I got a nice buck this year(158 b&c) and would like to show it off at some shows etc I wanted some nice true eyes with the white showing etc,,but the taxidermist that I brought the deer too said it wasnt worth the money whereas no one can see the white anyway.any thoughts on this
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I gather reference every year at a friends deer farm and I can honestly tell you there is very rare instances when you don't see the white scleral band in a whitetail's eyes. The whitetail is capable of rotation a hunter could spend thousands of hours in the woods looking for and never see it. Ask your taxidermist how many hours he or she spends on anatomy of whitetails other than looking at North American Hunter or something to that extent. Find somebody who prides themself on anatomy and reference and you'll fing someone that knows whitetails. Good luck.
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Go to the mammal section and open the links there are several whitetail photos with the white showing.
I would go back to the taxidermist and tell him to go to some shows and learn to do good work instead of hacking up customers mounts.
Then I would never darken his doorway again.
Its your money, you wanted something he did not have talent nor the education to give you.
This is why your research your taxidermist.
Please feel free to send me several photos of your mount, send me several close up photos showing the details or lack of details
I will cross reference them to photos of live deer are sold by many of our suppliers.
Good luck
JOhn C
I think its the last issue I recieved (or the one before) its a great picture of a whitetail rotating his eyes, lots of white showing in the front corner of one eye. I saved it as a ref pic.
Maybe you should start looking for a better taxidermist. Like Matt said find someone who knows whitetail anatomy and eye rotaion.
God Bless,
Clif
Go to the top of the page and click on "references". At this point you'll click on North American Large Mammals, then whitetail deer. You can see for yourself what a good(accurate) eye looks like. Thats an awful nice buck to trust with a sub standard taxidermist. Jeff F.
Pictures can show you deer that are very calm, with no eye rotation, not showing any white, or sclera. You may want your mount to look alert and aroused. You may want the head turned, too. Alert deer focus the eyes forward and the sclera shows more often then not. When deer turn their heads the eyes turn too. I raise deer and can assure you that the sclera shows more often then it doesnt. The taxidermist you spoke to did not WANT to rotate the eyes, and perhaps didnt know how. ALL my deer mounts show some sclera or at least the limbus band.
I agree and disagree. I have spent numerous hours studying and photographing live whitetail deer. Eye rotation depends mostly on the head movements and attitude of the deer. For someone to state a whitetail always show the white sclera or does the majority of the time is inaccurate. A relaxed whitetail, does not show the sclera the majority of the time. You may see the transition, but usually not the sclera white. A whitetail in an extreme position will rotate his eyes to affix upon an object, then the white sclera band will show destinctively. Flehming, very alert, hooking, fighting, licking a branch, drinking and so on, the sclera will be visible. A relaxed semi-sneak pose will show very little if any sclera. The deer is not that excited and focussed in upon an object. To state, I saw it on a particular photo is grossly misleading, unless you were the photographer and fully understood the whitetail's attitude at the time. It is a physiological principle, not an opinion. Yes, the sclera shows. No, the sclera doesn't show all the time. It depends upon purpose, attitude and intent of the deer. I would not consider your taxidermists unworthy, if he doesn't show the white. I would be more concerned to know if he could mount the eyes correctly, the ear/earbutt correctly, the nose, the brisket, and so on. If you want the white sclera band showing, tell him. If he don't respond, move on down the road. If his mounts don't look like they are living and breathing, move on down the road.
I will email you my photo of before now jonh its a nice 11 pointer
I paid 450 for a pedestal mount seems to be a reputable taxidermist but I think he gets so much work that he has an attitude
They show it most of the time, especially in the pose I described for dems mount. I too study live whitetails a bit...
I know you have whitetails, but you now those Yankee whitetails must be different than our Okie whitetails. Sorry, I don't see so much white when I am in Buck's deer pen. Another one of those opinion deals I guess. The attitudes you describe do show white, I just don't see it so much in relaxed deer. You know what they say about opinions......
After re-reading your earlier post, I didn't say anything you didn't state. You said, what I claimed, in your first sentence. You know, I will agree to the remaining portion of your post. I totally agree with what you state, but in a relaxed state..... As members of the same mens club, we must not disagree. (G-club)
I dont know what you meant by the g club, my man! But the point I was making was that we mount deer in alert poses, and the sclera very often shows then. I even mentioned that it doesnt as often in a relaxed pose. It could just be Mr Jones deer, he might have them all goofed up or something, he he...tell Buck I said "hey" when you see him!
you forgot, you welcomed me to this club after 3 children and 2 surgeries. (First one didn't take)
I told Buck and he said the samething as me. Must be those Yankee deer.
NOW I got ya...sorry for the "blank" expression, he he.
So is it:
ALERT = eyes w/scleral band showing and ears both alert?
RELAXED = eyes w/out scleral band and ears in any position, even different from each other?
I'm due to order about 15 sets of eyes, I was going to try True Eyes and some of the IQ eyes, but I really only have one out of twenty mounts to do with an "alert" (I prefer "attentive") expression.
Are the banded eyes overkill? or does everyone mount a lot of "alert" deer?
I offer my customers a choice of what kind of eyes they want. I charge $5 extra for white banded eyes which covers my cost and the extra few minutes it takes me to deal with them. I have a dozen deer eheads in my studio with lots of different eyes and poses for them to get a feel from. I also let the customers choose the ear position they like and any other aspect of the mount. Of course all their choices are documented in the workorder/contract.