I have a couple of questions about the two part whitetail ear butts article you just did in Breakthrough. I see by your reference in the article how the scutiform cartilage is postioned on an ears back attitude. But I'm not very clear how it sits on a forward attitude. Could you please give me some idea how it rests on the conchal cartilage? Could you also recommend a reference source that gears towards the anatomy of whitetail ear butts I can use to help me with this? If there is a reference picture you can share with me I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for your time and any help you can give me!
Andy
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Andy,the scutiform is a floating piece of cartilage. the muscles in front of it attach to the skull and the muscles behind it attach to the ear. The flexible scutiform bends up slightly on the top as the ear goes forward. The muscles in the front flex or contract so they swell slightly. the skin and fat on top of the scutiform bunch up and wrinkle. Brad Eppley has some earliners with the earbutt pre-sculpted forward. These would be good to use as reference even if the earliner happened to not be the right size for the ear you are mounting. The best reference would be to skin out the earbutt area on a carcass and examine what lies beneath the skin. Push the ear forward and back to see what the scutiform is doing as the ear moves.
Take some photographs and then remove all of the muscle tissue and see how the ear canal works. You have to learn this from the inside out. Observing the shapes from the outside of the skin will not reveal the mechanics. I hope this helps. Good luck, study hard.
Thanks for the help! The picture idea is a good one. The next deer head I get I'll have to do that with. I was also thinking of maybe trying to make of cast of the ear butt in a forward position. I have made molds of the scutiform cartilage though. That was I great I idea I got from you when you were at our NY show.
Thanks again!
Andy