can it be fixed?

Next question? If we get there and we decide don't like it, then what? Can it be remounted or is it too late?

[whitetailfreak55]

It can be remounted they just need to cut the stitching and peel it off. I would get it done the way you would want it for sure

[PotashRLS]

With all the problems he is either over his head on this cat or had a problem with the hide and has been stalling. Make sure it is YOUR cat, the one you brought to him. I have seen this with deer before and the taxidermist stalls until he can get a new cape to pass it off as the original.

3 years is a long time. Smells kinda suspicious with the time frame and the excuses.

[wtnhunt]

The man is a preacher, would not think he would outright lie to me or use another cat, but at this point I really don't know. Every time I talked with him he was planning on getting to it and gave some excuse to why he was unable to yet. Sure he did have some issues with the hide, it was a long shot with the rifle went in at the shoulder and it kind off gutted the cat where it exited. I ended up having to put another hole in him to finish him off when I got to him, so I know he had some stitching to do. Had I known he would not be able to mount it on the form we wanted I probably would have gone with a stalking form. Here is a pic.

Unfortunately this is the only pic I got of the cat before I took it to him.

[RTF]

Coming in here a little bit late, but all I have to say is WOW! He doesn't know how to mount cats. Unfortunately we don't have a season here to hunt or trap cats, so I have never gotten my hands on one to mount here at the shop. BUT I have seen and been around hundreds of bobcat mounts from various taxidermist from around the country to know that, your cat is in need of help. Ears are way off and that pose is something I have to question. The crap about the cat not fitting the form is all BS. No form fits the animal the way it should and we modify the forms to fit.

[wtnhunt]

Thanks Cliff. Kinda figured that on the form, the vandykes catalog has a few in the pose we wanted that I thought should have worked. Don't know where he gets his forms from, but I had taken him a page from the catalog.

If he ever calls me back I think I am going to just tell him I want my hide back. I want my cat back, but not the way he mounted it. I really wish he had called and been upfront with me before taking it on himself to mount it on a form we did not want.

[RTF]

Man oh man, I'm not sure if your going to get that hide off that form if he used a good quality commercial hide adhesive. If it wasn't tanned and just DP'd you will also have issues. I wish you luck and keep us posted.