Taxidermist

Wondering if I can get some recommendations for good but REASONABLE taxidermist's. Im a younger guy but got a buck of a life time. Any recommendations would be great. Thanks guys.

Todd's Wildlife Taxidermy Wisconsin 58, Mauston, WI 53948 Takes a while to get stuff back but he is the best of the best. I have used others that do great jobs but Todd just does unbelievable stuff. My 2 cents worth.

Pine Ridge Taxidermy hwy o hartford wi Richard DeValk. I took many of my duck mounts, as well as my girlfriends father's duck mounts, to Rich and we love everyone we have gotten back! His number is (Home)- 262-670-6248 (Cell)- 262-224-1499

Here are my gun and bow bucks from last year, price was $650 for the pair. The one on the left is flawless, the right one you can tell it was fighting, it has a slice right behind the ear and a missing patch behind one of the eyes. The split brow buck has one of the nicest capes I have seen, not one spot with bad patches or gouges. The two side by side are at my house on the wall. The individual ones are the ones the taxidermist took while they were still drying (which is why the 9pt looks spotty) but after it dried it went away.

I don't know why the pic looks like that when you look at them you don't see that as weird as that may sound. I thought the same thing looking at the pictures.To the eye I see more muscle in the ones done by call of the wild.

Cindi at Beartooth Taxidermy on Hwy 70 in St. Germain is the best I have ever seen. She is an artist and the difference is unbelievable.

In 1990, I shot my best whitetail on the rifle opener.. wanted to have it mounted, shortest time wait was 7 months. The $250 (at that time) didn't bother me but the time did, So, I got a kit from a place called 'Dan Chase' in Louisiana, and I did it myself, had a video tape of how to do it. Cost was under $100 (then) and I had him on the wall a few days before Xmas.. He's still there, in great shape after 22 years, looks like I did it yesterday. I had a pro stop in about 10 years ago, and he said he could see minor 'rookie mistakes' but very nice for the first time. Its not rocket science, I'm gonna guess 10 or 12 hrs. total, the longest and trickiest was fleshing out the cape, but the video was quite detailed on how to do this. Bob

crossed his eyes- I understand the idea of putting the muscle lines in mounts to make them look more detailed, but I have to say that that deer looks a little ridiculous. I have never seen any mount, personal/show/commercial/whatever you want to call it, that looks like that. Even when a deer is alive, you do not see the muscle lines like that. It's a nice deer don't get me wrong, but sorry, that mount just does not look good.

Thanks! I went into see Dan Johnson in Oconomowoc. Anyone have any mounts done by him? Mounts looked good in the showroom. He charges $395 and said it would be done around end of February. The turn around time took me by surprise, but like I said, his mounts looked very good.

Hilgendorf Taxidermy in Watertown, WI. Joel is a real nice guy and does top shelf work.

Bringing this back up because I'm looking for reviews on taxidermists. I'm in the Waukesha area and have contacted a few around here. Any recommendations or places to stay away from?

Wild Things in Drummond Wi nice people . They are fair and do excellent work

P+Y- It's funny you say that becasue I noticed the poor quality of the mounts in the Antler Competition as well (some were nice, most were not). Really sad to be honest with you. Some of those bucks are deer of a lifetime and they look like a 1st grader mounted them. Oh well. Thats why its best to compare quality of work, not price before bringing your head in. My .02 cents.

Congrats on the second. My buddy took a second as well for his caribou. There were really nice mounts this year and as usual some horrible mounts on display in the antler competition. Sad to see.

I got a 2nd place ribbon in the Commercial Division. That is what I was expecting to get. The Open Division was judged pretty hard, very few ribbons awarded, seems to be the trend the last few years.

Ryno how did you do?