I sent a deer to a taxidermist and swapped out renovation work
on his shop. I finished my part of the barter up front and long ago.
I realized the guy, having been paid upfront in work
wasn't really concerned with carrying out his end of the deal and when my cape finally arrived and it came time to mount my deer he acted like he was doing me favor. In fact when I was telling him
how I wanted one ear flicked back he said I could "take it home and
work on it" and preceded to work on something else. So I did.
The problem is I may have set the ears too far back. The deer was
mounted two months ago. Is it too late fix them? He said all that needs to be done is soak the clay inside until it softens but I'm
worried that where the ear attaches can't be softened.
Any suggestions?
In return I can offer this advise, never pay in full up front.
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from the tannery?
If so, you can safely soak it up and move the ears. Lay a wet towel on it and cover with plastic until softened. Could take a day or two.
Next question, are you trying to move the whole butt (difficult) or just the position of the ear itself (easier)?
If the whole butt, the skin around it will have to be soaked as well. When you move a whole butt forward, you could be pulling skin from halfway down the neck. If it's well pasted, it's probably not going to happen.
If you run into problems, take it to another taxidermist. He/She can fix it quick.
Good luck with it.
...and I know I spent alot of, I mean alot, of time rearching,
obsessing over head position in order to show off the left
G1 G2 tines.
If the ears were packed with now hard clay will that soften up too?
And yes, the base where it attaches to the head seems too far back.
Plus they are too tubular and round. When I was racing the clock
on the hardening clay I didn't make the butts come to a natural bevel on the bottom.
Soaking up the ears and trying to reposition them is asking for a disaster in my opinion.
Just have to get it soaking wet and wrap it with plastic wrap and wait for it to soften up. It is going to take while to though. Like was said above if it's glued it might be more difficult but worth a try.
Robert,
You might not be able to make it just right but making it better should not be too difficult. A common mistake is pulling the cape back too far making the ears look like they are growing from the back of the deer's neck. If this was done there may not be enough cape left to work with but softening everything up should let you make the adjustment enough to make it less noticable. A competant taxidermist can get more serious with the mount if you choose to spend a little money and should be able to correct the problem. Good luck-Aaron H.