Red fox eating pheasant mount help!

There's always more than one way to skin a cat. Here's what I do.

I open the mouth of the fox making sure I cut it open all the way to the back of the mouth (not where the lip line stops). I carve out the roof of the mouth and set a small piece of plywood into the upper jaw of the form. Underneath the bottom jaw, I carve out a hole and place another small block of wood.

Mount your pheasant first. DO NOT US A FORM. Use polyfill for the body. Wire the legs, head/neck, and the wings. Put a small piece of foam in the butt of the pheasant after you remove the tail. The foam will give you a place to secure the tail later.

Mount your fox and get all the sewing done on the legs, belly and tail. Fit the head and pin the skin around the eyes and upper lip line just for stability at this point. Glue and pin the bottom jaw skin on the form that hangs loose at this point. Shove the pheasant up into the mouth as far back as you can get. Now take a 3 inch #8 wood screw and run it through the wood in the bottom jaw. Pressing the bottom jaw up against the pheasant, press down on the fox head and run the screw through the pheasant and into the wood on the upper jaw. Tighten the screw down until you get the desired appearance. Finish your fox face, mouth and lips. Attach the pheasant tail and sew it into the bird skin.

I don't use mouthsets as they seem wasted on birds like this. If you see the teeth at all, it wouldn't give the appearance that the fox was actually holding the bird tightly.

 

Hello Trapperstaub.

I do almost the same as George but i use a car wash sponge, (i assume yours are the same as ours - really thick), for the body area/part of the bird body that's going into the fox's mouth because it really pushes back out after being compressed.
I also use my own cast jawset to grip the item in the mouth. Once it's in place the teeth wont let it come out without intentional help and the feathers cover the teeth but they serve a purpose.
I just glue the sponge to the remaining foam body of the animal and prefer to used a closed mouth fox head and open the jaw about half way.

I like to mount the bird first, place into jaw to dry and then mount the fox after gently removing the drying bird, (its squashes out of the jaws), and that way i can clay and glue the fox lips, reinsert bird and get a lip line like its actually surrounding/enveloping the bird, not just carrying it. (i dont know if that make sense?)

Think about gravity and a dead bird too. Would the wings be held tight to the body or rather loose & hanging?

Hope this helps.

 

Nice post
Great answers from both of you... Thank you.

 

I have given similar technique above, I did not see this post.