Opinion seeking...

[Habitat Specialist]

Check out Item # 300597849283  on Ebay. Let me know what you think. Or copy & paste to go to this link:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300597849283?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp5197.m570.l1313%26_nkw%3D300597849283%26_sacat%3DSee-All-Categories%26_fvi%3D1&_rdc=1

   I was looking for an opinion on the mount, the whole piece...and then the base. 
   When we entered it in competition I was told that the base "was not true to the animal's environment"... but the base was "copied" from an actual picture of the Japanese Sika supplied from a game camera. It was fabricated to suit the customer-as to the "actual habitat" of this animal, rather than a reference picture from the animal's "ancestrial environment".     
   Then the economy attacked the customer & he wasn't able to pick-up his mount. He let us know early-on to go ahead and put it up for sale, but we decided to keep it for use as a display piece in our studio. As we are building on & I'll be making new displays for our showroom...we've decided to go ahead and put it up for sale.
   Thank you for your time & responses on this, Susan.

[M.T.]

Considering myself as a habitat specialist also, I have to admit that I believe the basework is weak! As far as the mount goes, it may be worthy of a second place, there is nothing that jumps out at the viewer. Sorry

[mr.T aka mr. friendly]

Now don't take this wrongly, I am not attacking you personally,, but it looks dead to me,, no action. Looks like you bought a stock form and left it that way.  With a little alteration, a front leg picked up, head turned, it wouldn't look so generic. Customers need to be sold on things like this, change the stock forms and give them some life. The grass is to thin and spindly, habitat specialist? Hhhmmm,,,, the jury is still out on that one.

[Habitat Specialist]

    I realize the base seems to be sparsely decorated with the grasses. The person I had listing this for me suggested that I remove part of the "filler cover" in order to better show the sub-base...wood, rocks, etc in a pic. The pix of the finished mount/base I had given her wouldn't download for whatever reason...and I didn't find out 'til too late & was already listed. If/when I have to relist it for sale, I'll have the pix of the finished prouct posted as well-unless I can figure it out & do it MYSELF = no suprises with the listing.

    The filler will be added back to the base after I finish "re-freshening" it all - again. We had what seemed like a dust storm go thru our shop (renovation & adding on) with all the carpentry going on. I thought the side room we"d stored our displays in was a safe place & pretty well "dust-proof"...man was I wrong! We live & learn. Now I have around 30 mounts & displays to clean-up and re-freshen, along with all the finish taxidermy work to do on customers' pieces. I am SOOOOO ready for all this expansion to be finished. I guess I'll be busy for a good while working double shifts 'til it's all done and cleaned up.
     Thank you for your thoughts, Susan.