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Ok guys a first for me. I’ve been doing taxidermy since the early 1980’s. Customer’s wife dropped off a deer head in Nov. of last year. Tagged the head & went on about our business. Mounted the head in June & notified the customer it is ready. After several calls the customer shows up to get his head this past Friday. Pointed out the head hanging on the wall with other deer waiting to be picked up. Customer immediately claims the head is not his. He opens his phone & shows me a picture of a deer that is definitely not the one on the wall. I’m now going into a controlled panic. What could have possibly happened. Is there anyway that we could have messed up. If so it would have to mean that someone else got the wrong head or something. Checked the logbook & all other mounts from that period & 30 days before or after & everything has been picked up. I asked for a little time to try & figure out what could have happened. Asked that he email a picture of the deer in question. No question not the same deer. Think John think. The guy kills this deer which happens to be a very very small forked horn buck that couldn’t have more than a 14 in neck. Takes it to a deer processor other than us (we process also). His wife picks up the head from the other processor & brings to us in a large black plastic bag (just like all the other heads brought to us). We take in the head & the deposit all the while not expecting anything strange. Log the measurements, 18 in neck. Ah hah, At this point I believe the other processor gave her the wrong head. There’s no other possibility. I don’t have a problem with any other mounts not being right. I have to discuss this with the customer tomorrow & it will be interesting where it goes. No matter what I think I’m going to be the bad guy. I can’t give his deposit back because I performed the work. I’m sure he doesn’t want the head & I certainly understand that. His wife is not going to admit that she didn’t verify the head was his when she picked it up from the processor. I did notice the picture in the email is only of the deer in the back of a truck. Not with him in it. He claims his wife took all the pictures & would know what his deer looks like. Man, Bummer, What would you do?
Bad situation, but sounds like you have it figured out to me. Talk to the processor, see if everybody can take a little hit on the deal. They might say they aren’t to blame, but unless their policy is for a customer to wade into a pile of deer and figure out which one is there’s, then that means the processor handed it to her and said here’s your deer, why would she even question that, especially if it was completely in a bag and not visible? So they need to take responsibility too. Honestly it’s all the responsibility of the processor and the hunter, none of your problem, but for business sake I’d try to work somethng out and take a little bit of a hit for PR purposes.
September 18, 2012
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I had the same thing happen to me this past season. I pick up a lot of heads from our local proccesor. He is great and has really helped my biz. Processors get slammed especially during rut and accidents do happen. In my case a customer came in to pick up a euro. He said,”that looks great but it isnt mine”. What apparently happend was his name was put on another deer that most likely went to another taxidermist.
his deer will be mounted and the other guys head was euro. It will work out but is unfortunate. Picking up heads from processors can be a double edged sword. In cases of spoilage, the customer doesnt know who may have mis-handled their trophy. Getting deposits can be tricky if the processor wont collect them for you at the time of drop off.In a lot of cases the customer still has to drop by your shop to pick a pose, sign a ticket and pay the deposit. Ive considered not picking up from processors anymore due to these infrequent but problematic issues. Legal possession also comes into play and my local warden says i atleast need the name and check in number. Its a convenience only to the processor if you think about it because the customer still has to come to your shop to pick pose and pay deposit. There are as many reasons not to pick up from processors as there seems to be to do it. I sure hope your issue works out. Its clearly not a mistake on your part. It happens when you pick up from processors. Be glad you didnt get blamed for a spoiled cape that sat in a bag of water and blood over night.
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