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On Jan. 11, an Indiana circuit court docket put a taxidermist behind bars after suspending his license and charging him with three counts of felony theft and one rely of felony corrupt enterprise affect. <\/p>\n
Customers of Buck Fever Taxidermy in Eaton, Indiana have accused proprietor Shawn Huntington of taking their cash and their antlers and hides and by no means returning a completed product, regardless of their a number of makes an attempt to contact him. The court docket ordered Huntington to return all property to the victims, a few of which is broken past restore, based on an affidavit. <\/p>\n
Court information element a sequence of visits Indiana Conservation Officers paid to Huntington\u2019s residence and taxidermy store since July 2021. Customers began submitting complaints with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources\u2019 Law Enforcement Division round that point. Between July 2021 and August 2022, IDNR visited Huntington a minimum of 5 instances. In January 2022 throughout a type of visits, Huntington failed a taxidermy inspection and acquired a warning. He was barely logging or recording any of his work, which licensed taxidermists are required to do.<\/p>\n
Huntington typically blamed his habits on a damaged cellphone and struggles with life and cash, saying he hadn\u2019t acquired any indignant calls from clients. Conservation officers loaned Huntington their cell telephones to name complainants throughout their visits. <\/p>\n
On Aug. 1, 2022, a buyer referred to as IDNR with a grievance about an antlered whitetail that he had delivered to Huntington. He tried to contact Huntington a number of instances however by no means heard again. He even stopped by the home to go away a notice on the door. Eight days later, IDNR officers visited Huntington\u2019s home once more to confront him concerning the grievance. During this go to, Huntington admitted that he was two full seasons behind and had simply begun the animals he acquired in October 2020. Officers noticed a do-it-yourself storage rack packed full with skullcaps and antlers. They additionally found he hadn\u2019t up to date his record-keeping that he was beforehand issued a warning for. <\/p>\n
When officers requested to see the place Huntington saved capes, he led them to 3 freezers. They opened one to find an enormous brick of ice had fashioned round a number of luggage of hides, rendering them ruined, based on one of many IDNR officers. They additionally famous a rotting odor coming from the freezer. IDNR issued Huntington a quotation for taxidermist violations just a few weeks later.<\/p>\n
According to buyer and Madison County resident Cody Fisher, Huntington used to do nice work. He introduced his 2018 and 2019 whitetail bucks to Buck Fever and acquired high quality mounts again inside a yr of dropping them off. But issues turned bitter in 2020. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a good taxidermist. He wasn\u2019t super expensive,\u201d Fisher tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. Huntington charged $425 to $450 per mount. \u201cA little over two years ago, I brought him 2020\u2019s deer. Everything was normal, I paid, and then 2021 came around and I brought him 2021\u2019s deer and he still hadn\u2019t had 2020\u2019s done yet. I was concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n Huntington finally stopped answering Fisher\u2019s calls. Fisher says it seemed like his cellphone was shut off, so he began going by Huntington\u2019s home. <\/p>\n \u201cEither no one was there or he wasn\u2019t answering the door,\u201d Fisher recollects. \u201cI started getting worried, started asking around. My dad finally went over to his house and caught him coming outside. My dad said he was going to file a report with the DNR if he didn\u2019t get back with us, and he said \u2018oh no, don\u2019t do that.\u2019 Then my wife saw online that he had been taken to court for the amount of a deer mount, so we knew that other people hadn\u2019t gotten theirs either.\u201d<\/p>\n Fisher finally posted on Facebook asking if different individuals had been having points. He estimates he spoke to greater than 10 different pissed off clients. IDNR lately contacted Fisher to tell him that they’d raided Huntington\u2019s residence and seized all of the animal merchandise. Fisher\u2019s two 10-point whitetail skullcaps from 2020 and 2021, in addition to a piebald deer disguise belonging to his uncle, had been all discovered.<\/p>\n