Karen’s Taxidermy & Wildlife Art Studio

I found Karen’s online because I harvested a bobcat on our place and liked her work based on pictures of work she has posted. Just received my mount and I am very pleased. Karen was a good communicator and her work was excellent.
I am glad I made the three hour drive to have my bobcat mounted because you only get one chance on how the finished product will turn out and we don’t see them every day. I have seen some pretty unrealistic bobcats mounted but she does an excellent job making her work look realistic.
Ted

I wish there was a way to put less than 1 Star!!!
This «Taxidermist» is way out in the sticks of the Mountains of NW Arkansas, and this is where our problem begins. My brother, cousin, an employee, and myself had all taken nice whitetail Bucks opening morning of the season a couple of years ago. I found Karen’s through the internet, and called to set up a drop off time since it is like I said in the middle of nowhere and over an hour in the the middle of nowhere one way! We all could not fit in my pick up truck, and so I volunteered to drop off all of the deer heads myself, with the aid of another employee one afternoon, so that everyone else can avoid this drive and save on the gas and time. I finally get to the guys house «shop» and he takes me in to his impressive showroom «livingroom» and tells me he is the best around… blah blah blah. I have him tag each deer with the name of the owner, so that when the time comes, we can all come and pick them up.
Fastforward 7 – 9 months. I finally get a call from them telling me the mounts are finished. I then tell them that I will be by to pick up «MY» mount, and that I will alert the others that their mounts are ready for pickup. The mounts were almost $ 500 each, so I was only going to pay/​pickup mine. I return to the middle of nowhere and when I get there the mood is quite different. The guy starts bringing out all of these heads, I tell him that I only need the one marked for me, and this is where he starts to fly off of the handle. I wont get too into the details of the fight, but he told me that I was responsible for all of the deer mounts that I had dropped off, even though I had clearly stated otherwise numerous times in the past (even that day on the phone). Finally after arguing with this guy and his irate wife who had until then, had nothing to do with our business transaction. I tell him if he doesn’t want my money, he can keep the buck and I will go on my way. As I am attempting to walk out of his «showroom», he lunges at me and grabs me by the neck, well, this is where I begin to loose it a little my self. I removed his hands from my neck and «bull» my way past him attempting to get to my truck. I was successful and as the house door shut behind me, I hear the wife start to scream that «he’s crazy, he’ll kill you!”(speaking about the husband). I turn when I get to my pickup truck and the guy is standing behind me with his hands up in a fighting stance. For the record, I could have rolled this out of shape 50 something with little effort, but chose not to go there. The entire time I am receiving threats of violence from the owner and his wife. So instead of fighting and getting myself into trouble, I called my lawyer and had him record the final few seconds before I could get the taxidermist out of the way of my truck door so I could slam it and get the heck out of there.
1+ hour later, I return to my restaurant were we have just opened for the night. I am telling the 4 or 5 regulars at my bar about the experience and we are all having a good laugh (though I am literally still shaking from the confrontation). All of the sudden the taxidermist and the wife enter my establishment. In order to avoid a disturbance in my restaurant, I immediately lead them both out of the building by the backs of their shirts. I get them outside and realize that all of the regulars at the bar and a few employees had followed to make sure that nothing happened to me. These people (karen’s taxidermy) were irate again and screaming and cussing like they were not in their right mind, and that is what I suspect. Real long story a little shorter, I finally paid for my mount and they drove off with the others as they tore out of my parking lot at rush hour.
The mount its self was horrible upon further inspection. You can see the stitches in the mouth and the paint on the nose was flaking within a couple of weeks.
Everyone is good at something I’ve heard, but Karen’s Taxidermy is no good at Taxidermy or customer service. I have and will continue to tell people my horror story about them and my experience.
I have never been more caught off guard or amazed at a complete change in attitude from nice to homicidal in less than a minute. I mean seriously its a deer head, not a luxury car, and I was trying to pay for it (with cash) from the start.
If you are looking for a good taxidermist, I have been using Hog Country Taxidermy in Prairie Grove since then and this guy is not going to threaten or attempt bodily harm or death upon you. He also does a fantastic job on my mounts, from turkey to black bear!