Bill I know you to be an straight shooter on here and there are times you and I have had difference's of opinion but I do respect your opinion even if I disagree at times.... I found this part of your post some what insulting as a customer (if I read it right) to paraphrase...you and other taxidermist sit around and talk and"laugh" about your customersbeing soexcited about their trophy and the fact that they want to price shop. Iliken that to a man wanting to buy a used car and wants to shop to get the best price ... I was in the car business 25 years and Iunderstood someone wanting to shop but it was my job to sell him on me ..my product ..my service and my company ..I very seldom sat around with fellow salesman and laughed at the customers for wanting to shop...quite the contrarry we laughed at the ones who paid us to much...and then there were those who would buy a car somewhere else for less money and drive them over to show me the car andtell me how much they saved ..of course a lot of times the car they bought had previous body damage that only a trained eye could see and generally thats why they got the car cheaper but I seldom told them about it I would just say well maybe we can do business next time ...my reason for using this analogy is because you said "We laugh how guys can't tell a good one from a bad one" ..some of us are not looking for "show" mounts ...I can understand a "show" mount taking more time then a commercial mount to do ... most of us do not have that "trained" eye like youand your protege's have for detail or at least I don't ..I think I can appreciate a quality mount but doubt I could look at a "show" mount or a commercial mount and tell much difference ...now I understand you are a professional and an artest with your work ..but to sit around with others in your line of work and laugh at usbecause we are excited about or trophys and would like to get them back in a "reasonable" amount of time and because we can't see the difference in qualityI feel is insulting. I also did not miss the part where you said " We thank our lucky stars that they do have such a passion" but I think that this statement could be seen as self serving because it is our (your customers)passion and excitment that allows taxidermist like youto make a living and charge whatyou do and with out that passion and excitment guys in your profession might be selling cars or working on a roof putting up shingels in 90 degree heat for a living...I want to go back to the top of this post to reiterate that I know you to be a straight shooter and I do respect your opinions, candor and I am sure you do very fine work...but I think you might want to rethink this post if I read it right(if not let me apologise)but I can't see how one could come away with any other understanding except that you and your fellow workers find it amusing that me and other customers like me want to getdecent work done... get themost for our money in a reasonable amount of time.

dd

DD Bill was not trying to insult you I know him well enough to know that. We as taxidermists understand that our customers are excited about their trophies and that they are in a hurry to get them back.

But I must ask you what is more important... Getting it back in 2 or 3 months and it falling apart in 2 or 3 years or waiting for a year maybe 2 and it lasting a life time. I think what bill was saying he can't believe people would give up quality in order to get their mount backASAP.

I look at it like this and I am sureI have said it on here befor. The customer spends lets say:

Camoflauge..........$200
Cover scents........$15
Rifle with scope.....$1000
4wheeler..............$7000
Treestand.............$250
Foodplots, salt licks, mineral blocks, supplements..........I have no idea on the $$ but it can't be cheap either.
Hunting Lease........$1000
Guided Hunt..........$ 2500 & up

Your telling me that a customer that spends that kinda money to get a chance to harvest a trophy buck can't spend $400 - $600 to have it mounted and wait 1 year to get it back. If it means it will last a life time? Now to you see why we find it kinda funny when someone goes to the cheapest guy to have a deer mounted. You get what you pay for most of the time.

Mike thank you for your post. I want to say first of all that I have talked to Bill enough on here to know that his post was not directed at me nor was he deliberatly trying to insult ME ...I was talking as being a customer in general who takes offense at being laughed at becasue I may want to save money and might want the job done well in an expedient way. I mean for christ sake they can build a house in less then a year ..as a mtter of fact they can build several nice homes in less then a year. I know it may not be in the volumn that you mount deer but hey it aint exactly rocket science...Second let me say in reference to your comment " Your telling me" I was not nor am I trying to tel lyou anything ...my point was not EVERYONE wants nor can afford a "show" mount ... I paid $650.00 + shipping from Canada for Brian Dobson to mount the buck I took in 04 and yes I can tell a difference in the quality of the work VS my other mounts but then again I paid twice as much for it so it should look better but this was a once in a lifetime trophy ..I left it with him in November of 04 and got it back in March of 05 about 5 months and the quality is EXTREAMLY good... I will say that I agree with you in one respect that in general you do get what you pay for which is just the way ecconomics work ..you do not get more for less I am a firm beleiver of that ..but I swear I can not for the life of me understand how a business could ask someone to wait for over a year to get their service ..I mean why not hire someone to help you to expidite the orders ... CUSTOMER SATIFACTION .... I suppose I get on my soap box about this stuff becasue I know a taxidermist that is local here ...pretty well known around your circles and been doing it for over 20 years and I think the reason he makes you wait so long is because he is out hunting when he should be working.

dd

This is kinda like the Hevi Shot argument...you can shoot a gobbler dead with a $5.00 shell or shoot him dead with a $1.00 shell.

There's usually two main reasons for the turn-around...#1-Volume of business..get in line. #2-Some tan some don't.

Personally I have no problem with paying for quality because your using a man who has paid his due's and deserves to make a fair profit on his time and experience.. what gives me heartburn is to ask me to wait up to a year or longer to have that "privilege" of using his service on top of paying a premium price...like I said seems if he has that much business and that much backlog he could hire enough helpto get the work done in a more reasonable time ..it HAS to be obvious that most taxidermist KNOW this is a concern of most clients and just seems the wait must be due to lack of manpower or a lcak of consideration of their clients...but thenthats just me.

dd

DD,

Not to disagree with you but I just wanted to add my opinion to this discussion....

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Unfortunately, your anology about the car salesman and the Taxidermist has very little correlation to this situation.

For lack of a better way to explain it, Bill has his customers by the proverbial family jewels. If they want his quality work they have no choice but to wait for it. More importantly, Bill doesn't not need to accept business from those few extra incremental customers that do not appreciate his talents. It is simply not worthy his time...

On the other hand a car salesman lives or dies by the incremental customers. In sales EVERY CUSTOMER IS AN INCREMENTAL CUSTOMER...If they were not, your job title would not have had the word "sales" in its description.

The reality is Bill doesn't need to "sell" anything. His work attracts his customers based on its own merit. That is why he can afford to honestly express his opinions concerning individuals that do not appreciate or understand quality taxidermy work.

If these individuals do not appreciate his work in the first place, chances are they won't ever be his customs regarless of what he might say or think...
JC

JC looks like we disagree AGAIN imagine THAT ...contrarry to popular belief Iam not the village idiot I do understand what was said thank you.

dd

I have to agree with DD on this one. I have mounts in my home from 4 different Taxidermists. One Taxidermist is really good and had a two year wait to get your head back. He is also very expensive. I have another mount from a different taxidermist that I got back in 5 months and costs only half as much.

I can't tell the difference. Was it worth the extra year and a half wait and extra cost? No! And no, the cheaper mount did not fall apart.

Hey DD we agree on this.

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Here is another example. I paid $550 for my moose mount and got it back in 3 months. My buddy paid almost $1200 for his and got it back in over a year. My moose is the first picture, his is the second. Can you tell the difference to justify paying twice as much and all the extra wait? I can't.