How long for skin-mount???

[IceBalls]

This is one for you Taxidermists out there.................  How long should it take a Taxidermist shop to do a skin mount of a 3 lb crappie???
I brought one in for mounting the beginning of February....shop says it still needs two more months to do the job.  Is that normal?

[Gump]

Depending on their backlog of work, even a year isn't out of the ordinary I don't think...

[walleyehunter01]

i just started doing my own fish.1 day to skin and flesh. a couple days to tan(soak) the fish,and then a  day to fill the fish,and a couple more days dry(cure) the fish and then paint.if not busy i would say you could do a fish in less than 2 weeks.but if the guy is busy he can leave is soaking forever with out damage to your fish.as i am an amateur at this i could be wrong and someone will let us know.a bonus for you and i.i hope this helps

[perchpirate97]

I'm a self taught taxidermist, and there is some time involved. Drying time takes the longest, you want all the oils out of the fish before you begin painting. I let my warmwater/larger scaled fish dry at least six weeks in a low-moisture environment with fans running (bass, panfish). For cold water species/oily species like trout, pike, salmon, gar, drying time is alot longer due to the oily nature of the fish.  Most taxidermists take between 8-14 months to do fish due to the amount of work they take in. I do a lot of my own, but when I catch a trophy, I take it to a great taxidermist and usually takes close to a year or more depending on the season. If it doesn't take a while to get back, they must not do too good of work 

[taxid]

Unfortunately not only do you get what you pay for in taxidermy, the best taxidermists are not only busier but have longer lead times accordingly.  It's not so much how long each mount takes ( I could do a crappie in a week from start to finish if I had to), but it's the accumulation of all the work he or she has, and the time it takes to get to your fish. For a full-time taxidermist a year is not unusual. I've heard of some taking longer than a year, and I've been there done that, but measures need to be taken if it takes much longer than that as in hiring more help, raising prices or whatever it takes. (No I'm not advocating gouging customers but there are some taxidermists that aren't even charging enough to make it worthwhile.

[taxid]

I'm a self taught taxidermist, and there is some time involved. Drying time takes the longest, you want all the oils out of the fish before you begin painting. I let my warmwater/larger scaled fish dry at least six weeks in a low-moisture environment with fans running (bass, panfish). For cold water species/oily species like trout, pike, salmon, gar, drying time is alot longer due to the oily nature of the fish.  Most taxidermists take between 8-14 months to do fish due to the amount of work they take in. I do a lot of my own, but when I catch a trophy, I take it to a great taxidermist and usually takes close to a year or more depending on the season. If it doesn't take a while to get back, they must not do too good of work 

Six weeks for drying? And longer for coldwater? Are you kidding?    I've been a professional  award winning fish taxidermist for 25 years and it's never taken me that long to dry a skin. it actually takes me less time to dry a coldwater skin as it's a thinner fish and I use a cast head.

As far as the oily nature of coldwater fish, an overnight soak in mineral sprits will take care of that. Otherwise the oil will bleed out continuously indefinitely.

[Reel Force]

are you using the real head of fake ? there will be a difference .... a fake less time - a real head it will take time for the oil to leach out from around the brain - cold water spices even more - my taxidermist is first place and many more award winning fish trophies in NY - John Clark - I almost called the AG on him the first fish I had mounted a Laker (cold water) due to the time it was taking. Called him and he explained everything - well I got the fish back ( and I'll take a pick of it ,if ya want ) caught in 93 and it still looks like the day I brought it home. Good things come to those who wait .

[MickeyFinn]

I'd say its dependant on when you got it to him and if he does animals also.....if you got it to him in Feb..he may have had alot of work still from hunting season..I took a Pike in to my Guy in March didn't get it back for ye and half...

[Raquettedacker]

This is one for you Taxidermists out there.................  How long should it take a Taxidermist shop to do a skin mount of a 3 lb crappie???
I brought one in for mounting the beginning of February....shop says it still needs two more months to do the job.  Is that normal?

  My question is,,,,   WHERE ARE YOU CATCHING 3 POUND CRAPPIES?

[perchpirate97]

Hey Taxid, not saying you're wrong. I'm just explaining how I do mine. Sure fish can be mounted a lot quicker if need be. I just prefer to take the "better safe than sorry" approach. Besides, for me it's just a hobby, I'm not looking to earn awards or make money. After doing it for as long as you have, I'm sure you have it down to a science more so than I.

[taxid]

Hey Taxid, not saying you're wrong. I'm just explaining how I do mine. Sure fish can be mounted a lot quicker if need be. I just prefer to take the "better safe than sorry" approach. Besides, for me it's just a hobby, I'm not looking to earn awards or make money. After doing it for as long as you have, I'm sure you have it down to a science more so than I.

Pirateperch97 I didn't say you were wrong either.  I just couldn't figure out why it takes you that long to dry a fish skin as it's really not necessary.  Now I see you just do it for pleasure and there is no time frame for you to rush to get it done. My bad. 

[taxid]

are you using the real head of fake ? there will be a difference .... a fake less time - a real head it will take time for the oil to leach out from around the brain - cold water spices even more - my taxidermist is first place and many more award winning fish trophies in NY - John Clark - I almost called the AG on him the first fish I had mounted a Laker (cold water) due to the time it was taking. Called him and he explained everything - well I got the fish back ( and I'll take a pick of it ,if ya want ) caught in 93 and it still looks like the day I brought it home. Good things come to those who wait .

I use a cast head on trout and salmon only. Other fish species I use the real heads. I've used real heads on trout and salmon, but IMHO by the time I  had cut out all the greasy cartilage (top part of the head) and replaced it, along with building up shrinkage on the rest of the head, the head is artificial anyway. If correctly painted the cast head looks real and is superior in quality in my opinion  Plus I don't have to worry about the customer bringing it back later complaining about grease bleeding. However if that is what your taxidermist does and it looks fine so be it.

On the real heads I'm a real stickler on removing just about everything so the heads dry pretty fast for me.

No need to post the picture but thanks for offering to. I'm not interested in comparing work or dong any critiques, as that can cause problems on here if you know what I mean.   If you are happy, that is all that matters and I'm sure it looks great.