I had the good fortune in May of 2010 to take 2 trophy bears in northern Alberta, Canada. One was a 6 foot 4 1/2 inch black bruin that turned out to be the largest bear killed in my outfitter's camp for the season and the other was a very light colored cinnamon bear. I decided to have both mounted, full-body. However, I'm from Central Florida and bears have been protected here for years. As such, I didn't know any taxidermists locally that had experience with bears. A friend of mine recommended Mountin' Man Taxidermy. When I returned home to Florida after the hunt, I shipped my bears, frozen, overnight guaranteed by UPS to Mountin' Man Taxidermy. The next morning I received a phone call from Dane telling me that he had received my bears and they were still frozen. We talked about potential delivery dates and I had planned on driving to Maryland and picking the bears up and making it part of a vacation. Because my wife is a school teacher, I suggested spring break and Dane made every effort to have them ready in March of 2011. In March of 2011, Dane called and told me my bears were ready for pickup. The black bear that was mounted in the standing position was 77 inches tall and I could not find a rental trailer taller than 6 foot to bring them home. Dane contacted U-Haul and discovered that they had the "U-Box", which is a storage unit that is 8 feet long, 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. It's designed to help people move from one location to another. Dane made the arrangements to have the U-Box delivered to his shop where he packed my bears carefully using padding and straps and they were shipped by tractor-trailer from Maryland to Tampa, Florida. Once they arrived in Tampa they were placed on a flatbed truck with a forklift on the back and delivered to my home in Lakeland, Florida. He also purchased a padlock to insure that they were not compromised and mailed the key to my home. A week later, the bears were delivered to my driveway and were in perfect condition. Dane went out of his way to insure that my bears were not damaged.
Customer service is obviously a priority with Mountin' Man Taxidermy. When I took my trophy bears I told my experienced outfitter that I was going to have them mounted full-body. However, he skinned them to be done as rugs. Unbeknownst to me this created a massive amount of stitching to have them mounted full-body. I defy you to find any of the stitching in either bear, they turned out perfect. Furthermore, while vacationing in Alaska this past summer, I saw a polar bear mounted in the standing position and I really loved the way his front paws were mounted. I photographed the bear and sent it to Dane and he found a similar mount in order to do my large black bear. He is quite intimidating.
I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fact that Dane went out of his way to insure that my trophies turned out exactly as I had hoped. Both bears are now in my home and I couldn't be happier with the final products. If you want a taxidermist that will truly work with you to insure that you receive a quality product, I strongly recommend Mountin' Man Taxidermy. I know I will no doubt use Mountin' Man again in the future.
Mike Hunter: Lakeland, FL