I would be interested to know when one should take messurement for a neck size on a buck once its shot around the skin, or once its skin and take the size of the skin lyed out or of the carcass , I know were I take the measurements from but the rest Im not sure as I dont want to order the wrong size. thankyou all
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it's really up to you. I prefer to take a snug measurement under the chin, before skinning. I've mounted over a thousand deer that way, and have never had a problem, (just make sure the head is completely thawed). you can take a loose measurement around the carcass after skinning, or you can lay the cape flat and measure that way.
incidently, way to much emphasis is placed on secondary measurements (for deer shoulders). having said that, you probably should take mid-neck measurements if you are a novice, unless you know whether or not your deer had a swelled neck.
I don't even use an eye-nose measurement when ordering. when you are familiar with your deer and suppliers, you'll figure out what works for you.
Good Luck
Dave
I will say this. That if you measure your deer hide while it is still on the deer it probably will not work especially if your from the north. I have never been taught this or have never read such a way of measuring a deer hide in that manner. It should and the way all the manufactures measure there manikins is by measuring the hide 3"below the ear or taking the measurement from the carcass. I would suggest that you take a look at any catolog and see hoe they wantyou to measure your hide so it can match their forms.
If by chance you do measure you hide over the hair I would say you need to subtract any where from 1 to 3 or more inches of so you can get the right form. I only say this because I have a friend in New York and he was having terible time mounting his deer. Seams would not close. After a trip up there and some quick looking into on how he measured his deer I found out that he was measuring his capes around the hair and was coming up way short. So I showed him how to do it the way I was taught and how the manufactures measured their deer heno longer has that trouble.
As with Dave I also take my measurement the same way .As so do the suplliers I order from,a good snug plastic tape around under the chin is all that is needed I dont measure the eye nose thing either.look in your cattalogs,does it not show a picture of a measurement around a deers head?A 18''deer neck will have between a61/2to a7''eye nose.A 20'' will have a 7'' eye to nose measurment.if you want to make mounting deer easy get a BEN MEARS cattalog,dixie land,kings,WASCO.how do they say to measure?all these can be ordered by using one measurement,but if you feel the need to take eye nose measurements do so Im just comfortable using neck only from the suppliers i use.Im not trying to be a know it all because i dont ,but i have mounted hundreds of deer this way with no problems,but i to use to measure eye to nose,did i say that already or was that someone else?
I to measure the dave way hundreds of times with never a problem.I dont take eye to nose measurements either.Take a 18"form and measure directly under the chin,I bet its 18".All the suppliers i order from measure this way look at the drawings in the books WASCO for instance the sportsman series.Neck measurement!The reason i dont measure eye to nose is because i know in my area MS ,an 18"neck deer will have a 6 1/2 to 7" nose every time a 20"neck deer will have a7"nose and so on .May I suggest you get a suppier and stick with it ,since I live in MS I use Ben M ears mostly,they fit like a glove.I also use dixieland,kings and WASCO.I f you use D.P. or a spray tan (preservative)you can add a inch or two to your neck size for a bigger apperance(rut)These are just my experiences,but they are true ones!Good day.
Frank,
I have mounted several northern whitetails, and you are right, some of those bucks have hair as thick as mule deer. that DOES make a difference when compared to our short-haired southern deer.
However, a snug measurement will still work, you just aren't able to "fudge" the measurement any.
We have the luxury of having most 20 inch deer(measured our way) fitting on forms as big as 21 1/2 inches, depending on the neck swell.
(I'm sure part of this is due to our modern mounting techniques using dry perservatives, instead of the primitive, outdated tanning methods that some taxidermists cling to)(lol)
If I were measuring northern deer with our method, I would probably round the measurement down to the nearest available form size.
I'm sorry for my oversite and incomplete information, and Thank you, Frank, for correcting me.
Cya,
Dave
we know down thar, you do things, different [if it dont fit writ/ boil it and it'll fit] but for the rest of us a good, measurement, is important