What is the timeline on a mount? Specifically deerheads. They will eventually start to look old right? Especially when people don't take care of them right? What is acceptable? What do you repair or refurbish at your expense? I mean like i said earlierthis season, i shouldn't be held accountable for mounts that are placed over the woodburning stove for five years right. I ain't a hacksidermist, but i ain't no world champ yet either, but what bothers me is when people treat their mount like a toy instead or art and guys go in and see the mount that i did, and it looks like crap because the guy never cleans it, and sometimes i think maybe i should offer to refurbish that guys mount so i don't look bad. YOu know what i mean? Do you pros ever run into something like that?
So i know i vented earlier this year, but i am just wondering---What type of aging can i expect as my deer mounts out their age? What happens to mounts. Should they be as good in twenty years as they are when they leave my shop?
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THe best mount will be Fed up over a fireplace.
You are not in control of the mount, I would say the first 30 days if its a defect in supplied materials or workmenship.
You do the best you are able to, you cannot be sure of anything once it leaves your door. What of the get a bird wet? or lay a fish out in the back window of a car?
Wood heat or even a vented Gas heating stove will cause a mounted head to crack.
They abuse the head they have a problem and you can tell if they placed it over a fireplace.
a mount should stay good looking for decades. Of course all this depends on first of all proper mounting procedures (tanned hide, good workmanshipe etc) then it depends on proper care after it has been picked up.
I have mounts in my studio I mounted nearly 10 years ago and they look like the day they were mounted. Of course they are taken care of very well by not having them in the sunshine, not exposing them to smoke and cleaning them on a regular basis (dusting with an airhose). I also bomb them on a regular basis.
Bottom line is, the better you take care of your mount, the longer it will last.
Even the very best taxidermy is not considered "fine art" because it is perishable. I will clean a mount that I mounted for no charge otherwise I charge 10% of the current mounting fee. There is a lifesize mount of a 40" dall ram here in Cody at the Sheep Foundation headquarters that is falling apart; mounted by Mike Boyce in Reno about 7 years ago. They keep all the mounts clean but they haul them around to conventions. It all depends. Never gaureentee a mount against all the unknowns out there or you will lose big time.
As Evelyn said proper cleaning occasionally will keep a mount that has been mounted for many years looking good . It also depends on how it was mounted and the type tan ,etc. that was used .
I have a 9 point buck that I mounted as a teen ager in 1965 that still looks as good as it did then ,considering the fact that I have kept it away from heat and direct sunlight . Those old mounts back then alot of wax was used around the eyes , mouth, and nose and heat would really make a mess of and old mount like this .
Every so often I look at the old deer mount and think how far Taxidermy has came along in the past 40 years , but back then we thought the mounts looked really good .
I have used WD 40 sprayed lightly to clean my deer mounts and also my turkeys and other birds , it gives them a shine and leaves very little residue. On the birds I use a feather duster to clean them with good results. Have a good day .. Jim Burnside
i was just curious about what you guys ran into. I know i have seen my earlier mounts that have been taken care of- and they still look great, and i have seen one that has been abused, and i was wondering if i was doing inferior work, but i think it is just strictly abuse. I know i certainly try hard, and i don't cut corners, if my mounts don't look good it is cause of my lack of talent as far as painting, sewing, or what not(not that i suck, but i know i won't win the world championships THIS year :) ). But not because i don't take the time or money to produce quality results. And to be clear, the guy doesn't even care his mount is going downhill, that is just the way he is, he hasn't said a word to me about it, but i have seen it and would hate for other people to think that is a good representation of my work. I know i couldn't stand to let anything jsut kinda rundown like he lets his stuff rundown. I guess it is just a part of picking who you are going to work for.
It is a dead animal isn't it? LOL
the day he was shot. He's still holding the acorn between his original orange teeth. You can see a bit of clay, though, inside the mouth.
This mount has gone through some major moves.