hi folks,just read alot in the search but cant seem to fine the answer,i have a deer that its ear was shot with a 12ga.slug and it looks even bigger than that,buts in the lower outside,i turn it and its all healed,and i still havent got the courage yet to remove the cartlege ,so i have been using earliners with 2part epoxy,so my question is i wont be able to get a earliner in there,so can i just use the epoxy with cartlege,or should i bondo it?the girl want it the way it is too,and she even cut the ear in the middle for the tag,so its messed up and i told her it would be a challenge....thanks for any help again,lol...tim
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I personally would turn it to the edge and use bondo/fgresin in the ears. You can also cut an earliner to fit. Use the ear as your guide. Then, remove the cartilage and proceed as you normally would when using an earliner. With a little patience, the mount should turn out fine.
I've had this on 2 deerheads I did, they wanted to keep it the way it was. One did not heal over and there was a good lower 1/3 of the ear missing. I turned the ear and sent it to the tannery telling them to be careful with it. When it came back I soaked it up and carefull removed the cartilage. I then cut the earliner to match the opening and once it was all fitted I glued it as normal, but then I followed that with superglue along just the outside of the ear close to the seam, this took some precise work. Then I had one like yours that had healed and the process was the same as a normal ear in my case. After tanning I removed the cartilage and was always very careful when it came to turning the ear inside out and back, as not to put stress on the healed seam. I then cut the earliner to fit around the missing area, and glue as normal. It just takes a little extra care, but it can be done...
thanks for the fast replys but,i have never tryed to remove cartlege before(on any of my first 11 or 12 mounts),is there anything i can do by leaving it in?
I would use ear magic from the Epo-Grip people!
Mix it according to directions and then ad fiberglass strand to the mixture before putting it in the ear, use it in the same manner you use bondo.
It will allow you to leave the cartilage in; and is a better adhesive to tie the front and back earskins together than bondo; and will form inside the ear just like the bondo does.