I have a tanned, rehydrated, thinned and ready to go cape that is giving me some trouble. I tried it on a form which was a little big in the shoulders, but the real problem was the ears. I used natra-look liners, forward position, and the cape does not come together well behind the liners. I actually had the mount done, but after sewing it up,(it was dorsal cut, I pre-sewed it to a short Y before mounting) realized that the ears just were not acceptable, they were pulled way too far back. I cut the foam earbutts off the manikin, McKenzie 6522 semi-sneak, and still the skin is a long way from touching. I test fit on a smaller form, and again, after cutting off the earbutts on the form, still am having trouble getting the skin together. It appears to me that there is just not enough skin past the earbutts to make this work, there is still a gap in back. I hate to use a smaller form, because the rest fits, as stated before, I did have it sewn up. The cape was brought to me with the antlers, so I did not cape out the head, and it was cut full length. It almost seems to me that somehow some hide is gone in the back of the head, there's only about 1/2" of skin past the edge of the earbutts. Any ideas?
This cape was tanned by the same tannery that tanned the last 25 deer I mounted the past months, so I don't believe that is where the problem lies.
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That you have a smaller narrower headed deer but first of all pull skin up up up get some slack up top. Then maybe trim some or all of the plastic earbutts off and use clay.And dig a indentation in the ear canal aera of manikin this all will help.I will tell you that most likley all of your skin is there you are just dealing with a pettite headed deer and probally slightly to large of a manikin Good luck Jeff
I'll give it a shot. Wish I would have had the deer head before it was caped.
I try and test fit as good as I can before sewing. And one thing to remember, a lot of forms have the ear butt references in the wrong spot. I just mounted a whitetail and the butts were way too low. I had to scoot the ears forward toward the antler bases and shift them up. Did you try moving them around by shifting them up and towards the antlers? This would lessen the gap in my opinion.
Is it possible that you used epoxy to put those liners in? Good guess? Sometimes a person can use a bit too much skin there, and need to pull (stretch) it away from the liners to be there, between the ears. Just a thought.
I almost always use the small earliners now. A lot of deer look like they would take mediums, but really don't. I have had problem like yours as well.
The skin is not attached to the butts, just the ear itself. I always test fit as well, especially since I didn't have the head to measure. Possibly the earbutts are too big, I will probably cut them off, use clay and make it work. The deer's rack may have set me up for failure, it scores in the 140's and around here that would go with a larger framed animal. Thanks for the ideas and help everyone.
you just need to make some alterations to the head of the form and narrow it in the back some by cutting out a slice of the form (lengthwise shaped like a thin piece, and taper it to a point past the eyes somewhere near the middle of the nosebridge). If it is a petite headed deer then the measurements of the width of the head are off. This could remedy your situation.
While I dont see what the antler size would have to do with it, it sounds like youre getting a handle on it, so good luck figuring it out! Hope it works for you.
the size of the form based on the rack? Although I measured the cape, I usually take the measurement off the neck of the carcass, but in this case I did not have the carcass. Part of the problem I gained from the advice is that the form is a little too big, especially the head.
Just finished up the mount. I had to cut off about 1/2" around the back of the head and trim down the neck to match. I also lopped off the head and reset it to make it look right. I cut the earbutts off the liners and off the form, and used clay and although the ears are not as far forward as could be, they are much better. I didn't have another smaller semi-sneak form, so I altered a smaller, semi-upright to make it work. I still had to take some off the shoulders and the back wood panel to make the shoulders fit. The neck fit was fine the way it was. Fun stuff, two days for one mount!