I hope someone here has an idea that can help me. I had a deer mounted, and after getting it home(3-27-06) I noticed the antlers were cocked forward way to far, probably 30 degrees or so. I saw the rack after it had been cut off and it looked like it had been cut off squarely, but for whatever reason the antlers are leaning to far forward. This deer was put together one week ago. My question is, is there any possible way to realign the antlers after they have been mounted. I know in the very least it would require some messing up and covering up, but looking at it the way it is is killing me. Any Ideas?
Thanks, jb
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Take a damp not a soaking wet towel and place it around the antler base and the seam work, then bag it. After about 4 or more hours check to see if the area is rehydrated. If not rebag it and check later. It shouldn't take to long cause it's freshly mounted. It may even take sooner.
Any way after it's rehydrated cut the seam thread and reopen it enough to remove the antlers. Cut them where they should be and redo the caly work and resew the cape back on again. There should be no eye work at all and if any thing some clay work on the ears. Not a hard job.
to the taxidermist. For one thing, if it's only been mounted a week, it's not even dry enough to be doing the finish work on. I allow everything to dry a mininium of 2 weeks before any finish work is done. Depending on the mount and the weather, maybe even longer. BP
The next time you choose a taxidermist, pick one who can and will do a good job. You get what you pay for. Anyone who calls themselves a taxidermist should know that it takes longer than a week to dry a WT shoulder mount. As far as the antler tilt, take it back where you got it mounted and insist it be changed. This should be the last time you deal with this "taxidermist".
"JUST KIDDING" Who mounted it George ? Damn just kidding again..That's ashame,like they said if it's only been mounted for a week it should of never had finishing work done.I would make him fix it and fix it right..What did you pay him ?
and have him do it right. The idea of you tearing into this thing you paid good money for should scare you if you never did it before. It is a simple fix for most qualified taxidermists but not for a novice. I hope you have pictures to compare it with. Good luck.
How much did you pay for this mount and how long has this taxidermist been around? Attaching the antlers properly is one of the easy parts of the mounting process. I can only imagine what the rest of the mount looks like.
Well, first off. I appreciate the replies. I don't feel quite as hopeless as I did yesterday. The taxidermist has been one for over 20 years. He charges $275.00 , which is average for these parts. The problem is , I really like this guy personally. This is the first job he has ever done for me. He really put his heart into it. I told him when I took this deer and another one to him that my pet peeve was improper antler alignment. He assured me they would be right.He explained to me the process by which he cuts the skull to insure a square plate for the form and proper alignment. It made sense to me. After he had cut the rack loose, I asked if I could have the antlers of both bucks to show some relatives. He said no problem. I did this so I could closely inspect his cuts. The vertical and horizontal cuts across the skull on both bucks appeared to be VERY level, square etc. I really felt like they would be a great fit. Mostly , I felt like the guy really did want to make me happy. The rest of the mount looks GREAT by the way, and the other buck looks great as well, no problem at all with that deer. But I have a theory...
The buck in question was mounted on a McKenzie 64U form. This is a semi sneak , head up form. My brother had a buck mounted on a similar form by another taxidermist a couple years ago, and he had the same problem. I started to wonder if the cut out on the form for the skull plate to sit on might be formed wrong on some of these head up type forms. I went to McKenzies website tonight and looked up this form, and sure enough, the "level" portion of the cutout looked to be slightly slanted FORWARD. If a square cut skull plate was mounted directly on this, it would create the forward pitch problem that I have. It seems to me, if the deers head is UP, the cutout should instead be slanted BACK, right? On a normal head position the skull would set "level" on the form. If you raise the chin of the form up, then you would effectively slant the cutout down toward the back. But, the 64U is not like this. In short, it's a chin UP form with the cutout leaning forward slightly(lower toward the deers nose).
Sorry this is so long winded, but do any of you think that the cutout on this form is stearing the antlers in the wrong direction, or is the taxidermist suppose to know this and cut the skull different for this form?
Thanks! jb
Your taxidermist should have taken measurments from the tip of each antler main beam to the tip of the nose and recorded them. When he set the horns, you simply use those measurments to set the correct "cant" or "tilt". If he didn't do that, on AVERAGE the angle of the main beam is in parallel with a line running from the tip of the nose to just below the eye.
the form is the problem. If measurements were taken , and used, then that slant you're talking about isn't going to matter.
I'd still be more concerned about it being mounted and finished in a week. In a couple of weeks, you may find you have even more problems. BP
Jimbuck, I would like to see a pic of the buck to see exactly what your talking about. I agree with Becky P, the form is not the problem. If you know anything about how a form starts, from the sculpting to the final molding, I don't think McKenzie would overlook that. I too have customers that come into the shop that "think they know what a deer looks like" but actually they don't. For example if I gave you a deer back with the white showing in the front of one corner, and the the white showing in the back of the other, what would you think? Some customers question that because some of their "old" mounts don't show any white at all. I have to explain the movement aspects of deer eyes. They move with each other just like humans. Look at another humans eyes and tell them to move them from side to side. I guess my point is are you really sure about the angle the antlers are set? Let me give another example. When I was a "greenhorn" taxidermist I held a rack in my hands and at times would hold it up and look at it. I put the rack on the form and thought it looked as if it were "tilted back". I thought the main beams should lean forward more. I held it up in the position again in my hand where I thought it should be, and looked good to me. Then I looked at the skull plate in this position, it was pointed down at a 45 degree angle, obviously not right for the skull. Put the skull and the right position and the antlers fall into place.
As far as the cuts go I hope nobody pays close attention to mine as you did your taxidermist. I make a general cut and when I go to mount the deer I use a table mounted belt sander to "level" the antlers and even the cuts out so I get a good level fit. So don't be over critical of your taxidermist about that. If you don't know how to mount a deer then you shouldn't be judging things of that nature.
My last thing is for Becky P. I have been mounting deer for several years and I can have one dry in about 7 days. Everything sets up in two or three and withing 7, it's solid. I don't do just a couple a year either so I have the experience. If you see pulling over a long period of time it's because the cape is not cleaned and meat still left on the cape is drying and pulling. My capes are all professionally tanned by a tannery if I don't tan them myself. So I don't think that is the taxidermist a "bad" taxidermist either. I don't know what kind of experiance there is on this post but I agree with some things and disagree on others.
I don't have the appropriate "stuff" to send a picture, other than I could mail one to you, but it's not necessary. This particular buck happens to be one I know well. I have trail cam pictures of him for two years, and I got about 36 exposures of him after the kill. My brother is an excellent photographer, and he took the pictures for me, from many different angles. Not only is it easily recognizable to me because of my familiarity with this deer, but I have also compared ALL of the pictures to this deer and the rack is EASILY 20 degrees or more tilted forward. I'm really not trying to be critical, I just wanted a solution and opinions from taxidermists on how to fix it,if the form cutout could be wrong, etc. I can tell you though, there is absolutely not a shadow of a doubt, the rack leans forward.You can take my word for it. I don't "think", I know for sure.
My hides are professionally tanned also. I just don't trust a week, especially if it's been humid, also depends on the thickness/length of hair. Everyone has their own techniques I guess, and different things work for different people. BP