I've only mounted a couple deer and have only used earliners, but a deer that I just fleshed out had a hole/split through the middle of the ear from fighting. It appears the other buck's antler went through this deers ear and then ripped its way out, splitting the ear right down the middle. My question is that should I try to duplicate this injury on the earliner, or should I try the bondo method for that ear. If there are any other ideas, please let me know. Thanks. -RICH
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Rich, when you open the ear, chances are it will tear around the hole and you will have a mess with the bondo. It may be easier to match the hole on the ear to the earliner like you orinally thought. Like to know how it comes out.
I have the same problem, but I think mine is worse yet. The ear is ripped about 2 inches down toward the middle, then it was grown back together, then there is a hole right aboout in the middle of the ear. It reminds me of a mitten with a hole in the middle of it. I havent got to this deer yet and am debating on wether to use bondo or an earliner also, I am not really sure that I could use an earliner cuz of the hole right in the middle of the ear. Surprisingly though I got this ear turned without ripping the hole or making it any worse that it allready is. Any help with an e-mail to me would be great.
I learned deer using earliners. Once I got to investigating what many of the best in the industry were doing, I started using the bondo method on all my mammals that have ear damage or small ears that would require extensive resizing of a liner. I mix the bondo with a good amount of resin and fiberglass chop then just use the bondo catalyst as hardener. This mix seems to flow well around the damaged areas and makes a nice looking ear if you stay with it and shape it well during it's "kick". Most of my clients would rather have the damage left or duplicated in their mounts. Good luck.
I appreciate the input. I have just recently finished with the salting of some of my capes, so this one is about to go to the tannery. We'll see what happens when I get it back. Thanks again...