I know that a deer head takes several days to do start to finish because you have to wait for things to dry and the tanning. If you added up all the hours from working on caping to the final finishing (not including the time the hide is in the pickle when you can be doing other things) how long does it take most of you to finish a deer head, does 8-10 hours sound right?
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A MIN. of 10hrs per shoulder mount @ $25.00 per hr. and the cost of supplys and a tanning and storage fee. the total cost ends up being about $350.00 - $400.00 witch is somewhat low for the area. but I get plenty of buisness! Joe
2 hours to cape and flesh.
1 to 2 hours to prep hide thats come back from the tannier
1 to 2 hours to prep form, set eye's, antlers and ear placment
4 to 5 hours for asssembley
After that its finish work wich I really haven't kept track of sometime's it will take me an hour sometimes three. It all depends on how fussy I get I guess. I'm only a part timer at this gig, so most of the deer head's I turn out would pull blue ribbon's in the pro category. To me turning out a quality product matter's more than cutting corner's to save a coupel hour's. I charge $425 a head...
Jeff, This question comes up every now and then and answers vary widely. Some of us skin,salt and send out to a tanner. Others do in shop tanning. Some try to mount 5 heads a day and others do one. Desired quality of job dictates how quickly you work though spending extra hours is no guarantee of a better job. I tan my capes and produce a quality commercial mount in 12-15 hours for an average whitetail deer. I've done them much faster and did not love the results. Enjoy, Aaron H.
ever seen a blue ribbon deer? do you have any? I have seen some blue ribbon deer and the people that produce them would charge your price with an extra 0 on the end. not too many part timers can even produce a blue ribbon deer let alone "most" of them they are doing for customers an $425 a pop. Joseph R Osborn (Hunter's Dream Taxidermy)