My first black bear rug. Measured E-N after commercially tanned and re-hydrated (5 1/4"). Ordered competition rug shell and matching mouth cup (Buckeye). The rug shell seems to be a good fit, but the teeth in the mouth cup are much smaller than the originals. The upper canines on the mouth cup are 1 5/8" C-C, and the ones in the bleached scull from the bear are 2 1/8" C-C. That may not sound like much, but it really looks much smaller. What gives? Is it the brand of mouth cup I'm using? Should I get a larger rug shell / mouth cup and try to stretch the bear on it? Should I just go ahead and mount it with small teeth? Any insight on this matter is greatly appreciated.
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If you are sure that your form is the proper fit you will probably be stuck with what you've got.The teeth in a head like this won't always match exactly your specimen.You didn't say which Buckeye head you have.I am assuming it is the 5" ?There is a pretty good jump in size when you go to the 5 3/8" head.If you have plenty of slack in fit,maybe you could make that jump.If you look in the "Cast Lip" line of bear heads,the 5 1/4" head has a Mohr medium jaw which is about 1 7/8" center to center,which is a little better but may not be enough gain to be worth exchanging.The "cast Lip" 5 1/2" head is identical to the Buckeye 5 3/8",except the lips lay closer to the teeth and aren't flaired out as much.What I am saying is that if you have a skin that almost fits on the Buckeye 5 3/8",but the muzzle is tight,it might work on the McKenzie "cast Lip" 5 1/2" because the muzzle is not quite so wide.The 5 1/2" has the Mohr large jawset,which is app.2 1/4" center to center.With the cast lip head you would have to paint the mouth.The 5" head would be about an honest 150 lb. bear,5 1/4" would be 225 to 250 lb. and 5 3/8"-5 1/2" would be about 300 lbs.,if that helps.It is just a judgement call if you think that skin would fit over a larger size head.You can see the difference in a 5" and 5 3/8" head when you compare the body weights.I bet your bear would fit pretty well on the 5 1/4".I hope I didn't confuse you too much,just throwing out some info-it will be up to you to sort it out and decide.Good luck.
Jim, thanks for the in depth response. You are correct, I have a 5" rugshell. I have a little room on it but not much. I think I will try a 5 1/4". I'm pretty sure the 5 3/8" is going to be too big, as you say, the width and length jump quite a bit on that size. I'm a fair judge of the weight on a hanging, field dressed bruin, but I skinned this bear on the side of a mountain in Alaska and am just not sure of the weight. My best guess would be around 250 pounds field dressed... but it was a sow so the head is not as large as a boar of that weight. The scull measured 18 2/8".
Thanks again for the help, take care.
That sounds like the 5 1/4" head.That will get you slightly bigger teeth.Regarding painting of the "cast lip" head,scour the mouth ring with Ajax,Comet or a waterless hand cleaner like Gojo.Laquers adhere best.The mouth rings are an off-white and if you mist it with a maroonish brown color you can get it close to matching the Mohr gum color.It is basically off-white plastic with this color misted over.I was hoping you new something about bear sizes so that that mess wouldn't be too confusing.I killed a 5 1/4"x 60",app.250 lb.bear year before last and it would fit that 5 1/4" cast lip head perfectly( if I ever did actually pull it out of the freezer).Holler if yiu have any problems with using the cast lip head.
I think we're in the ball park, this bear is 64". Thanks again...