Unpunctual taxidermist is caught red-handed after shirking responsibility

FOX 2 – Taxidermist Jayson Clark seems to be up to his old tricks.

“What do you want, what do you want to know?!” said Clark, raising his hand in front of the camera.

Jayson blames the doe, the turkey and the coyote.

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

You might think that after Rob Wolchek’s last story about Jayson Clark's delayed preparation workhe would have everything under control. But instead he is still in trouble.

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

Jayson thought he had outsmarted Wolchek, but Rob doesn't give up the hunt.

Clark drove away quickly.

Wolchek: “I wish you would 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 home in Allen Park.

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

A group of hunters gave Jayson their pelts, paid a deposit, and waited for years for him to prepare their animals.

“I don't know if my deer is ready,” Kyle said. “I don't know if he has my deer – but he certainly has my money.”

Kyle brought in a buck he harvested in 2021, along with $750 to have the animal taxidermied.

Another customer, Matthew, waited even longer.

“I brought him two Russian wild boars in 2018 and 2019,” he said. “I brought him one of my father's deer. It's been nothing but back and forth. Every time you call him, he doesn't answer – or he has another excuse to tell you.”

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

Wochek passed by Jayson's house/business a dozen times, but to no avail.

Some of the hunters sued Jayson, but every time Wolchek went to court, Jayson failed to show up.

Finally, the clever taxidermist called him.

Wolchek: “I don’t think you operate on these animals because…”

Jayson Clark: “Why, you don’t believe it?”

Wolchek: “I don’t believe it because you don’t tell these people, instead of…”

Jayson Clark: “Listen, Rob. Why would I let someone who is hostile and threatening to me into my house?”

Wolchek: “You can meet them at the police station. They live one block from the police station.”

Jayson Clark: “I'm not going to meet anyone at the police station at 7, 8 or 9 o'clock at night, buddy.”

Wolchek: “Why?”

Jayson Clark: “Nine o’clock in the evening! It’s dark.”

Despite Jayson's fear of the dark, he arranged to meet Wolchek a few days later to pick up one of the supposedly finished deer. Instead, he got another taste of what his clients were going through – a last-minute text message saying the meeting was canceled.

Wolchek inducted Jayson into the Hall of Shame.

After Rob's story, Jayson Clark got the message. Kyle got his deer and gradually some of the other hunters got theirs too. But then, a few weeks ago, Wolchek was contacted by new hunters who told him that Jayson had gone back to his old nonsense.

“I called him and he said, 'I hear you, we're cool. Everyone else is messing with me. You're cool with it,'” Bart said. “I said, 'Yeah, it's been about three years.'”

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

“I can’t reach him at all,” said Bart.

Related: Angry hunters tell evil taxidermist to stuff it

Frank is a big-time hunter and says Jayson has over $3,000 of his own money and several animals he has killed.

Wolchek: “What do you think of Jayson?”

“I thought he was a pretty nice guy,” Frank said. “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 killed in 2021 and the $400 deposit.

“That ability to show it to friends and family and retell the story,” Craig said. “That's what he stole not only from me, it sounds like, but from a lot of other people.”

And Jayson is piling up a lot of petty lawsuits again – but at least this time he pleads guilty.

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

Wolchek: “Why are you in court today?”

Jayson Clark: “To give them back their things.”

That didn't happen. Before Jayson Clark came out, Wolchek spoke with Mike Wasner – one of the men suing Jayson.

The judge ruled in Mike's favor and ordered Jayson to repay the money.

Wolchek: “How much money did you give him?”

Mike: “$2,100.”

Wolchek: “So, what do you have a verdict on now?”

“1,901,” he said.

Wolchek: “And that was only awarded today?”

“Yep,” he said.

Wolchek: “And you think you will get it?”

Mike: “I don't know. We'll find out or we'll end up back in court.”

Back to the ambush.

Wolchek: “What’s going on, man? All of a sudden I hear you’re doing the same thing as always, you’re messing up again.”

Jayson Clark: “I don't make mistakes. They get their stuff back. I have two jobs.”

Two jobs? He hasn't even finished his only job – as a taxidermist.

Wolchek: “Why are these guys suing you again? I thought we had sorted this all out in the winter?”

Jayson Clark: “These are guys who follow your page.”

Wolchek: “Well, I've heard from other people too. Are you going to pay them back? That guy. Didn't you just get a verdict…”

Jayson Clark: “Okay, okay. What do you want to know? Don't tell me anymore.”

Wolchek: “Okay, who is Frank Potter? This is another guy I talked to. He called me last week.”

Jayson Clark: “Yes, Chad Rexler. We just took care of him.”

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

Jayson Clark: “Who?”

Wolchek: “Then why is he contacting me?”

Jayson Clark: “I don't know. Maybe it's fraud. Maybe it's bullshit.”

Bullshit? More like a bullseye! Jayson, you're in the Hall of Shame!”