Tardy taxidermist gets caught dead to rights after passing the buck

FOX 2 - Taxidermist Jayson Clark appears to be up to his old shenanigans.

"What do you, what you want to know?!" Clark said, putting his hand up in front of camera.

Jayson's passin' the buck, the doe, the turkey, the coyote.

"I can't believe he's not behind bars," said Mike Wasner, a new victim of Clark.

You'd think after Rob Wolchek's last story about Jayson Clark's tardy taxidermy work, he'd get his ducks in a row. But, instead, his goose is still cooked.

"I'm at about $2,500 I paid him for the stuff he has," said Bart, another new victim.

Jayson thought he'd outfoxed Wolchek, but Rob is not giving up the hunt.

Clark drove off in a hurry.

Wolchek: "I wish you'd stop messing up. Don't run me over."

Last winter, Wolchek told you about Jayson Clark, a taxidermist who runs his business out of his Allen Park home.

"I think he's just scamming people," said Chris.

A bunch of hunters handed over their skins to Jayson, paid him down payments, and waited years to get him to mount their animals.

"I don't know if my deer is done," said Kyle. "I don't know if he has my deer - but he sure has my money."

Kyle dropped off a buck he'd caught in in 2021 along with $750 to mount the animal.  

Another customer, Matthew, waited even longer.

"I took him two Russian boars in 2018 and in 2019," he said. "I dropped one of my dad's deer to him. It's been nothing but a run-around. Every time you call him, he doesn't answer - or he'll have some other excuse to tell you."

It was the same story over and over and over again. Some of the hunters even went to Jayson's house and even though it sure looked like he was home - no one answered.

Wochek went by Jayson's house/business a dozen times, but no luck.

Some of the hunters sued Jayson, but every time Wolchek went to court, Jayson was a no-show.

Finally the tricky taxidermist called him.

Wolchek: "I don't believe you have these animals done because ..."

Jayson Clark: "What do you mean you don't believe it?"

Wolchek: "I don't believe it because you're not delivering it to these people, rather than ...."

Jayson Clark: "Listen, Rob. Why would I let someone who's hostile and threatening me back to my house?"

Wolchek: "You can meet them at the police station. You live a block from the police station."

Jayson Clark: "I'm not going to meet someone at the police station at 7, 8, 9 o'clock at night buddy."

Wolchek: "Why?"

Jayson Clark: "Nine o'clock at night! It's dark."

Regardless of Jayson's fear of the dark, he did agree to meet Wolchek a few mornings later to pick up one of the supposedly finished deer. But instead, he got another taste of what his customers were going through - a last minute text saying the meeting was off.

Wolchek put Jayson in the Hall of Shame.  

After Rob's story, Jayson Clark got the message. Kyle got his deer and slowly some of the other hunters got some of their pieces. But then, a couple of weeks ago Wolchek started getting contacted by new hunters who told him Jayson was back to his old shennanigans.

"I called him he's like 'I got you, we're cool. Everybody else is bashing me. You're being cool about it,'" Bart said. "I'm like, 'Yeah, it's been like three years.'"

Bart says Jayson has several skins and more than $2,000 of his money. Jayson Clark blocked Bart and took down his Facebook page. Bart hasn't heard from him in six months.

"I can not get in contact with him at all," Bart said.

Related: Angry hunters tell bad taxidermist to stuff it

Frank's a big-time hunter and says Jayson has more than $3,000 dollars of his money and several animals he harvested.

Wolchek: "What do you think of Jayson?"

"I thought he was a pretty good guy," said Frank. "But now I don't know what's going on. I don't know what to think now."

Craig says Jayson took more than just the turkey he harvested in 2021 and the $400 deposit he took.

"That ability to show friends, and show your family and tell the story again," said Craig. "That's really what he stole from not only me, it sounds like, but from a lot of other people."

And Jayson's racking up small claims lawsuits again - but at least this time he's showing up.

An hour later, out comes the defendant - Jay the taxidermist.

Wolchek: "Why are you in court today?"

Jayson Clark: "To get their stuff back to them."

That's not what happened. Before Jayson Clark came out, Wolchek talked to Mike Wasner - one of the guys suing Jayson.

The judge ruled in Mike's favor and ordered Jayson to pay him back.

Wolchek: "How much money did you give him?"

Mike: "$2,100."

Wolchek: "So now you have a judgment for what?"

"1,901," he said.

Wolchek: "And that was just awarded today?"

"Yep," he said.

Wolchek: "And you think you're going to get it?"

Mike: "I don't know. We'll find out or we'll be back in court."

Back to the ambush.

Wolchek: "What's going on, man? All of a sudden I'm hearing you're doing the same old thing, you're messing up again."

Jayson Clark: "I'm not messing up. They're getting their stuff back. I'm working two jobs."

Two jobs? He hasn't even finished up his one job - being a taxidermist.

Wolchek: "Why are these guys taking you to court again? I thought we settled all this in the winter?"

Jayson Clark: "These are guy that uh, follow your page."

Wolchek: "Well I've heard from more people too. Are you gonna pay them back? This guy. Didn't you just get a judgment ..."

Jayson Clark: "Okay, okay. What do you want to know? Get that out of my face."

Wolchek: "Okay, who's Frank Potter? That's another guy that I talked to. He called me last week."

Jayson Clark: "Yeah, Chad Rexler. We just dealt with him."

Wolchek: "Okay, what about Craig Rathbun. That's the guy with the turkey."

Jayson Clark: "Who?"

Wolchek: "So why's he contacting me then?"

Jayson Clark: "I don't know. Maybe it's a scam. It's bullcrap maybe."

Bull crap? More like bullseye!  Jayson, you're in the Hall of Shame!"