How wet, or more dry??

For me it really depends on what look I am trying to get. Sometimes a deer looks better with a wet nose and sometimes it looks better dryer. But most of the time I choose to make mine with a more wet look.

 

I don't do lots of deer but I do however refurbish/restore a ton of them and i always go with the wet nose look.clients always love it and I like it better myself.

Same with duck bills .it all comes down to what you like. I prefer wet bills on waterfowl mounts but i have friends who hate the wet look.to each is own.if a client doesn't ask what they prefer everything I mount leaves with a wet nose.

 

I always go with the wet look.

 

I personally like the wet look my self. I have done one with the drier look and I went right back to making them look wet again on the next mount.

 

I think the dryer look shows the detail and time you spent to put it there but all the photos and my experience around live deer says it needs to be wet. I have more questions with the color of my noses than the wet /dry. I don't paint mine black as some and on several occasions I've had to repaint them darker than I like to please a customer. As we know the references most people have is that of dead deer. Sorry too get off topic . . . wet. JMO

 

A wet nose looks fresh and alive. A dry one just looks like an old deer head thats been on the wall for years drying out.

 

Only nose I don't do WET is a raccoon or skunk. I raised 'coon for a while and never saw a wet one. Just my opinion and observation. All deer go out WET and glossy.

 

While bowhunting, from the ground, in the Texas hill country, I have the chance to see a lot of wild deer at very close range. Using binos I can get really close up views of their anatomy and whats happening. Granted the humidity in the hill country is very low and the evaporation rate is very high but I would say 75% of the LIVE deer that I view have a semi dry looking, semi shiny nose. Very seldom to I see a super glossy wet look..

 

Their noses have a natural sheen to them even when not wet. Not super glossy but there is still a sheen. Exactly what you describe, Tim. Matching that exact look is one of the hardest tricks in Taxidermy I think!

 

Satin finish, no complaints. 8)

 

It's really a mater of personal preference, but I can tell you this, most of the clients that comment on the nose like the super glossy ones best; the ones with a automotive clear coat. The same goes for fish.

 

Customers who even mention it always want glossy! I like the gloss look as well.

 

I used to make them glossy from the lips and nostrils and progressively made it less glossy and more satin as it got nearer to the upper part of the nose. Any more I just gloss the whole nose and customers seem to like that the best.

 

satin!