I have some old racks and was contemplating using them to practice mounting. My question is how do I figure out what size of form to order to "fit" the rack and what size cape to go over it. I used several phrases with the search button but didn't really get any answers. Most of the racks are "average" midwestern deer.
Thanks in advance.
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Any cape 16"-18" below the ear for starters. You do not need to pay big bucks if you are going to practice. You will learn how to sew holes anyway, so you can get a cape that has been shot up for less money. You will need basically three measurements to start with on a cape. Tip of the nose to the front corner of the eye. The measurement tight below the ears around the neck. Then the measurement 3" below the ears, around that part of the neck. Buy a form 1" smaller that the neck size, keep the nose to eye length the same. On a 16" cape, almost any antler will fit it, if the base of the antler is larger than the burr hole, simply cut it to fit. Get some good mounting videos, and a Breakthrough Whitetail Manual to learn from. And that is all there is to it,,,,ha ha ha , good luck.
You don't know what you are getting yourself into. The best thing to do is to get all the knowledge you can before you start. You can buy capes already tanned, or you can tan them you're self, or you can use a dry preservative on the cape, you have several options that you need to know about. The videos and any books that you can get access to, you will need the get before you even buy the form or cape. Doing the first mount is no walk in the park. Get the road map laid down first before you lay hands on the project. There are many steps that you cannot skip; the reward of doing the research will show in the end product. You will be impressed with yourself when you are done with that first mount. But is a rather large task to do, unless you do the homework up front.
Thanks, for the info. I have the whitetail Breakthrough manual, videos by Don Holt, and the one on shoulder mounting by Sallie Dahmes. Am eager to try my first attempt. I know they make it look easy but it is so interesting I can't hardly wait to give it a whirl. That is why I am considering using a rack I already have. Any more ideas you have will be appreciated. I have learned alot from this website in the last few weeks.
When you refer to a sixteen inch cape which measurement are you referring to? Don't want to sound like an idiot but just wondered because about all capes for sale only go by one measurement in the ads for them.
They are using a neck reference for the 16-18 inches. You need to go to web sites like WASCO and read up on how to measure a deer cape so you will under stand what is taken into account when dealing with cape to form measurements.
good luck
Most capes are sized by the below the ear measurement. Some clowns on ebay will give the size that is three inches below the ears, that is almost 2" bigger, deceiving you the real size. You have to watch out for that. A 14-15" deer will be on the small size. 16-17-18" is average, 19-21" is maybe a 2 1/2 year old deer, 21-22" a 3 1/2 year old, and 23" on up is older yet. The fall rut will swell the capes even larger. Buy the cape first, the form second. An early fall deer will have short hair; a winter deer will have long hair. The short to Medium length hair look nice to me. Just my 2 cents.