Take a look at my first two whitetail shoulder mounts

#1 is on left #2 is on the right, #2 buddy didn't give enough cape so I had to neck mount. #1 still has pins, I need to drive over to his house and take some pics without the pins, also if you can see it on deer #1 there is a little stringy thing hanging from his right antlers (your left)it was a piece of marrow or something and we left it on to add character. Please critique me and give some pointers.

Thanks
http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g150/hall2016/firsttwodeer.jpg

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pins?

Why are you using so many pins? If you use a good hide paste, you shouldn't need any pins around the mouth or nose at all. I use three pins aound each eye and that's all on the entire mount.

ok ok ok

so i went overboard with the pins but what do the mounts look like?

or

is it too hard to see behind all the pins? lol

not bad

Those are about 10 times better than my first two. Keep it up and study study study. Good job

Slow down the drying time

Drying time is critical on a mount. If they dry too fast, you will end up with pulling and shrinkage around eyes and lipline, even with good glue. I put a regular plastic grocery bag over the head after mounting and check the deer a few times each day for about a week. Make your adjustments accordingly each time you check.

It all depends on where you live and what the humidity level is in your area. Sometimes I even mist the eyes a little to slow the drying down even more, especially when the relative humidity falls below 20%.

And Mike is right, if you use good glue, there is no need for all those pins. I use about three to four small T-pins around the lacryma and that's about it.

looks great

to me. Nothing wrong I can tell. Great job.

thanks

Thanks for the comments folks, I live in Louisiana so having plenty of humidity is no problem lol. I will work on my pin problem though.

ouch

what the ? go to school or something dude...I mean really.

Keep working at it

They're not bad for your first try. As someone else stated, they are probably better than my first. But don't kid yourself, you still have a long way to go. Get some pictures of live deer, read every taxidermy article you can find, sign up for Breakthrough Magazine and keep plugging at it.