I got my w/t deer mount back, and the ears are not positioned where I asked them to be. Can they be moved? He used earliners and clay bases, to my knowledge. I searched the archives and there was not much info on this subject. If they can be repositioned...what would be the best way to approach this? Thank you.
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Now are the ears anotomically correct and the ear butts? If so leave well enough alone. You have already trusted the taxidermist to do thier best, you have already trusted thier knowledge.
But now you say your knowledge is greater than the taxidermist.
Take a hammer and knock them loose than you can put them where they need to go.
I have an opinion where they need to go, but that might take someone elses assistance.
Stick the head in a garbage can of water for about three days and you should be able to move them.
First off, I never said my knowlegde was better than his. The fact is...I asked him to give me ears back....he put one out to the side, and one forward. The mount itself looks fine...but the ears look terrible how they are positioned (to me). I'm so fed up with the guy I took it to...(long story....yes, bad judgement on my part...but hindsight is 20/20). I'm not going to ask him to fix it. I'm thinking of taking it over to another taxidermist in the area and have him look at it. I just wanted to get some expert opinions on how it should be done....so at least I have an idea if he knows what he is doing...when I ask.
Flocking the ears like you describe is perfectly acceptable. So if you think that it is anatomically incorrect dont worry it probaly isn't. In fact it is a good way to add some character to your trophy room versus all of your deer being identical except for the antler size.
I know it is anatomically correct. It's just that it doesn't look good to me, on my mount. The rack is narrow and tall....that's why I asked for the ears to be in the back position.
LOL...and I hope someday to have a trophy room where I need some diversity! But as it stands this is only my 2nd mount. BTW...my other mount has a wide rack and the ears very similar to the way this one is done. It looks very good on that mount.
As a person, I would have been upset too. If you specifically ask for something...such as ears back, then the taxidermist should have done just that! This is why I specifically ask my customers how they want their ears....I have noticed certain clients like them back, some forward, and some do not care. Personally I would have made the comment when I picked the deer up.....It seems to me from what I have seen on this site, too many customers are accepting their mount and bringing it home KNOWING they are not satisfied. I would rather have a customer be straight and honest from the get-go with me. Good luck to you!
I would have said something....but this was the 2nd time he was mounting the same deer for me. He screwed it up the first time...and I told him I wanted it redone. Like I said, long(painful)story....and I was just fed up, so I took it and left.
My question now is, can it be fixed without having to remount the whole thing again?
Mike it can be fixed no problem...all a guy would have to do is rehydrate the skin, undo a few inches of stitching...dig out the clay...replace the clay and locate the ear in the back position...pretty simple in my opinion...I agree with you on the fact that some deer look better with the ears back and sometimes they look better forward...most smaller racked deer I suggest the ears be back so more of the focus is on the rack...I would never put one ear forward and one back unless specified by the customer...some customers tell me to put them how I want to in order to compliment the deer`s rack...good luck
Soak the head in a tank with water, if it is a tan skin maybe an hour will do, if it is dry preseve then several ours might be needed,
Then pin the eyes where they are at ,and proceed to pull the ears back to the position you want if the clay butts do not go along you might need to open the stitches and build the butts again removing the clay that remained where the ears were before.
After you build the ears and positioned them , make sure they are level and then stictch the back again.
If the eyes moved you need to do the eye work again and repaint.
It is easier for you to take it to someone that knows how to do it.
Good Luck