Elk cape
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: cptbs
11-Jul-22
I got my elk back from the taxidermist and I think I got a different cape. What do you think, is this the same cape?
From: cptbs
11-Jul-22
This is the cape on the mount.
From: cptbs
11-Jul-22
From: butcherboy
11-Jul-22
From the pictures it doesn’t look the same. It’s hard to say though. I doubt the tanning process would change the color like that. Even washing any mud, dirt, or blood out wouldn’t change the color. The hair on the neck looks a lot shorter on the mount as well.
From: cptbs
11-Jul-22
Thanks butcher, I recall the hair on the neck being much darker, thicker and longer when I was caping it.
From: Straight Shooter
11-Jul-22
I would say no. In the harvest picture the hair is much longer and the color is dark to the front of the shoulder. The mounts color fads to a lighter color much sooner than in the kill pic. It’s tough to say for sure with the tanning process and the darker color in the photo. The color could lighten up but the “fade” on the mount is the most concerning.
From: Birdman
11-Jul-22
I'd also say no , it looks like a Missouri breaks elk.
From: SlipShot
12-Jul-22
Is that the only field photo you have? My first impression is no, that is not the same cape. Have you asked your taxidermist about it yet?
From: Inshart
12-Jul-22
I would also say no way.
Field Pic: The dark and much longer neck hair appears to go all the way down to the front legs. Taxi mount much lighter and shorter looking. I would take it back along with your field pics and ask him about it.
Better yet I would contact Dennis Raza (sp?), here on Bowsite - if anyone can give you a "more qualified" opinion - he can.
From: KY EyeBow
12-Jul-22
I'd agree with butcher. The question really becomes what do you do about it at this stage. I'd ask the taxi, but I'm not sure what the remedy is from a practical standpoint... Your memory of the hunt is obviously the most important aspect
From: SBH
12-Jul-22
Agreed with all above. Doesn't look similar to me. Bummer too because that cape on your bull is beautiful. Let us know what your taxi says, oh boy.....
From: Taxidermy man
12-Jul-22
Nope.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
12-Jul-22
Keep us posted on the taxi response…I think it’s the wrong cape also
From: Smtn10PT
12-Jul-22
I would say not the same.
From: Rut Nut
12-Jul-22
I'm no expert.....................................but I think it's pretty obvious the only long hairs on your mount are right under his "chin". The elk in the field pic has long hairs going all the way down his neck into brisket.......................................
From: Altitude Sickness
12-Jul-22
Your bull looks like a later season and more mature bull cape. But the foliage is still green.
The mount looks more early season and less mature
From: wyobullshooter
12-Jul-22
To me, both the overall coloring and the length of the neck hair are dead giveaways. That is not the same cape.
From: JohnMC
12-Jul-22
It certainly possible it not the same cape. I think it also possible the difference is that when you killed him he was covered in pine sap, mud, piss, and/or wet. That those things make his fur look much dark. Could be if you got your mount wet (not recommending) the hair would look longer when they are all straight and not wavy.
Whatever the case don't let it take away from killing a great bull and getting to admire it on your wall.
From: Bou'bound
12-Jul-22
Was that elk transitioning by chance? Something changed from the woods to the wall.
From: cptbs
12-Jul-22
Thanks everyone. I've contacted the taxidermist this morning. I will update when I hear back. I'm hoping he may still have my cape.
From: Vaquero 45
12-Jul-22
For many of the obvious observations given already . I don't believe it's the same cape either .
From: Beachtree
12-Jul-22
Nope
From: 70lbDraw
12-Jul-22
Looks different to me. Very different.
From: MA-PAdeerslayer
12-Jul-22
Lmao Bou!
From: HDE
12-Jul-22
Not the same cape. The one on the mount is from a younger bull, like from a 4 year old or something.
From: Huntcell
12-Jul-22
That is a shame, not your kill cape. Your kill cape is outstanding in all respects, apparently the Taxi just puts on, one from the pile of capes and calls it good. your cape is on someone else elk and that guys is saying wow that taxi did outstanding job making my rag horn look fantastic.
From: Grey Ghost
12-Jul-22
I think the real question is was the real cape delivered to the taxi in good shape? If so, why doesn’t it look like the same cape?
Matt
From: Birdman
12-Jul-22
Better photos would make it easier to tell.
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
Here is an update on this. After some back and forth with the taxidermist he says it is the right cape. The difference in color, length of hair on neck and bullet holes in the neck all seem to indicate this is not the same cape. I shot the elk in the heart, the taxidermist called when the cape came back from the tanner and said there were two holes in the neck from a muzzleloader bullet. I did not see any holes when I skinned the cape and there was no damage to the neck meat. I need to do more research to see if this is worth pursuing. Thank everyone for taking a look and your replies.
From: APauls
14-Jul-22
Oh boy. I feel for you. This is a real sucky situation. I mean unless the bleached it and took a hair trimmer to it there's no way those are the same. Did you send him side by side pics when asking? How could a guy refute that? I'd have to disagree with John. There are no hairs on that mount long enough to match the length of hair from your field photo. Either the cape is different or it's been trimmed. I have zero idea why anyone would trim hair and bleach it. Would have to be some kind of giant tannery screwup, so 99% chance it is a different cape.
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
I sent the same pictures I posted here. I only had the one picture showing the side of the elk. All my other pictures are of the front of the elk.
From: Brotsky
14-Jul-22
Your taxidermist is screwing you. Wish he wasn't but that's the long and short of it. I hope you get a satisfactory outcome but its looking like denial and obfuscation are going to rule the day from your taxi.
From: Rut Nut
14-Jul-22
The bullet holes in the neck/cape is the clincher...................that is NOT your cape! Either the taxidermist or the tannery screwed up....................that is obvious! : (
Sorry to hear this, but thanks for posting! Is a good lesson for us.................never would have given any thought to the cape being so different.
From: KY EyeBow
14-Jul-22
Sounds like you'll be getting a new taxi....................................
From: JohnMC
14-Jul-22
"I shot the elk in the heart, the taxidermist called when the cape came back from the tanner and said there were two holes in the neck from a muzzleloader bullet."
Elaborate on that a little if you don't mind. If he called you before mounting, and told you it had bullet hole. does not sound like the taxi was trying to pull wool over your eyes. If that the case sound like the tanner might have screwed up and sent him the wrong cape.
From what I can see of your mount it still looks nice. Hang it up and enjoy remembering your successful hunt. You go down a rabbit hole of getting pissed and fighting with taxi I doubt you get a outcome you are really satisfied with, and then you never look at that mount and remember a awesome hunt instead only see issues with taxidermist.
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
Johnmc. Taxi called when cape came back he said that my cape was back and said there were 50 cal holes in the neck and a scar on the chest from fighting that he would fix. I told him I shot it in the heart not the neck, he dismissed my remarks. I thought the holes could have come while tanning or when the cape was fleshed. I didn't know about the scar, it could have been there. The cape was handled by 3 different people after me, the first guy that checked in the head with cape attached (he probably removed the hide from the skull), then the Tanner and the taxidermist that finished the mount. Could have gotten mixed up in with one those 3.
From: APauls
14-Jul-22
Somewhere out there there is a guy with a wrong cape as well. If he is calling maybe there is a chance it gets home.
From: RonP
14-Jul-22
serious question, can you tell holes in a hide are from a muzzleloader? if yes, what is it that tells you it is from a muzzleloader?
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
I posted on other sites to see if anyone else might have the wrong cape. They might like my cape better and not come forward.
From: JohnMC
14-Jul-22
If it was mixed up at the tanner no telling where your hide is.
From: 2xLung
14-Jul-22
If you REALLY want to know, pull a hair sample and a sample off the antlers - find a lab that will DNA test it and see if they match. Probably cost a couple hundred bucks, but worth the look on the taxidermist's face when you confront him about switching capes. Absolutely not the same cape IMO.
From: JL
14-Jul-22
^....I was going to say do a DNA test too. I wonder if there was some type of illegal activity going on (fraud???) and this possible switch is exposing it?? Is it possible that's a cow cape?
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
I looked into one company that could do the DNA testing on hair and horns. The cost to test could go into the thousands of dollars depending on how many DNA markers are needed.
From: goelk
14-Jul-22
Nope
From: Bou'bound
14-Jul-22
If another guy got your cape you’ll never hear from him he ain’t calling’. He got a much nicer cape.
From: JL
14-Jul-22
If you highly suspect something nefarious happened, go talk to your local CO/DNR LEO and explain what you suspect happened. If they smell a rat, they might do the DNA test for you for free.
From: cptbs
14-Jul-22
I talked to parks and wildlife yesterday, they said the cannot help.
From: Altitude Sickness
14-Jul-22
CPTBS, any possibility that there was hair slippage and the taxidermist just dealt with it and got another cape
and didn’t charge you for another cape
From: badbull
14-Jul-22
I was thinking the same as Altitude so maybe the taxi should not be thrown too far under the bus. In my experience, the tannery has most often been the culprit. Your mount and the cape look good so that hopefully helps some with the way you feel about this situation.
From: RK
14-Jul-22
I would burn the horns and the cape and start from scratch again. Big elk are easy to kill so no problems on that part of the equation. Once killed this time have people in place to skin it, cape it all on video of course. Follow it to the tanner and stay with it until you deliver it to the new taxidermist.
OR. grow a set and appreciate that you have the horns not the cape instead of the other way around
From: HDE
15-Jul-22
I was going to say a game and fish officer can't do anything. A wildlife law has not been broken, as much as some wish it were.
You can usually tell the difference from a bullet hole in a cape from one that was caused by fleshing/caping.
From: Bou'bound
15-Jul-22
Mistakes are accidents. Lies are intentional.
Taxi is lying if he's saying it's the same cape. He owns that. He may not own the mistake that resulted in the lie.
From: Boris
15-Jul-22
I know a couple of taxidermists that are friends of mine. Over the years, in our chats, they have said that very few taxidermists do their own tanning on elk. Mainly because of the size and do to the amount of mud that is in the hide. You said that there were bullet holes in the hide, then the tanner sent the wrong hide, not the taxidermist. Just my take on the subject. An if the taxidermist doesn't know the store of the hunt.
From: Inshart
15-Jul-22
Really RK, he paid good money to get "his" elk processed by the Taxi -- Next time you take your vehicle in for an oil change and get a $200.00 "wood hauler" --- don't complain just massage yourself and be happy with what you got back!!!!!!!
From: HDE
15-Jul-22
You're paying the taxi for his time to prep the cape and do the mount. You're paying the tannery for processing the cape.
Where the taxi likely messed up is not having a good marking system for the capes he sends off.
From: WV Mountaineer
15-Jul-22
Ttt
From: WV Mountaineer
15-Jul-22
Ttt
From: Bou'bound
17-Jul-22
Was that elk transitioning by chance? Something changed from the woods to the wall.
From: WillPower400
17-Jul-22
Agree with most above definitely not your cape...... I had this happen on my 2013 NM bull....the ABQ taxidermist lost/mixed up my cape....that sent me my bull with a similar situation as you, younger hardly no mane cape whereas my bull was. a mature 340 with a thick dark mane. Sent my elk back and they put a more mature and closer matching cape on it that they think might have been my cape. The taxi was actually pretty upfront about it after I called them out on it...I hope you can get a re-mount with your actual cape or they match up your cape with anther more representative cape.
From: butcherboy
17-Jul-22
I once used a very big and popular tannery. They tried three different times telling me that there was hair slippage on elk capes and asked what I wanted to do. I had them send me pictures of the cape and the punch code. Once I saw the pics I knew instantly the capes didn’t belong to any of my customers. All three codes on the capes were wrong and didn’t match anything I had record of. When I told them this they figured out their mistake pretty quick. They belonged to a different taxidermist. His business name was almost the same as mine and they were going by the name instead of the code. Every taxidermist enters a code in the cape that corresponds with the tag on the antlers/horns. The tannery will then put a code into the cape that is assigned to that particular taxidermist by the tannery. They use that same code on everything for that taxi.
Three scenarios here. Whoever caped the head and fleshed it didn’t put a code in before sending it off. Second one is a mess up by the tannery. Third one is the taxi should have matched the code on the cape with his records when he got the cape back.
In my case, I never used that tannery again and used a guy who was only two hours away that had a small scale tannery. I could drive my stuff there and pick it up. He is extremely busy but is a one man shop and keeps better control with records. Never one problem with him and his tanning and shaving is way better than any of the big tanneries I used.
Also, it’s impossible to tell a muzzleloader hole from a rifle bullet hole. I assume your elk was shot in CO during the archery hunt while muzzie hunt was going on as well? Taxi probably knew this and just assumed you killed it with a muzzleloader?
From: t-roy
17-Jul-22
butcherboy……..can you explain in more detail, the process of punch-coding the capes. Does each cape you take in get it’s own individual code, or do you have one set code for your shop, that every cape that you handle gets?
From: Scrappy
17-Jul-22
I know exactly where you're cape is and how you can find it, but you will never get it back. Find out where your taxi will be competing in his next taxidermist competition and your cape will be there.
Now you all know how the taxidermists gets all their cool mounts for competition. :)
From: butcherboy
17-Jul-22
T-Roy, each cape gets its own individual code that is assigned to each customer. The same code is attached in some way to the antlers and wrote down on the work order. It’s is made by using some kind of small punch to poke very small holes into the cape. Usually on the end where it will wrap around the backside of the mount and cut off. If a number of 236 is assigned to the cape then a code is punched in by poking two vertical holes for 2, three vertical holes right next to the first holes, then 6 holes next that. It is read left to right. The tannery will do the same thing when they receive the taxidermist’s capes. They assign a number to each individual taxidermist and punch that number in each piece. That number is recorded and stays with that taxidermist’s account for everything they send in from now on. Some tanneries also use a system of colored zip ties that attach to the cape according the taxidermist’s account.
With small tannery I started using he assingned me a number. I went and had some goat ear tags made with that number and attached it with a small hole and zip tie. I then still punched a number in that I assigned to the customer. That number was for the cape and antlers.
I hope this clarifies it some.
From: t-roy
17-Jul-22
Thanks, Chad.
