This is my 4th deer for someone (friends)and want some imput what is right and wrong. I want to start doing it part time commercially starting this fall. I am also looking for some cheap capes to do some display pieces.
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/kebees4/briansdeer004.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/kebees4/briansdeer001.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/kebees4/briansdeer008.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/kebees4/briansdeer006.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c367/kebees4/briansdeer005.jpg
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Nothing as far as I could tell was wrong. I'd be glad to have it on my wall. I'd certainly give you my business!
Looks good to me also, you should do well.
For a fourth deer it looks great I would give it a 4 out of 10 you need to work your references though. Keep up the good work and the best advice is NEVER NEGLECT USING YOUR REFERENCES
sits too low and too far back on head
The ears are a little large and open too much. They should have more of a cupped shape.If you notice the hair patterns towards the front of the ears on the top, the white hairs should softly curl into the ear. Looking at it straight it seems the right ear is pretty good, but the left ear is the one I noticed. The color of the nose is good, you didn't just paint it black which is a plus. Eye shape is a little off, but I think perhaps the front of the skull plate was left a little long, and you had to pull the skin behind the eyes to get it to meet the base of the antlers. I think you just need have some good reference for the eyes and ears. I still have trouble with ear butts sometimes.Grooming is good. All in all I think you did a good job ! Stick with it !
For a fourth mount, it doesn't look too bad, but you have a long ways to go before you should hang out a shingle. The ears are very bad looking. The position is wrong and the bases are too big. The eyes look "bugged out" and are too big. The lip line is not formed right. The brisket and leg pits are not lined up right. I'm sure that if I took a closer look I could find more major problems. As someone said, you need to study you reference.
Not bad for your 4th mount but honestly I don't think you're ready to start doing commercial work. You're on the right track you just need to get more experience and you need to learn to read and use reference better. I know if I was a customer I wouldn't want someone mounting my trophy with only 4 deer under their belt.
I would recommend not doing commercial work this year and try to improve the quality of your mounts. This will require time and money but it's in your best interest to do it. If you start doing mounts for customers you will probaly hurt yourself in the long run b/c your work needs some improvement.
If you don't belong to your state taxidermy association I recommend joining and enter a deer head in the open/professional divison in the state competition. I know cometitions aren't for everyone but they are a great learning tool.
I would recommend subscribing to Breakthrough Magazine. If you're only interested in deer buy some of the back issues of Breakthrough for some of the whitetail articles.
Something I found useful is to get some videos from WASCO - specifically the WTC videos by Cary Cochran on Interpreting Whitetail Reference and by Rick Carter on Live Whitetail Deer Reference. These two videos are excellent for learning to use and read reference and applying the reference to your mounts. There is also another live whitetail refernce video by Sallie Dahmes but I can't comment on that one as I haven't seen it.
One more thing. That looks like a Wisconsin registration tag on the antler. I could be wrong as other states might use the same type of tags for registration. Anyway, if you are in Wisconsin you might or might not be aware that you can't mount deer for a consideration (i.e. money) without a seller's permit and a taxidermy license. Also, the tag is supposed to be left with the meat until it is consumed.
Great job on the deer for it being only your fourth. I would like to see some of these other guys fourth deer, I would bet they are not as good as yours turned out to be. However these guys are right on their advise and I know it sounds like they are coming on harshly with their comments but take it for what it is, construtive not personal.
What state are you in, by the tag on the antlers it looks like my state's tag.
Looks good ,You Have some talent, Keep Working hard and improving.I just started a couple years ago and it takes time.Refereces are very valuable to beginner as they are to a seasoned pro. Every mount has flaws in it but for some it takes longer to find.I'm just now to the point where I would feel comfortable doing some advertising,I've just been doing them for friends and family.Good luck in the future
I am in Ohio. As far as the tag goes it must be kept with the head. I agree that I need more practice to become better but when you can only hunt so many practice is hard to get. I have worked a few days with a state champion master taxidermist for a few days. I have been told that the mounts I did for these few people are as good or if not better than some they paid several hundreds for. I have a few mount I have done to show what I can do and if someone was to come to me I would tell this is the work I am presantly capable of. Two of the people I did mount for has asked me to try a turkey for them and I told them I have never done one but willing to give it a try if they are willing to take that risk. Everyone has to start somewhere. You can't get several hundreds under your belt without taking the first step. That is why I am working with friends and co workers to start. The few that I have did has already turned into people that they know asking me to do some for them next year. I personaly have had bad experiences with local Taxidermists like (bad mounts and never seeing my stuff again). That is what got me started. So I am looking into helping some friends out and tunring it into some income to support my hobby. I will send links of my next mount to get more imput.
on this forum is
#1. Have a thick skin.
#2. Everybody is a critic.
#3. Some of the people on here have been doing taxidermy for years ( which in itself does not make their work good ) but, the advice you will get can come from people, like myself who have competed and know where they went wrong and have strived to correct it, and perfect their art.
#4. Since the people on here ARE taxidermists, we will look for fault in every mount we see, at least I know I do, and will be equally inspired by those whos art is outstanding in eveyway ( Wildlife Artist ) on Ebay continues to amaze me...I just hope to be as good someday.
That being said, the regular guy on the street will not have the trained eye that the professional taxidermist will, and even though it is an ego booster to have people say " wow that's really good" it really does need to come from other people knowledgable in the business.
It would be like me painting my car, another person who doesn't do car painting looking at it, getting an opinion, then letting a real professional auto body person critiqueing it.
Sorry so long, but hope you keep at it and continue to grow.
I do I see things that I would do differant. Like some of the things I personaly didn't like on this mount was brought up. I also told the guy its for if I could do it over what I would change. He told me he is happy and his brother is looking to bring me some next season. I go look at mine compared to the state champion master taxidermist I worked with and I can see a big differance in finished product. He does 200 plus a year compared to my 4 this year. I hope to hit his level in a few years. I think as long as people are willing to work with me I will try my best to improve each mount I do. Maybe in a few years I can reach the skill as the guy I worked with. I am looking for reasonable priced capes to work with and improve my skills.