I live in Reno so Animal Artistry is a natural choice for me. I would have gone with them even without the 90 day guarantee, but it's a nice benefit and they are serious about it.
I scored a Desert Bighorn tag last year and made good on it. Once in a lifetime hunt, for sure. A big deal, all the way around.
Animal Artistry did an outstanding job! I've had the mount on the wall for four months now and I look at it. A lot. The detail is perfect...I'm not sure how it could be done better...but I'm not an expert either.
Here are some pics, which don't do him justice, followed by a few comments about the service:
I shot him opening morning and had him into the shop the next day. I got a lot of posative feedback about how we handled the head in the field, so there were no problems with that. When it came time to pay the deposit, their computer system was down, so we exchanged some information and I was off. A few weeks later I still hadn't been charged the deposit so I called in and was informed that, since they had not received the deposit, the head was still in the cooler on the premises. So I freaked a little. Turns out my information was copied down wrong, and NOTHING starts without a deposit. To be fair, they tried to write me, but the email went straight into the spam folder so I didn't see it.
The deposit went through and everything got going, including the 90 day countdown. I waited, impatiently I might add, and called from time to time for updates. They were prompt, polite and professional, and finally sent me some pictures around the 75th day.
One slightly irritating thing, they kept asking about the scar on his nose. I think they wanted to give it a shot repairing it, like they were looking for a challenge. I kept saying no (I wanted him to look just like his big bad self in the field!). They still messed with it a little, but when I brought it in, the scar was a mess so I guess a little something had to be done.
Completed in 89 days! I'm very happy with the service and would recommend them. It didn't seem to be a compromize situation, where you sacrafice quality for speed. You get it fast AND quick. I have a cape buffalo hunt coming up in August and Animal Artistry will be doing that work for me as well (assuming I actually harvest something...).
Cheers.