I mounted a whitetail two weeks ago and the hair is falling out in
chunks today. I check where the hair fell out and the skin is still
raw. It hasn't even dried yet. I have three mounts that drying in my
shop and the other two are in good shape. The area that is bad is at
the bottom of the mount. The top half of the mount is still good.
This is the first time this has happen to me. I fleshed, salted,
pickeled, used bactericide, shaved the cape, neturalize the cape,
put curatan on the cape and let it set for 1 1/2 hours, then put
hide paste on the manikin then put the cape on the manikin. I know
the whitetail was taken care of properly because it was my deer.
What happen?
This is what I think happened... the hide paste never dried for some
reason, so the hide never tanned properly.
Can I turn the shoulder mount into a neck mount? If so how?
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As a beginner, I just completed my first mount, a WT doe pedestal. I noticed that the brisket area took longer than any other area to dry. My guess on mine was that I mounted the cape while it was still too wet. I don't have a tumbler and only minimally towel dried the cape after a 30 minute or so draining period. Could this be the problem with yours? Did you allow the cape to drain sufficiently? Maybe one of the experts could jump in and correct me if I'm wrong. By the way, I got lucky- I had no slippage. I used the EZ100 system to tan.
Since it was in the brisket and you mentioned the hide paste didnt seem to dry - it could be one of several reasons. Patrick hit it on the head when he mentioned moisture migrating into the brisket area. Thats a common cause of problems - especially among guys that insist on washing their capes after tanning and they get sloppy on rinsing them - or - the detergent they use leaves behind a residue. The high alkalinity of the detergent pulps the epidermis and slippage can occur. I've also seen some hide pastes curdle, depending on the tan and oil you use. Obviously when they do - they also migrate because of gravity into the brisket area and can cause problems.
Probably one of the best ways to prevent moisture problems is to damp-dry your cape after its tanned, rinsed with clear water, and oiled and sweated. Use old towels - or sawdust and an air hose to blow it out. But remove any excess moisture. AND DONT WASH WITH A DETERGENT AFTER TANNING!
allways puncture a hole at the bottom of brisket for drainage.
I've had a couple experiences similar to yours. My guess is the cape was a bit too damp and gravity pulls the moisture down to the brisket. For what ever reason the hair began to slip. NOW- what I did was put a fan in front of it and no grooming until completely dry. Once the cape is good and dry there will be some loose hair for sure but likely once you brush it out it will be ok. Worst thing you can do is mess with the loose area before it dries as it just gets worse. Also you can turn the mount upside down to take some of the dampness away from the problem area. One thing to watch for is to not use too much hide paste in an area, depending on the type you use (slow setting water based) the thick area will take longer to set. This can be a problem with caulking type adhesives especially.
As for a neck mount-no problem. Let it dry out completely then find the point you want to save from. Peal back the cape above this point 3/4" and saw the mannikin off. Salvage the back board and cut it down to fit. Bondo a few small blocks of wood into the neck area of the form then bondo on the back board. Next after the bondo cures run a few screws through to the blocks and staple the cape down. You might have to dampen the cape at the new edges to get a smooth finish.
When the stuff we do starts to turn bad it becomes a salvage operation and you just try to make the best of a bad situation. Good luck, Aaron Honeycutt