I am going to be setting eyes for the first time on a deer head and am wondering when using white banded eyes,does the white show in front or back of the eye when set.The form is a semi-upright,right turn if that matters.
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white band foward left eye white band to the back
Which way is your deer looking? Right or left? When you look in the mirror and you look right or left, which side shows the most white? the side opposite to the direction you are looking. Also, unless your deer is severely crosseyed, no white band should show on both sides at the back of the eye.
Like ME said, white band to the forward of the left eye, white band back side of the right eye. Or vica versa.
Most of the time on a whitetail deer you will not see the whites of the eyes. It is a cute sales gimmick that looks nice but isn't accurate. If a deer rotates his eye then you will see the white in the front corner of one eye and the rear corner of the other.If your form is a right turn you can have it looking forward or rotate the eye to the right. If the animal is in motion the eye will naturally turn in the direction the head is turning. Watch a person turn their head. They can not prevent their eye from moving in the direction of the turn. It will then return to a forward look. You can also have a right turn and have the deer's eyes looking back to the left. In this case you would probably want to drop the left ear back like the deer heard something and turned it's eyes to check out what it heard. Ears and eyes work together for expressions. The only other time you will see the whites of the eyes is when the deeri is scared or in a fighting aggressive mood. Also if the head is down feeding and it is looking forward past the top of it's head.
you sure do write a good thread that is easily understood, and provide accurate information.
I was going to say the exact same thing. That's probably the most refreshingly accurate post we've seen here in some time pertaining to eye rotations. Good job Dean. Thanx.
that the pupil should always be level no matter which way a whitetail tilts his head. Great explaination Dean!
Thank you guys that means a lot. It helps to have a pen with real tame deer that you can move,turn and twist on. They walk away when they have enough. Bring them some treats and you can twist and tweek on them some more. Todd is right with the pupil being level with the ground. There is one exception to that though. If a deer is reaching up for a leaf and its head is tipped up. The deers pupil will turn and focus on the leaf or branch above them. The pupil will be angled upward looking at the branch for short periods of time. It will actually rotate back and forth from a level position back to focusing on the branch and back to level. The eye is naturally returning to level but the deer can make them move to focus on things that are above them and close.
They may be required in competition, but I do not like the look they give on a normal mount. I think it makes the deer look scared. Like was said above, more often than not you won't see the white band. Looks at your reference photos. I never use them.