When picking a taxidermist one must consider some of the following. Pick one that is a true professional, in every stance. He or she must be a full time taxidermist, not these people that do it on the side cuz they have a “day job”. They must have a studio outside their house and I don’t mean their garage. A true professional taxidermist has a studio away from their home and pays double the bills a novice pays—he pays double the taxes,power,water,etc. A true artist can see the mount in their mind before they start on the mount so they can alter or sculpt the form . Check out their references,look at the mounts in good light,make sure that they have turn around time and they stick to it. Make sure that they do their owe mounts and do not sub contract work out like most so-so taxidermist do, they do nothing but hand the work over to another taxidermist and then hand it back to the client and takes all the credit and money! Make sure that they use a professional tannery or have been doing their own tanning for years.they should have a web site so you check out their work. The pricing should be reasonable,the pro will have to charge alittle more than the novice but not to a point that you can go broke paying for a mount. Check them out on line,phone calls but the best is to go to their studios and look at the work,best thing by far.Do not settle for second best.Here at Capp’s Taxidermy Studio LLC we are a true professional,artistic studio that has been mounting the worlds game animals and been in business for 33yrs,and is one of the few studios that does all the work under one roof,except for the tanning, that is done by some of the nations best tanneries. We have a very professional web site–www.african-Montana-taxidermy.com . We think of the client all the way,we have major discounts on shipping,crating,fast turn arounds,check up on thier work with web pic’s, provide custom brokers,etc. for the international hunter and so on. In closing you must know what you want and don’t get hosed by being over priced, unartistic-this critter gave its all so it deserves to look like it did in life, and unprofessional . Not two taxidermist are the same.Every taxidermist is different,you are buying their talent , some are great and some are not,so buy the talent and enjoy the ever lasting memories …..