I am attempting to mount my first whitetail. I've had the cape wet tanned. I tried it over my form and it was tight around the neck area. Should I just try taking the form down in size, or just order another one and keep that one for a future deer. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mikey
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Mike we need a ton more info to help you out here bud. What size cape do you have? What size form is it? How tight is tight? Does it come close to being toughing each other or not? There's so much your missing here and with out this no one can help you out.
Mike. Maybe you've got it pulled down too far on length. I don't have much experience but I swore my first mount was short of closing together around the neck by a couple of inches, but it pulled together just fine as I kept sewing it up and shortened on length at the same time. I just had it pulled out too long to start with. The mount finished up looking great.
Try stretching the cape width wise...should have no problem. The skin shrinks a bit in tanning or frying process. If you have the proper size form it should fit fine for you. Good luck on your first deer head mount.
~ ETCC
Mikey, Probably the other comments will get you where you need to be on this as it is common for a cape to stretch long and draw up in the nneck but if it will not stretch enough to fit around the neck I would shave it down a bit with a rasp taking off up to about 1 inch in girth. If it is larger than 1 inch too big I would order another form. In doing commercial deer heads you can easily get by with shaving the form down taking most from the back of the neck and still have the proper appearance to the visable neck area. Other factors to consider are how long does it take to receive another form, how long before you have the opportunity to use the form you have now if you reorder. Enjoy, Aaron H.
rub the inside of the skin down with downy fabric softener. Put it in a bag and let it sit in the fridge overnight. You will get an extra one to two inches out of your cape this way. Saved me from shaving forms down or ordering new ones on more then one occasion.
I'll try stretching the cape, and if that don't work I'll shave it a bit.
thanks all