hi there, i took a nice big non-typical 12pt., that my son got last year, to a suposed very good taxidermy guy (world, u.s., state, champiships). we are in ohio, i wont name name's, but have warned everyone i know about him.
prolbem ---- he used some kind of new technique, heating the hide to get it to stretch easier and farther. now a year later we have terrible cracking around one antler, eye's, and looking like it's starting to pull apart at the seem down the back of neck.
question ---- can i use bondo for the cracks and then touch-up panit ?
also is there anything that can be done about the hide shrinking ?
thank you, ken shane
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Having no idea on what your taxidermist did here or where you had this hanging at doesn't help at all. To say it's the taxidermists fault here is hard to say. Have you called him up and explained to him the problems or at least taken the head to him to inspect it?
The way it sounds here is if your at fault some, for you didn't say any thing about discussing it but squawked about this guy being state champ and all. Now your asking how to fix it. It really sounds like you at some fault here.
Until we know what has really caused this it's hard to say what it will take to fix this up.
to follow up Frank, did you hang this mount over a fire place and cook it? Or hang it in a sun room where the sun can destroy it? Hanging it out in the garage where the weather can get to it will do funny things to it also. A 2 part Epoxy will be better than bondo, and wont run or sag from the cracks. But you should have taken it back and let him at least fix it before you slander him.
By the way, was he the cheapest you found when calling for prices?
hey guys, yes it is his fault. it was cracking on him before i recived it, and he had to fix it before giving it to me (had the mount 3 months longer than said he would).
and i hang my mounts in a room with no fireplace, away from heat registors, away from direct sunlight.
it was a non-typical with the main prolbem antler being only about 1 1/4" and the other 1 3/4" from eye.
Take it back to this guy, or another taxidermist to see what your options are. If you try to fix it yourself, you're going to wish you wouldn't have.
...look at his other work before you left it with him and did you see problems there...If he was experamenting with your deer and had problems,you should talk to him about fixing/recapeing ...give him a chance to make it good ...GL TD