Bobcat difficulty

[Iowadeerhunter]

I was wondering what makes the bobcat such a difficult mount to do? Is it much harder than a coyote? We mount all of out own deer and have come a long ways since number one and (not to brag) but we get a lot of compliments on how good out latest ones look. I have also done a full body coyote, I did not find it to hard, but it took a long time and tedious work to get the form to fit perfect. So how does a bobcat compare to a coyote or deer as far as difficulty goes?

[Matt]

It's all in your ability to recreate the facial expressions and the eyes. Cat eyes are one of the hardest eye sets to pull off for some.

[Iowadeerhunter]

Does any good mannikin company off pre set eyes?

[Michael Butler, a.k.a. artwildcreate]

pre set eyes? might as well have another taxidermist do the whole thing for you then..

[Iowadeerhunter]

I don't know....it was just a thought....they offer it so I thought I would ask.

I never had any issues settings eyes on deer or yotes.

[Matt]

pre-set eyes won't mean they are correct when you lay the skin over them. I would learn to set them like everything else.

[Iowadeerhunter]

gotcha... that is the info I was looking for so thanks

[Jim B]

Deer may be a little easier just due to the fact that the average whitetail form is more accurate than the average cat form.There just has been more research and developement done on whitetail shoulder forms than any other.

This means,to do a really good cat,you have to troubleshoot the form and fix any issues it may have.Most people haven't studied cats as much as deer.I suspect,if we had to make all our own forms from scratch,using good reference,a cat wouldn't be any harder than a deer.

Doing a really good canine is similar to doing a cat.Coyote forms may average a little better than cat forms so the cat form may take a little more refining but if you can do a good coyote,you should be able to do a decent cat,using quality reference and some trial and error.

[leopardpaws]

Kitties come in all shapes and sizes, So its hard to find a good form. Also because they have slit pupils its a pain in the butt! I prefer the large pupils because of that. i feel they don't look as bug eyed that way?  i have only done kitty rugs but still, They are a pain. Make sure you have LOTS of references of many different bob cats.

[wa]

on a scale of 1-10 bobcats are the 9.7 deer are 6.3  jk

[danst74]

 WA
Where are cougar on a scale of 1-10.
Done a few bobcats ,and have a cougar to do.
Seems like it's going to be tougher.
Just wondering.
Dan

[dugart]

WASCO offers an eye setting graph thingy for cats which I found very helpful. It's printed on clear, thin, plastic and you hold it over the manikin to help get the correct angles.

[Jim B]

Cougars would be similar to bobcats but I might give a slight edge to the bobcat,as far as difficulty.

[Iowadeerhunter]

I am comfortable with form alteration and making the form fit the cat I have. I will be sure to get many references printed before we mount it....we are pretty picky even when it comes to our deer so I think it could turn out good with some work put into it.

[LTravis]

The eyes are quite simple..next cat ya do take a flashlight or use an overhead light and hold the manikin head in your hands under the light...look how the reflection of the light hit`s the pupil...you can`t bend light so as long as your directly under the light and the reflection is the same on each pupil they will be set correctly...up and down and side to side...you can move the head back and forth and make sure the light hits the top and bottom of the pupil in the same loc...I use epoxy sculpt to set my eyes...let it set up before ya go mounting the head so they don`t move on ya...cats to me are about the easiest critter there is to mount....one incision..small ears, nose is simple....I just don`t get why people struggle with them so much....