09/01/2024
This is going to be a little lengthy but if you have the patience to read this all the way through please do. I want to come on here to give everyone a little update and be extremely transparent about how this year will go for my shop. I’m currently working as much as possible and some on weekends to try and get caught up. That being said I also have a family that I want to spend as much time with as I possibly can. I am definitely still more behind than I want to be but also making more headway everyday. This is a very hard decision for me to make but I have to cut back on my intake for this upcoming season. I thought I cut it off early enough last year but I was wrong. I truly wish I could say yes to everyone and sometimes I say yes a few too many times. But I am tired of being behind and making y'all wait too long to get your stuff back.
So here’s what my intake numbers will probably look like just so everyone has an idea of what to expect.
I usually do around 65 to 80 euros a year and that likely won’t change cause I’ll have 95% of them done before the season rolls around and gets super busy.
Bears will probably be in the 15 to 20 range. That could fluctuate because a lot of that depends on how people get them mounted. I will say I may or may not take on any full lifesize. I actually like doing them but they just take so much time. If I take any full life size it might be one or two but that’s a big if.
I probably won’t be taking any furbearer lifesize mounts (bobcats, foxes and coyotes). I haven’t been taking these in for quite a few years (with a few very minor exceptions) because they also take up alot of time and I honestly wouldn’t consider them to be my strong suit.
Now the big one is shoulder mounts. This goes for all types of animals, not just deer. My max will probably be 50 or less across the board for all species. Considering one year I took in almost 200 shoulder mounts and my normal yearly intake is around 125 this is a big cut. I truly don’t enjoy doing this because I love seeing all the deer people bring to my shop and hearing all the stories. Now of those 50 spots unfortunately a very small number of those will be available for new customers. So my advice would be if you’ve never used me before and you shoot something early don’t wait to bring it to me. I’ve got to try and save as much room as I can for returning customers.
All this being said, if you shoot something and don’t have the room to put the cape and horns in your freezer I will gladly cape the deer out for you and cut the horns off (even if you choose to not bring it back to me or want to take it to someone else, I have thick skin you won’t hurt my feelings) that way you can put the hide in your freezer and store the horns any where. Once a deer is caped out it will be about the size of a football or less.
With that being said, I have the best customers anyone could ask for. Y'all are the ones that keep me busy so it’s going to be very hard to tell a lot of you no but it’s got to be this way for this year so I can hopefully get back to my normal intake for next year.
If you have any questions please call or text me. Just because I’m cutting it way back this year doesn’t mean I will ignore anyone and won’t still try and help you out in anyway I can.
Good luck to everyone this year and whether you bring it to me or not I really hope everyone has a great season and shoots a buck of a lifetime or fills that freezer!
