Well, it finally happened. I received an unusual Whitetail last week. I've been doing taxidermy part time for 4 years and up until now, the only problems I had to concern myself with were the "basics) of taxidermy. You know, making sure the cape doesn't slip, being sure the eyes and ears are properly thinned and turned, properly measuring and selecting the right forms, fixing the occasional field dressing mistakes, etc. Now I have a real "opportunity) (we'll call it that for now anyway). I received a whitetail that has an inch and a half overbite. Yeah, the top lip is slightly more than 1 ½) longer than the bottom lip/jaw. I'm thinking that the best option is to use a ½ jaw-set and basically make a closed mouth mount with the bottom of the top of the mouth showing. However, I'm open to anyone's suggestions... This deer came is my first from a local outfitter that I have been trying to make inroads with and there is a good possibility that this will mount will lead to a much larger amount of work in the future. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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Sorry for all the typos!
Sounds like a parrot mouthed deer. I see a few every year here in the south. I would mount as usual but order a slightly smaller eye to nose form(maybe 3/8 inch shorter) or alter it to shorten. and it should mount up normal. you will have to taxi the skin around but unless it is really really short it shouldn't be noticeable. They normally mount up and no one is the wiser. UNLESS the client wants it to be like it was and some do. Then i would just alter it. Just my opinion and i am sure there are lots of other ways to do it and proably better ones. Hope to see the experts chime in and give some ideas. good luck
A number of deer, and all wild species for that matter, have abnormal physical features. If the client wants the deer to be mounted as it was, your idea is a good approach to solving the problem. Steve's approach will probably work too. The solutions should be dictated by the customer's wishes. Some folks like the idea of having a unique trophy, others want cosmetic surgery done on their kills.
take your measurements and rip and tear! you will find as you get more of these unusual trophies altering forms becomes the norm. as you do more your confidence in alterations will grow into a no big deal type of thinking. dont forget to charge for the time involved for your extra labor. good luck
The customer definately wants the overbite to be as it was when he brought it to me. I took the time to take several pictures and plenty of measurements, so at least I'll have some reference. I have some time to think about how I'm going to go about this, it's well down on my mount schedule.
Anyone else from Indiana on here that is seeing the benifits of the "one buck" rule? I can't beleive the size of the bucks I'm getting in. What I would have considered a monster last year is barely average for this year.
Thats what I just told a few people today. I have some definite trophy class deer this year compared to last year. This is a real plus for trophy class deer in are state.
Put a couple of big teeth out front on the top jaw, and get some thick glasses for the deer.