The antlers of my last shoulder mount were very big and wide. I put them on the form before I mounted the cape, so I had to make an incision all the way down the back of the neck so I could get the cape on the form. I wanted to keep the cape tubed so I would not have to sew as much.
On the next buck mount I do, I am thinking I should leave the cape tube skinned (with the short Y) and mount the cape on the form first, and then attach the skull plate on the form between the short Y. After that, all I would have to do is mix up some mache and smooth around the skull plate, and then sew up the short Y and around the antler burrs. Have any of you tried this before?
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.....that's why the short "Y" is used in the first place. You ALWAYS test fit the hide and then screw the antlers into the form and THEN MOUNT THE HIDE around it. I use Bondo instead of papier mache as I don't like all that moisture under the cape. I sand it to fit the mannikin before I ever test fit the hide. Once it's sculpted in place and rasped down, THEN I knock the antlers off the mannikin, test fit the hide, inset the antlers through the short "Y", screw them down tight and then mount my deer. Even when I get a deer with a long dorsal incision, I sew it up from the inside first to make it a short "Y". So much easier to hide the seam that way.
thanx for the reply
But you were only stupid for one deer and the time it took you to ask the ? j
Nina, Pretty often someone will post something they have figured out only to find it is a known method. This is anything but stupid. Our craft has advanced greatly over the years from various people coming up with a different way of doing a thing and it starts with a simple thought. Improvements to a method start the same way and can take a good idea to great status. In taxidermy, there is always more than one way to accomplish the same end. I wonder what someone will come up with next to make me wonder "Why didn't I think of that?" Enjoy, Aaron H.