Taxidermy Opinion (Got my Buck back!)

[45ACPKING]

I get that $600 is a lot of money for most of us, but that's actually pretty "cheap" for a head mount.

That would have led me to do quite a bit more investigation in the first place - like go out and see some of his work instead of taking the word of someone on the internet who "heard from a buddy who has this friend".

A well mounted whitetail (head) might run you 800 to 1200 bucks - and on the higher end if the guy doing it is "actually acclaimed".

Sounds like you paid for someone who is still learning and he practiced on your mount.

I'd have to agree here. The only shoulder mount I have had done is spectacular. the reaction of most folks who see it is wonderment at how fricken real it seems, even right up close.
I had mine done in BC by Ray Weins taxidermy. I had hunted with Ray many years before and got my first deer with him as my hunting partner on that trip. We were and still are barely aquainted but he gave me a smoking deal at 750.00 , it took almost 2 years and I would have happily paid him more

sux about your mount, hope you get some satisfaction. A mount enshrines a package of irreplaceable memories and often is an example of a pivotal moment in a hunters life, like the mount I have on my wall. I will ONLY deal with a taxidermist who gets my attachment to the work I am paying him to do.