I have a deer cape that has an 18" measurement and a swelled neck. I want to do a pedestal mount but am having a hard time finding a pedestal form with a swelled neck. This is a blacktail deer and I was wondering if I could order a 17" form and rebuild (somehow) the swell on the neck. This is my first deer head and have looked through the archives finding little on this.
Thanks
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Forms don't always say "swelled neck." You have to look at the measurements which indicate if it is a swelled neck or not. Basically, you need to check the measurement right behind the ears, then 3" down the neck. And early season deer won't jump much in 3", but later season deer will. So then compare different forms and find one that jumps up the same or close. For example, I know Coombs makes a lot of their forms to jump up in size indicating a swelled deer. I had an early season deer so I had to buy a form with the right size measurement behind the ears, then shave the form down to remove the swell.
Long story short...lots of forms are actually built for a swelled neck, they just don't indicate it in the title.
has a lot to choose from with full swell, medium swell and light swell forms on most of all their forms. check em' out.
Thanks for the info guys!
Order a regular form in the size you need and alter the back of it to be a pedestal. It is not all that hard to do and won't mess up your anatomy in the neck area (which you would have to rebuild if you were to alter the neck by shaving it down or building it up). Make sure you insert a block of wood into the brisket area for stabilization of the finished mount.
In order to do this I'm guessing that you would just sand down the back of the form to obtain the curved shape? Or do you do something different? It sounds like a great plan just curious to the most efficient way.
Thanks