Am I being too paranoid about my bear mount?

[crunch14]

Maybe I missed it on a different thread, but have you contacted your taxidermist? I'm curious about the process/outcome just incase it ever happens to me.

[Muley Shed Freak]

I too am curious as to what happened with this one. It didn't look like the same bear to me.. but you never know. Anyone know what happened?

[waylaid]

For what it's worth......

This is my bear they day after i shot him in the first pic, 2 1/2 years later mounted and i don't see much of a difference, looking at the muzzle for the best comparisson. As far as being wet and color changing it rained for a week straight so that bear was soaked when i killed him. Spring hunt. Hide didn't shrink hardly at all from when i got it back from the tannery

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[sharpstick]

I'm not an expert Care, but the hide looks different to me. Look at the right ear on your bear and the muzzle hair of your bear in the picture the day you took your bear. The right ear is rounded and even but on the mount, it isn't. Look at the muzzle color...it's almost the same color as the nose but on the mount there's a definite color difference. Hard to tell from just these pictures but I'm sure you have more and can compare more character traits your bear had to the mount. May not hurt to get another opinion from another taxi and see what they have to say.

[Sniper1]

Sure dont look like the same bear. Have you figured this out yet?

[AntlersOutWest]

Well.. I honestly still have mixed feelings about it. I called the taxi He told me that they take special measures in marking the hide different ways so that situtations like this dont happen. He said that any animal is going to be dirty. Well they do live in the woods, roll in dead stuff, mud, ect ect.. and when the tannery gets ahold of them they go through several detergent / solvent washes to clean the hide. Which makes sence
We skinned the bear on the mountain because we were 3 or so miles back in, the taxi did not have the exact measurements so the bear looks like he was on a major diet since I took him.
Also on the head.. I did not cape out the head because I was afraid of screwing it up. Who knows maybe the kid at the taxi did a shitty job skinning the head out hence the scars
He reinsured me that this was my bears hide and he would do anything to make me happy.

Honestly I dont know what to think. Still dont think hes mine but there is nothing I can do so Ive come to terms that Gary the Bear is mine and one of these days ill get a Bigger one

Sharpstick- You should come over and look at him in person and tell me what you think. His ears have been chopped in half I think maybe to do with the taxi process. give me a call 640-6796

[killerbee]

your between a rock and a hard place. i dont think it's the sme, but at this point you would just have to be down right mean and angry with the guy to get something together.

he does have a point, but mud and dirt dont change the color of the hair on the nose

[AntlersOutWest]

I know I know.. I make myself sick just thinking about it! Its hard to trust anyone anymore. Whatever animal I get mounted next im definetley going to pay more attention to the hide before I send it in.

[a_bow_nut]

That really sucks that you have had to go through this. One suggestion that I will make for the furture hides you send out. Make a mark on it once it has been fleshed out and is ready to go to the tannery and when it gets back ask the taxidermist if you can check the hide before they start the mounting process to ensure that it is your hide that came back.

[fatrooster]

Thats a good idea bownut. fatrooster.