Joel Stone, one of the best around can go from fresh dead to mounted and dry in three weeks EASY. His mounts don't smell and last better than most any mounts out there.
A lot of taxidermists tan their own skins, takes all of 3-4 days to tan, add a day of prepping, and a day er two of taxi'ing and yer done except for the drying...add a couple of weeks to dry(I prefer more, but..) finish and yer on the wall....
