Who is your preferred taxidermist?

[wesheltonj]

Update.....

Yet another change of plans

After talking to Duane and getting the latest news from The Artistry of Wildlife......
I will not be using The Artistry of Wildlife and expect delivery of all of my stuff very soon.

If anyone has work up there it is in their best interest to call them.

Rather cryptic post.

 

[tedthorn]

So they they are going to deliver unfinished capes etc?

Yes
They are making several "close out" deliveries next week. One of them is mine.

 

[johnnyblues]

Thank you for the update. Any word on Dennis?

 

[Royal27]

Thank you for the update. Any word on Dennis?

Read the well wishes thread - Dwayne gave an update this morning. He's conscious but still in the hospital.

 

[johnnyblues]

Thanks Royal. That doesn’t sound real good though....

 

[Royal27]

Thanks Royal. That doesn’t sound real good though....

No..... But its improvement for Dennis' health at least.

 

[tedthorn]

Thank you for the update. Any word on Dennis?

Duane told me he has shown some improvement but is still in ICU

 

[tedthorn]

Duane and I had a great talk a week ago and we agreed to try again.....but today we took a different direction.
Here is Dwayne's post from earlier today

Hello everyone thank you for the prayers and thoughts for dennis he is doing better awake but
still very weak and tired
As of today i will no longer be handling any business for the artistry of wild life if you have any questions or concerns you can message or email dennis and he will respond at his earliest convince

Thank You Dwayne

 

[johnnyblues]

Oh wow. That’s putting more pressure on Dennis I would have to assume. That’s horrible timing.

 

[tedthorn]

Oh wow. That’s putting more pressure on Dennis I would have to assume. That’s horrible timing.

I'll PM you some details

 

[johnnyblues]

Good deal

 

[kevin masters]

I'll PM you some details

Same situation please share in a pm if that is preferable. thxs!!!

 

[tedthorn]

Same situation please share in a pm if that is preferable. thxs!!!

Just call Dewayne

He will give you any details about the future of your stuff and it's best you get the info from them anyway.

 

[harden]

i just want to clarify i am not the owner of this company i am only helping a few of you that i am capable
of helping tho i wish i could help and have answers for everyone but can't please give dennis time to recover
and get back to you thank you

 

[kevin masters]

I completely understand , But I would like to at least know the status of what Dennis has of mine.
I will try calling the shop

 

[Bivy]

This is a hurricane that has been building for YEARS, not months. I apologize for not being more vocal on this page, and educating prospective clients about my own Artistry of Wildlife woes. My work was severely delayed several years ago; during a time of perceived good health. These struggles are not an anomaly due to the current circumstances, but sadly bad business practices. It is true that Dennis' work is exceptional; however, mistakes in the agreed upon pose, lack of communication, terrible record keeping, and blunt dishonesty persuaded me to distribute work to a few other studios in react years (namely Dewey Wildlife Studio and Huffaker Taxidermy).

During that time I had to contact Brickburn on AH to receive an answer from Dennis why my trophies completed in February 2017 had not shipped yet in October 2017. The moderators on AH have been aware of issues for years and have made excuses time and time again. That has been a great disappointment. My hopefully incorrect assumption is that with sponsorship comes grace. I have learned and taken so much from this site, and at times attempted to return dialogue to assist others based on my own experiences. Perhaps this post will ban me from future active participation on this forum. My hope is that it promotes a stronger vetting and evaluation process when accepting sponsorship from outfitters and industry professionals. Currently I place zero value on the sponsor badge when shopping for a safari.

For those of you with work currently at the Artistry of Wildlife studio, hopefully Duane will be willing to offer assistance retrieving your animals. I would be heading to Michigan as I type this if he would agree on an immediate retrieval date.

 

[Royal27]

This is a hurricane that has been building for YEARS, not months. I apologize for not being more vocal on this page, and educating prospective clients about my own Artistry of Wildlife woes. My work was severely delayed several years ago; during a time of perceived good health. These struggles are not an anomaly due to the current circumstances, but sadly bad business practices. It is true that Dennis' work is exceptional; however, mistakes in the agreed upon pose, lack of communication, terrible record keeping, and blunt dishonesty persuaded me to distribute work to a few other studios in react years (namely Dewey Wildlife Studio and Huffaker Taxidermy).

During that time I had to contact Brickburn on AH to receive an answer from Dennis why my trophies completed in February 2017 had not shipped yet in October 2017. The moderators on AH have been aware of issues for years and have made excuses time and time again. That has been a great disappointment. My hopefully incorrect assumption is that with sponsorship comes grace. I have learned and taken so much from this site, and at times attempted to return dialogue to assist others based on my own experiences. Perhaps this post will ban me from future active participation on this forum. My hope is that it promotes a stronger vetting and evaluation process when accepting sponsorship from outfitters and industry professionals. Currently I place zero value on the sponsor badge when shopping for a safari.

For those of you with work currently at the Artistry of Wildlife studio, hopefully Duane will be willing to offer assistance retrieving your animals. I would be heading to Michigan as I type this if he would agree on an immediate retrieval date.

So I'm not ready to say a lot but I do feel the need to reply to this post, much of which I agree with.

For those who have beat on @tedthorn for his "impatience" please read the quoted post carefully. It gives some great perspective and supports what Ted has said. And I assure you that there are many here on AH and elsewhere who haven't spoken up who have had similar experiences, myself included (I will add my personal experience at what I feel is the appropriate time).

@Bivy , Thank you for making a great post. I assure you that you won't be banned for it. I know that 100%.

Where I don't agree with you is that Dennis or any other sponsor is protected here by @AfricaHunting.com . That simply isn't true. I've seen sponsors be banned and I've seen sponsors that suddenly "chose" not to renew. SPONSORS ARE NOT VETTED BEFORE BECOMING SPONSORS. If a sponsor is proven to be doing illegal or unethical things they won't be around long, but they aren't vetted before becoming a sponsor. Sponsors are advertisers only. That's it. NO ONE SHOULD BELIEVE THAT A SPONSOR BADGE IS PROOF OF A WELL RUN BUSINESS!!!!!

BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For me personally it speaks volumes about both @BRICKBURN and @AfricaHunting.com that they are willing to help members whenever they can and I trust them implicitly because they have earned that trust. Solving business/client issues isn't their responsibility anymore than it is the responsibility of a network television company to take care of an issue you have with one of their advertisers. BUT, they help whenever possible regardless. We have a great community due to this.

This saga will continue....

 

[Wheels]

.....I've seen sponsors be banned and I've seen sponsors that suddenly "chose" not to renew. ...

+1

The members of AH are what makes AH the community that it is.

Periodically there will be a member/sponsor issue. Sometimes it just seems that a member has an ax to grind. Most of the time there is enough information put forth that most members can make an informed decision regarding a sponsor. A couple of times, as Royal has mentioned, the sponsor has left due to the writing on the wall or was forced to leave.

When a situation has overwhelming evidence, I have never seen Jerome @AfricaHunting.com fail to do the right thing regarding a sponsor.

This thread may develop into one of those member/sponsor issues. What I do know is that the members here are a fair group.

I certainly feel for everyone who has personal property tied up many states away from their home. I have never used Dennis, but I also feel for a small businessman with health problems. Hopefully problems can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thank you @Royal27 and @Wheels for your posts and kind words. I'm sorry that I don't have much time to write more as I am just back at the hotel from the SCI show and getting ready to head out to the AH get together. @Bivy Fortunately Royal and Wheels have summarized it very well for me. I will add though that Dennis has been a long time sponsor here and has had many good reviews and happy clients and as far I have been aware up until this point I have not heard much else other than he sometimes has had poor communication with his clients.

 

[Royal27]

I am just back at the hotel from the SCI show and getting ready to head out to the AH get together.

Jealous!