Your First Deer Mount (pics)

mines long gone. was so ugly i had to rip it up. about 13 years ago.

 

Mine was also ditched years ago!

 

I have a second deer pic but no first

 

This is my first try, it still needs to be painted in the pics.

 

I destroyed the evidence years ago.

 

First one on my own. I did work for a taxidermist to learn a few years ago.

 

Sorry I’ll try to find a pic but it was 34 years ago so I’m not promising anything.

 

Wish I had a pic of my first one just to see how bad it really was couse I learned it the hard way with one of Ariche Phillips books 30 years ago

 

Not saying anything was wrong with Ariches books it was just the times and not many people would tell you much back then but I still managed to learn it

 

My brother still has that joker on his wall even though I've begged him to let me remount it about 500 times. I'll say though it still looks as good as it did 33 years ago.

 

A bit of a hot mess, but I was honestly expecting him to be way, way worse.

 

For what its worth, here is advice from a novice/hobbyist.

If you haven't used an airbrush before then start practicing. Play around with the pressure, fine line, broad mist/sprays. I didn't have a lot of experience with them and because I just do it as a hobby, I am not that proficient with them. On my first mount, I layered my colors, but ended up going way too dark with the blacks & dark umbers. Didn't really get the concept of misting at the time. I haven't fixed it yet. Not sure if I will as it is a reminder of all my original mistakes. Maybe one day. One of my biggest problems that I found out after I started the painting process was with my compressor. I bought one before I really new anything about them and ended up with one that I couldn't adjust the pressure on it. Back to the old adage, you get what you pay for.

Oh one other thing I thought of that kind of bit me, because the videos really don't go into too much detail is the measuring of the cape. I evidently didn't measure my first one correctly and what fit the face didn't fit the lower part of the neck. Ended up having to rasp the form down some in order to get it to fit. If you split the hide down the top of the neck, sew it up before you try to mount it. It makes it so much easier. My first mount I tubed it and as I stated before had trouble measuring it. On my son's mule deer I split it to get the measurement, which worked out pretty good. My problem was that trying to sew it up on the mannequin was royal pain.

Figured I would share my "lessons learned" and probably some I will relearn. LOL. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out for you.

 

Bwahaha, you millennials crack me up. With today's supplies a monkey could mount a presentable deer mount. Some years back, I think it was Mike Gillis took a form, earliners, cheap production eyes, a small rack and a can of Bondo to create a deer. After assembling and using Apoxie for the eyes and earbutts, he slathered Bondo over the form and textured it with a wire brush. With a spray can of bronze paint, a perfect deer sculpture was created.

I think I still have a photo of my first one on a Van Dyke paper form from back in the 60's. With those fancy "blue glint" eyes, tin can ears, and embalming wax, it was a winner.

 

Not first, but 3rd. Started with WT A-Z and then reading the forum, talking to other taxidermist.

 

One and only whitetail shoulder mount I’ve done. Learned from an old video and this page. Life happened after that and I’ve just now taken an interest in getting back into things.

 

Here was my first.

 

Same as other, evidence of my first was destroyed! I can’t remember the name, but I started out with mail order booklets which were very far from what I needed to turn a decent mount. So if memory serves correct, my sulfuric acid pickle followed with chrome tan left me with the a very solid unstretchable cape to place on a poorly remodeled paper form....not that it mattered much with ZERO stretch. Glad the evidence is gone forever.

Rick Carter A-Z is simply awesome! Wish I had something an 1/12th as good when I started since it would have prevented me from destroying numerous capes.

Bottom line, take you time and have fun!