I just mounted me first mule deer and it looks great, but after about a month of hanging on the wall I noticed
the lip was cracking .I was putting tanning oil on its nose and lips once a week. Its not a very noticable crack
I just painted over It and it looks good, but I would like to know if ther is any thing I can do to prevent this
from happening again?
Return to Beginners Category Menu
First off you need to know what caused this.
Did you use a high grade hide paste?
Without using this the skin can pull away from the form. Thus if hit droped etc., can cause cracking.
What type of tan or did you use DP in the process? How was it handled?If the hide was tanned or rehydrated the wrong way it could of had acid swell and caused cracking.
Did you shave the face down or go below the hair roots? A hide that is to thin and then dries out to fast can cause cracking.
Where is it hanging? Is it near a good heat source? Being that it's summer and we just had some real hot days was the head located near a window? Excess heat will dry a hide out too fast and create some cracks.
As you see this is just a small amount of reasons on why it cracked. You need to go back through your steps and reaccess what may have caused this and change that step.