Between my dad and I, we probably have about 40 animals mounted. The averagehas beenbetween 6 and 8 months. However,the taxidermist can't always give you an accurate timline due to outside factors. Namely, when the hide comes back from the tannery and drying time.I had a deer a few years back that was put together but could not be finished for quite some time. It was very humid that summer and he wanted to make sure the mount was thoroughly dried before he painted andfinished forme.