This is my first deer mount. It has been a huge adventure. I got very frustrated many times, but I pulled it together I know its not good but to me it looks great. Help me find my mistakes so I can fix them next time. I used Earliners and hide paste and I cant seem to keep the skin tight on earliner? It is still drying so I think I can fix somethings. If you want pictures of anything let me know! I still have pins to pull and will be painting it filling in holes and finishing the nose with modpodge.
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Why does the deer look so slicked down? From what I can see the ears look a little too far back. The tcking of the lips appear to be a little rough. I didn't look at all the pics but I would like to know if you tanned the deer cape yourself. If so, what did you use, and did you wash the cape prior to mounting it?
Yes I tanned the cape myself it went rough. I did not wash it before i mounted it. I used EZ Tan 100 I followed the directions and it said after oiled for 8 hours you can mount it so I did. Can I still wash it some how?
The ears do look a little too far back. Do you have epoxy between the lips? Take the deer outside and wet him down with a hose. Wash him up really good. Towel dry then blow dry on cool til the hair starts to dry out and set in place. Don't try to dry the hide and don't try to brush him too much. I had to do that to an elk once that I didn't get washed good enough. It looked alot better afterwards. While he's wet down you might see if you can slide those ears a little more forward. Look at some reference pics. If they look like they match to you, then leve them. Not too bad for the first.
Tony, You are on the right track for your first mount. Developing the mechanics/techniques of taxidermy are part of the battle, you can learn alot in these archives. The artistry is the other part and that takes time and practice. To develop that, you need to gather reference and learn how to use it. Photos are great and study casts are better. Take the ears location Sean mentioned for example. Take the skull when you skinned it and measured the position of the ear canal where it enters the skull in relation to the front corner of the eye and top of the skull plate. Now you should be able to put that ear where it needs to be. Get a study cast of an ear butt then mount an earliner to a form and try to sculpt the earbutt to match, it will force you to learn how an earbutt is put together...etc, etc, etc...Subscribe to Beakthrough Magazine, its an invaluable source of information. Now dry that buck and do the finish work. Good luck...
Your ears look a little far back, the lips? Did you make the lower lip? The nose does not seem to be positioned correctly and I would definately wash the oil out and do not over brush it afterwards till the hail sets. I have plenty of pictures so if you need help let me know.
rule of thumb: ear should be close enug to antler that a pencil will wedge in between when stuck there - pictures leave a lot to be desired