I am getting ready to do a shoulder mount on a coyote. The cape is split up the underside of the neck. The form I have has the head down so I extra skin on the underside of the neck. I had a thought about sewing up the underside and making a dorsal incision for mounting. What are your thoughts?
Rich
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but you can probably just pull the hide over the form with no incision at all
I was test fitting it and it will not fit. I am hoping that when I sweat the cape it will stretch enough to fit.
Rich
First, is the cape dry tanned? If it is, then you must rehydrate it before you do anything (Why the comment about sweating the hide? If it's already wet, sweating is impossible.)
Next comes the ventral incision. Obviously, someone must have intended a rug if the cut is up to the chin. If it's simply ventral cut, your shoulder mount won't use much of the ventral cut area. I would sew that portion up and then spit the dorsal up to between the ears. Mark your hide with indelible ink so that you can be sure it aligns back as it was.
If you've done everything right up this point, then I'd suggest you stop pulling the hide BACK on the form. Let it hang loosely and pull it FORWARD as you mount. You may be trying to push the brisket area too far back, making your neck circumferences too tight.