You and Dennis deserve each other.
Completely agree.
I'm not stubborn, I'm completely open to the idea of more and additional taxidermists. So far, when people say "this guy is exceptional" I immediately jump on their site and take a good look. So far, I haven't found anyone to my standard of excellence. I have seen 2-3 trophy rooms that I thought "wow, this stuff is incredible" and upon further prodding with the owner they usually uncover a few facts A.) The guy is running 5-6 years behind, B.) The guy isn't taking on new work, he's booked for life.
I do have a local taxidermist that I use also. He is considered to be amazing by a lot of hunters I know. He's certainly top 5% on price. I've had work done by him. He says 6 months, its always done in 2 years or more. His work isn't bad, it's good enough for public displays, but I've never stopped at one of his mammals and said "the animal looks alive". It's good quality production work. It's where my kids go to get their work done. That's my reasonable alternative. Not incredible. Not cheap. Not fast. But pretty good.
Then I go back to the documentary I watched that was done on Dennis' journey to one of the major competitions. I look at what he does and compare with others. Does the habitat look fake? 99% of taxidermy habitat looks fake. Does the taxidermist weld and use other techniques to suspend and animate the animal, or is a lifeless Mackenzie SKU 123456 pose? Does the woodwork get hand crafted from exotic woods, or is it mass produced oak and walnut from the aforementioned catalog? Does the taxidermist deliver and install to ensure its flawless when erected, or is it tossed in the back of my pickup because they don't care if it survives installation?
Everybody in life needs best case alternatives to whatever they are doing now. Suppliers, providers of services, retailers, dealers, etc. No harm in that at all. Everything in life is a compromise: cheap, good, fast. Dennis is neither cheap nor fast at present. Surely there are faster and cheaper. There may be a few that are equally good, fast, and cheap as Dennis, but I assure you the same amount of complaints will exist.
Incidentally, you could change the word taxidermist to gunsmith and this entire thread could be reused for that purpose as well. Try to get a British shotgun stocked to best quality and you're in rarified air. Last one I had done was promised in 12 months or less, I believe it took over 4 years. Could've fired the guy, but my best alternatives list at the quality I was demanding was less than I'd count on one hand in America and another hand needed if I added the UK to the options.
And just like taxidermy, someone would surely give an example of some shoddy $1500 parker boxlock that their buddy stocked for $2000 in 180 days as the example of "See, just as good as your lousy guy that took four years". Umm. No. Not even close. (Incidentally, the gun in this example was the finest owned by the Nawab of Rampur and it was "two of a kind", best ever made) I like my taxidermy like I like my guns which means I have to be patient.
