I am putting the finishing touches on my mounts for the show. I am a big time procrastinator- the show is Friday. I have my main comp piece done and now I am working on my other pieces. My dilema is this... I have a deer that I mounted in August 2003 and I love it, except for the bottom jaw. I will be taking him to the show with me but the bottom jaw was tucked in just slightly off center. The black hair that is on either side of the mouth is off by about half an inch. I figured I could hide my booboo by airbrushing the color of the dark brown to match both sides so it will appear to be evenly tucked. How badly will the judges ding me for this when they find I painted it? Did I screw up by trying to hide it? I must say it looks a lot better now that his "goatee" is even. This deer has the dark hair all the way around his bottom jaw.
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Jeanette, In my experiences competing, I have found that judges do not like paint on hair. Maybe a better option would be to use a skin dye instead, such as the Lifetone skin dyes. I have recently repaired some spots on a whitetails white throat patch. It was really scarred up, but after dying & then lightly brushing the scars disappeared. Another possible option (if you didn't use an epoxy hide glue) is to rehydrate the skin in that area & then make some adjustments. Hope this helps some. P.S.- We all procrastinate when it comes to getting those competition pieces ready!
Brian
Brian,
Unfortunately I waited too late to fix my mess up as I am packing up my mounts right now. I removed all the paint and I will just have to take my beating. I have learned and will do better on my next one.
Thanks!