(http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee396/TANK7571/045.jpg)
(http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee396/TANK7571/photo1-1.jpg)
(http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee396/TANK7571/tn.jpg)
I killed this one last year on opening morning. 22lbs, 10 1/4 beard, 1 1/8 spurs. I took him to a full time taxidermist and told him I wanted him mounted full strut, "blowed up".............This is what I got back. I want yalls "HONEST OPINIONS" on the job. I paid the guy $575.00 for it. Its not my best turkey, but the reason I mounted him was because of the bronse coloration on him. You can tell in the first picture what I'm talking about............... Be Honest!!!!!!!!!!!
I TALKED TO THE TAXIDERMIST ON THE PHONE AND HE WANTS ME TO BRING IT BACK TO HIM. HE SAID HE CAN TAKE THE TAIL BACK OFF AND LOWER IT ON THE FORM AND BRING IT TO A 90 DEGREE ANGLE, ROLL HIM BACK WHERE HES NOT LEANING FORWARD, AND FIX HIS LEGS WHERE HES STANDING TALLER & STRAIGHTER..........YALL THINK ITS WORTHA A TRY, OR WILL HE SCREW IT UP MORE?????????????
Sorry about the 3rd pic..........I ain't to good on a pooter! lol
It looks fairly good but It ain't full strut. I wouldn't be happy if I wanted a fulll strut bird. I would have left it there since it wasn't what I asked for unless he came down on the price. Where are the feet?
It doesnt look like full strut to me. I took a bird to a taxidermist yesterday. I'm getting full strut for $750. But I saw 3 of his mounts. 1 full 1 half and one just walking (standing) that one was pretty cool. Is his beek painted red? cant tell from pic. Hard to tell from pics but to me that mount didnt do the bird justice. Sorry for the negative comment.
I feel the same way you do. I'm debating calling this guy back and trying to get some of my money back........ and no his head in my opinion was the best thing about him. What your seeing is his snood.
Looks great,congrats!!
Quote from: TANK on April 14, 2011, 11:20:27 AM
I feel the same way you do. I'm debating calling this guy back and trying to get some of my money back........
i would be going over to his shop and demanding my money back. sorry but that thing looks like snit.
Quote from: Wrangler95 on April 14, 2011, 11:23:34 AM
Looks great,congrats!!
did you even look at it?
Quote from: Mailman on April 14, 2011, 11:13:39 AM
It doesnt look like full strut to me. I took a bird to a taxidermist yesterday. I'm getting full strut for $750. But I saw 3 of his mounts. 1 full 1 half and one just walking (standing) that one was pretty cool. Is his beek painted red? cant tell from pic. Hard to tell from pics but to me that mount didnt do the bird justice. Sorry for the negative comment.
i agree. it's not a bad mount but it's not the best i've ever seen either. me personally i wouldnt be pleased with it
I normally don't do this here because post up birds they're proud of and you dont' want to say........."hey it looks like .............". But........you asked. First off.........there are much, much, much worse birds posted up here that guys are thrilled with that I wouldn't hang in my garage.
Second........You need to post a little better photos for a good critique, but right off I can see that the bird is not balanced on the limb. A real bird will be balanced on the limb or they wouild fall off. Unless the poor photo quality is throwing me off, from straight on it looks like the bird should fall off the limb to his left.
Third........... the tail and back feathers are positioned strangely for a strutting bird. Again, unless I am being deceived by the photos, the tail would have to be detached from the tail bone for it to end up that high above the bird.
I can't tell much about the grooming due to the blurry photo, but considering the condition of the dead birds neck........I would suspect that there are some issues there on the mounted bird that likely are not his fault.
Is taht a wire in the front taht is showing to support the bird?
The bird still appears to be clean and probably shows well on the wall, but anatomically, there are some problems.
I'm no taxidermist, but I'm trying to figure out that last picture... what's up with the big void between the tail feathers and the mount...? Seems like it should be fuller in that area? Although the bird I had mounted a year ago has similar issues in head coloring, it looks like the colors came straight out of a paint by numbers set. As I said, my mount looks similar, but I really look for more natural coloration in the head, and asked my taxidermist to do a better job of blending colors or making them more natural/subdued than looking like a paint by numbers job.
I'm getting my bird from last season done gobbling on a limb. Now I'm kinda concerned what I might end up with...
That mount is the #1 reason I haven't had a gobbler mounted yet. I have seen so many mounts that were "okay". I just don't wan to waste that much $ for something that is "okay".
However, I have recently found a taxidermist that does a GREAT job, and will not cause me to take out a loan to pay for it. Now I just have to kill one that falls into my pre-determined size range to get mounted.
I would not be pleased w/ that mount, does not look realistic at all. I killed a nice gobbler w/ a similiar coloration, see it here:
http://oldgobbler.com/Forum/index.php/topic,6745.msg82452.html#msg82452
I'm about to send it off to be mounted also.
Absolutely terrible. Never saw one quite like that.
Yikes. Bummer. Sorry Tank, that one has got to hurt a little. It was such a nice bird. It looks like a goofy cartoon turkey from the 1970's.
Yikes! Sorry my friend, for that kinda money it should look better.
Quote from: LX_Trkyhntr on April 14, 2011, 11:44:14 AM
That mount is the #1 reason I haven't had a gobbler mounted yet. I have seen so many mounts that were "okay". I just don't wan to waste that much $ for something that is "okay".
However, I have recently found a taxidermist that does a GREAT job, and will not cause me to take out a loan to pay for it. Now I just have to kill one that falls into my pre-determined size range to get mounted.
I'm with ya.
I would be pretty upset with that to tell you the truth.
As soon as I saw that I would of said "You ever seen a bird strut like that? Is there a wind storm blowing in his face?"
Cally Morris does a better job on his decoys than this guy does on his mounts.. congrats on the bird and sorry that you got took and the guy jacked it up...
Tank can you make that third picture any bigger? It looks like the base of the fan is about a foot too high..
With me being a taxidermist and doing Turkey's only, I have to say your mount is not worthy of the price you paid. Please look at my work www.birdsonly1.shutterfly.com I get a lot of my work from people who have experienced what you are now experiencing and I charge $600. I'm not going to go into all the things I see wrong with the mount because any picture of a real strutting bird will do that for you. That being said, if you like it, that's all that matters.
Wow. You got ripped a new one. Awful mount.
It is anatomically wrong. If you look at Harvesters turkey in his signature. You can see the big differences. Hopefully he will make it right but than again he let it leave his shop looking like it does. good luck,
TRKYHTR
You would of been better off with a DSD strutter
Sorry that one is a little off
Nice bird congrats Like the coloration in the first pic but cant see it in the mounted pics.The tail fan is way to high and he looks off balanced on the limb.The head coloration is a little to bright and were one paint ends and another one starts its like u drawed a line it each color should slightly fade in with the othe.Now you got me wondering bout my merriams and osceola i got at the taxidermists but i have seen her mounts and if she mounts mine like the ones ive seen i will be happier than a cat covering up shat.Good bird but mount is awful sorry man.
Looks great!
Considering you paid for a strutter ,I think you got ripped off. Do you have a receipt that says strutter? I would ask that he make it right or give me my money back and go elsewhere.
It's hard to tell from the pics, but it doesn't even look like the same bird to me.
In the 1st pic, you can see beautiful colors in the fan, but in the other pics it looks like a completely different tail fan...where did the color go ?
Looks to me like he kept your original tail fan and substituted another one for it.
Yeah Tank, I'd probably be a little jacked up about that on too. With you posting this for our honest opinion evidently your not satisfied either. It does look like he put a 3" lift kit in his butt and jacked the tail up too high. The tail fan does look like it needs to have a higher angle in it if it's gonna have the traditional full strut look to it. I really dont think you got your money's worth out of this guy and think you should print out all these replies and take it with you when you go to see him about it. He wont be taking only your word for it but a lot of other guys as well. Just like us callmakers, if he wants to keep up his reputation and try to have repeat customers, he should really try to make things right by you.
I'm not a taxidermist but I have two birds mounted. In the third picture he looks deformed. Great bird though. Congrats on a fine gobbler. You should get some money back on the mount.
Personally, I'd whip his @ss. It's terrible.
Quote from: zach20065 on April 14, 2011, 01:04:00 PM
First i absolutely love the coloration of the bird in the first picture of when you killed it, i would have had to mount it too!! Now for the critique, I think it looks awful!! The bird is not full strut, his wings arent down like they should be, from the side especially he looks all out of whack, his feathers on his back are too high and his tail fan is way too high and sticking out and back too far for full strut. I think his head and beard look good but thats about it. Sorry for the crappy comments but im just being honest, i dont think i would take anything else to that taxidermist. Great bird, crappy mount. Sorry man.
:agreed: It doesnt look like the same bird with all the bronze .
You asked for honest, well, here goes. Its OK but I wouldn't be happy. He definitely looks like he is squatting. The right wing seems to be somewhat down but the left wing doesn't appear to be down at all. My idea of "all blown up" is full strut, and that is definitely not full strut. The feathers on his rump before the fan look all jacked up and out of proportion.
I'd take it back and see what he can do with it. Then I would let everyone know not to use that guy!! Man, what a shame. A unique trophy, you wait a year, and then you get a disappointment. I know the feeling. I had the same thing happen with my first deer. Never used anything but a quality taxidermist that I checked out his work thoroughly first.
A lot about the look of how he did this is very odd and I am not impressed and if I was you I would not be very satisfied with this. My honest opinion.
I agree with the other guys here. As a former taxidermist, I will add some specifics as to why it doesn't look right. The reason that taxidermists charge more for a full strut mount is this: a good taxidermist has to fluff the feathers up, against the grain, every single day as the skin is curing. If they don't, the feather pull flat and they look like a normal bird with his but in the air. if they fluff them every once in a while, the feathers are half up, half down and the turkey looks like it was caught in the rain. This guy did not take the time to fluff it as it was drying.
I'm sorry dude but if it were me I would be taking that mount back to the taxidermist and asking for my money back. No I would be demanding to have my money returned to me.
bird
Might as well jump on the dogpile! I don't think the beard is from the same bird either.
Quote from: Birds only on April 14, 2011, 03:07:10 PM
With me being a taxidermist and doing Turkey's only, I have to say your mount is not worthy of the price you paid. Please look at my work www.birdsonly1.shutterfly.com I get a lot of my work from people who have experienced what you are now experiencing and I charge $600. I'm not going to go into all the things I see wrong with the mount because any picture of a real strutting bird will do that for you. That being said, if you like it, that's all that matters.
Checked out the pics on your site. Impressive! Very nice work.
not a good job
sorry, but looks like he is playing a game of twister !! that mount is almost like an abstract pic by picasso. i have seen very few turkey mounts i would be pleased with over the years!! Although there are some awesome ones out there ..
Quote from: Birds only on April 14, 2011, 03:07:10 PM
With me being a taxidermist and doing Turkey's only, I have to say your mount is not worthy of the price you paid. Please look at my work www.birdsonly1.shutterfly.com I get a lot of my work from people who have experienced what you are now experiencing and I charge $600. I'm not going to go into all the things I see wrong with the mount because any picture of a real strutting bird will do that for you. That being said, if you like it, that's all that matters.
Beautiful work!!!!! those are some nice mounts!!! have seen way to many that look fake and all bent out of shape. Glad you live within driving distance if i ever decide to mount one
On his ssite, under the 2011 pics the third pic down on the first column there is a light colored bird that is a super nice mount and a perfect example of a full strut life like mount!!
Thanks to all that posted.................I returned it to him Friday evening. He said he can fix some of the things so I'm gona see what happens..................
Quote from: bird on April 15, 2011, 06:31:53 PM
I'm sorry dude but if it were me I would be taking that mount back to the taxidermist and asking for my money back. No I would be demanding to have my money returned to me.
bird
:agreed:
Everything but the FAN fan is terrible looking its worth a try and him fixin it, my best friend had one mounted and the guy that did it is a good friend but he went to get it and the taxidermist said what do you think and my buddy said repaint the head so he did they end you have to have em what you want if your paying for it.
Looks to me like an entirely different cape. Could be just the lighting of the pictures, but I would almost bet it is a different bird entirely than the one you took in to have mounted. My guess is that the taxidermist ruined your original cape and substituted this one. Probably did not take adequate care with the original bird and the cape slipped and he couldn't save it.
The mount is not the best, but I have definitely seen much worse,....and with the owner being very proud and happy with the product. That is the work of a taxidermist that is most likely just trying to put out a product as quickly as possible without regard to detail in the mount. That quality of mount should cost less than half of what you paid for it.....at best.
The 2 after pictures was taken with my iPhone. Thats why they are so crappy................its definatly the same turkey. When I killed him I shot some neck feathers out and a wing feather on his left side. The coloration is there also you just can't see it....................