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Question on a Euro mount

Dean Parisian

Dean Parisian

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I value the opinion of your response. Maybe I am off base.

I had a 17 year relationship with this taxidermist. Some Euro's, some deer head mounts. I shot a couple of deer last year that he Euro'd. The first was a muley buck I killed in Colorado. He charged me $125, I gave him $150 because of the quick turnaround, he did as i had asked of him. I took sick with Covid in November and killed a buck off the front porch in my underwear laying down. Had to get dressed to gut it and had a hell of a time gutting it out with a high fever. I then decided to have this taxidermist Euro it. A decent buck, 6 x 5. Fast forward to last week. I drop in to pick the buck up. Had called him a month ago and texted him a month ago to contact me about picking up the pick. Heard nothing. So I dropped in last week. He said $200 bucks. I looked at the buck and was rather sick. Just shoddy work. My stance is that the $200 is gone but he will never, ever see another piece of work from me or my family. I guess I should bite the bullet and get it done right and spend more money. If AT Hiker was still in TN I would drop in to see him and drop it off in Clarksville. I have had Nathan Wilsons crew in Crossville paint some elk horns for me so maybe that is an option. What do you think about this work?

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Sorry that happened. That's just a lazy Taxidermist. Looks like he boiled it with peroxide and didn't protect the antlers. It can be fixed.

PM me if ya want. I can send you some antler stain and talk you through the process. I'd dilute the heck out of it and bring the brown up slowly or….swing on by and grab a beer while I airbrush it. 🍺
 
Dean Parisian said:
I value the opinion of your response. Maybe I am off base.

I had a 17 year relationship with this taxidermist. Some Euro's, some deer head mounts. I shot a couple of deer last year that he Euro'd. The first was a muley buck I killed in Colorado. He charged me $125, I gave him $150 because of the quick turnaround, he did as i had asked of him. I took sick with Covid in November and killed a buck off the front porch in my underwear laying down. Had to get dressed to gut it and had a hell of a time gutting it out with a high fever. I then decided to have this taxidermist Euro it. A decent buck, 6 x 5. Fast forward to last week. I drop in to pick the buck up. Had called him a month ago and texted him a month ago to contact me about picking up the pick. Heard nothing. So I dropped in last week. He said $200 bucks. I looked at the buck and was rather sick. Just shoddy work. My stance is that the $200 is gone but he will never, ever see another piece of work from me or my family. I guess I should bite the bullet and get it done right and spend more money. If AT Hiker was still in TN I would drop in to see him and drop it off in Clarksville. I have had Nathan Wilsons crew in Crossville paint some elk horns for me so maybe that is an option. What do you think about this work?

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$200 for a euro is insane. The taxidermist we used last year offered to do euros in exchange for him keeping the capes, so long as it was before the peak rut.
 
Rather odd he would let it go like that without touching up those bases.
Pretty easy fix. Camel, Clay red and burnt umber oil based paints thinned way down with lacquer thinner would be my method. Slowly build and wipe away until desired tones are reached, think of it more as a wash than actual painting. Let dry and lightly spray with a matte finish.
I've even taken them outside to rub on a tree to get a little bark and highlight the tips of gnarly bases.
 
17 years is an awful long time. Maybe wait till things simmer down a bit and call him after new years. He deserves to know how you feel as a 17 yo longtime customer and at least kind of a friend.

Tell him you feel disappointment about how this transaction turned out. Give him the opportunity to attempt to make it right. who knows maybe he's been overwhelmed with life and hired a new hand who he's having to train and pay to keep up and he isn't up to the standard. Maybe he's gotten old and disgruntled and riddled with arthritis or something. Who knows what excuses he might give you but at least hear what he says about things. it's best to handle things directly.

Doesn't sound like you have any other promising taxidermist in the area, but also mention that if there's nothing your current taxidermist can do to fix this that you won't be back.
 
Bases can be fixed. He should do that for the $$$ you spent.

Like said before in this thread, I don't care for the high gloss paint on the skull, but that can be personal preference. I much prefer a natural, almost sunbleached appearance.
 
I actually just had to bring the life back to one. My bud killed a wonky mule deer in MT. Had rotting velvet on his bases, of course when I cleaned the skull the velvet went completely away and I was left with a bone white bases. These antlers are extremely odd as they are very porous, not sure what was up with the deer.
Anyways, I used some wipe on/off paint from a taxidermy supply, thinned down with lacquer and I slowly built the colors up. Then sealed with a matte finish.
The porous antlers made this a pain in the butt.

Pic before the skull was cleaned. Notice all the blood and velvet. Nasty n weird.
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After the skull was cleaned. Pro tip, cover skull before painting.
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After painting. Not perfect but as good as it's gonna get for a freebie.
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