From the truck bed to your wall.
Most of the frustration hunters have with taxidermy comes from silence. Dropping a deer off and hearing nothing for a year. Here is exactly what happens to your buck, in order, and when you’ll hear from me.
Nine steps. Two texts from me.
The steps marked with a filled dot are the two where your phone buzzes: setting your drop-off, and when he’s ready to come home.
- Day 0You text me a photo
Send a picture of your buck, where you are and when you can drop off. I text back the same day to confirm I have room, and we set a drop-off time, usually within a day or two. During gun week I hold extended drop-off hours.
- Drop-offAppointment at the studio
We look at the buck together and pick the pose and turn with the room in mind. I take measurements and reference photos, note the condition of the cape, and you leave the 50% deposit.
- Week 1Caping and prep
The hide comes off the skull, gets fleshed, turned and salted. The antlers and skull plate are cleaned and set aside for your mount.
- Weeks 1–2Off to the tannery
Your cape ships to a commercial tannery. This is the slow part, and it can’t be rushed without hurting the hide.
- Tannery returnBack in the shop
The tanned cape comes back soft and stable, and your buck goes into the mounting queue in the order he arrived.
- MountingForm work and mounting
The form is altered to your measurements, ears and eyes are set, the hide is fitted and the seam is closed with the hair patterns lined up. Then he dries for weeks while the hide locks to the form.
- FinishingThe last ten percent
Eyes, nose, lips and ear interiors are sculpted and painted in layers. Hair is groomed, antler burrs cleaned, and the whole mount is checked under daylight, warm light and cool light.
- ReadyYour pickup text
A photo of the finished mount and a time that works for you.
- PickupFinal look together
We check him over side by side under good light. Balance is due, and I show you how to hang him and keep him looking like this for decades.
An honest date, not a hopeful one.
Professional tanning and proper drying set a floor on how fast any mount can be done well, and I won’t pretend otherwise. What I can control is how many deer are in line ahead of yours. I cap the number of mounts I take each season, so your buck isn’t waiting behind two hundred others.
At drop-off you get a realistic date range based on where we are in the season and what the tannery is running. If that date moves, you hear about it from me before you have to ask. If you need a mount by a specific date, ask about rush service and I’ll tell you straight whether it’s possible.
The short list.
- Your deer, or the frozen cape and antlers.
Head on, cape attached, cold. If it’s frozen, keep it frozen until you walk in.
- Your Ohio game check confirmation.
Ohio requires me to record it for every deer. Leave the tag on until it reaches me.
- The 50% deposit.
It covers tanning and the form, which I pay for right away.
- Field photos, if you have them.
Close-ups of the face, eyes and ears before skinning help me match your buck instead of a generic deer.
- A photo of the wall.
Knowing where he’s going to hang helps us pick the turn. Optional, but it makes a difference.
It starts with a text.
A photo, where you are, and when you can drop off. I take it from there.