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[kirby/575.693.6699]

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[kirby/575.693.6699]

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[kirby/575.693.6699]

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[kirby/575.693.6699]

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[rbear]

Kirby
Here's the deal there are many things that need to be fixed on this deer. Allot of people on this site like to not talk badly about other people's work. I have somethings to do for the next few hours so I will come back and share a few comments.
Ralph

[bullwhacker]

For starters look at photo's of a mule deer and then look at your mount. Yes the eyes are bad, the ears are bad, and most of it is in fact bad. When you then look at the photo's you can see for yourself how it is messed up.

[rbear]

OK Most people will agree that a mount is made up of allot of things but the ones that gets noticed the most is the eyes, ears, and nose. Now we can disagree in the order of these but the fact remains that if you get these three things looking good you can get away with other issues.
Start with the eyes they are off shape and over painted. This are the things that stand out now but if we were to look at the mount before the hide went on I would bet they were placed wrong to start with.
The ears were not turned all the way to the ends. That is why they are curling. The ear buts are really weak you need allot more clay under there.
The nose has very little semitry. It looks dead. Did you paint it? I would bet not. It is very lumpy and looks like it was not thinned properly maybe not even fleshed properly.
Take pride in the fact that you finished a deer head!! My advice is to 1) work on hide prep to start with 2) look at semitry and anatomy of the animal and 3) the work on painting and grooming.
Hope this helps.
Ralph 

[Quill]

Hi Kirby,  I remember my first deer took me 12 hours I felt like I had been hit by a truck, the total focus was exhausting, but I was soooooooo proud of that deer, one year later I thought it was the most embarassing thing I had ever seen so I took it apart and redid it, that redo is still kicking around and now I think it looks ridiculous and keep it hidden until I can redo it again some day.   So what I am saying is Good for you, you did a deer and you did it all on your own.   Ralph's critique is right on and honest, your length of butts are too long and too skinny, in fact one ear looks longer than the other.  You mentioned having a hard time matching cape to horns, that does not show up in the photo's.  The eye paint, much too dark, surprizingly just looking at the dead animal skin color or even one back from the tannery helps, if you can just make a blend of colors that are richer but similar to what you see, that is often a very muted color, (I use oil paints) I acheive the muted color by adding a touch of white to my burnt umber and black. Or make a grey and then add burnt umber till you like the color.  Your reference photo does show dark eye skin, but that line is very close to the rim of the eye, on your deer the dark is much to extensive.
Thats my two cents........for what its worth
Tracy

[RoyalOaksTaxidermy]

Antlers arent correct either...
 For paint,  I use dark brown, never black... 
watch your hair patterns.
 You need to grab the ear butts and cram them up closer to the antler burs.
 

Now you have the first one under your belt, learn from it... change all the things you need to. Look at real deer for reference. Take each part and work on it... The eye, or the nose, dont try to do the entire picture at one go... break it down into sections..

[kirby/575.693.6699]

Ralph, Tracy, thanks for the help. I was pretty sure those are the things you would tell me. thanks. i had no idea how to paint the eyes as far as color goes, now i will be able to do better on the next one. the other thing is what is wrong with the antlers Oaks? I'm not sure how they should look so again, please explain. criticism with B>S> or vehemence is a true learning tool in my book. thanks. will post another one when i can get another one to put together. if i take this one apart, i will only have to get a cape that will fit, since i will already have the antlers and mannikin.  please God bring me a 7.25 x 18 mule deer for Easter.

thanks again guys.

kirby

Also i was told to put a little more clay under the nose and in the tear ducts, along with more clay in the ear butts.

[Redwolf]

Have you watched Rick Carter's Mounting a white tail A to Z?

[Kevin Halle]

Have you watched Rick Carter's Mounting a white tail A to Z?

I highly recommend it!

[J Brown II]

What Redwolf and Kevin said.

[Ittybit]

I also agree with the dvd. Even if you can't afford to go to a school or spend a day with any expert look for other educational opportunities. Get a good dvd or a couple, attend the state, national and or world taxidermy show. Join your state association and attend the seminars. Above all...as the others said get good references and use them. I have several pictures I tack on the wall next to where I am working. Close up pictures of eyes, ears, nose and mouth. I also use pictures from old calendars I keep. And yes I also have that first deer I keep out of sight.  Keep going and keep improving.

[kirby/575.693.6699]

haven't been able to afford the rick carter dvd yet. it and the michael p video are definitely on my wish list. thanks for the help

one person said the antlers were wrong i guess i'm not seeing what he meant if someone does please let me know as i most likely will use the antler and the mannikin, get a cape and try again.

i knew it wasn't perfect   (if it was i would sell it to WASCO or someone   lol) mostly learning how to not make mistakes is the coolest thing about this website.

kirby

ps, one more thing for the easter bunny to bring me...rick carter's a to z video