Simple Wall Habitat For Half Mount Bear

SO AGAIN BEAR WITH ME ( lol ) on this post as I’m doing it from my phone and I want to keep pics in order .


So I mounted bear and got the basic size for the board I would need to make it . I cut a 3/4 pcs of ply and padded it with 2x3 on the back side top and bottom for it to hold hangers . I put the hangers on the back at 16inches apart on base and one at top to hold bear , so it’s a 3 point hanging system, I’ll get back to that later . Then I hung the the bear to get an idea of where the hanger has to be and where the foot would hit on the ply also I trace where I can put rocks and trees and such , On these kind of mounts I don’t bolt the foot down, I hang it so it kinda sits on top of the base . So I cut the Allthread off leaving bout 2 inches so it sits down inside an old socket that I glue to ply so it’s a true fit every time and doesn’t move when hung and set in place . Hope your following me . The objective to this is to keep this thing as lite as possible. I had some old foam from forms and such that I cut down and glued to the bottom of ply then (to save a little)I pour 2 part foam to fill in and get texture kinds thing . I then flipped it back over and layed things out where I traced . My client brought a pcs of wood ( log ) home from the hunt that he wanted me to incorporate into the scene. To save weight I drilled it out making it as light as possible. I then glued and screwed all the main components in place and poured foam to lock in and give contour.

More to come :

 

After the foam hardened I cut and sanded to shape then painted the whole thing black , taping off what I wanted to stay clean . Sorry no pics of that but self explanatory. I wanted the bottom to be clean so I made it to look like a rock . Turning base back over I used rock mix and pasted it all over the bottom and around edges up to the top , after it kicks I shape contour , smooth and color so it looks like a rock . I then mix what I call clean dirt , pete moss , leaves all crunched into little pcs , sheet moss , Spanish moss and some reindeer moss all cut up and mixed well . Then I mix 70-30 Elmer’s glue to water blending together and I start adding the clean dirt to make a paste . I spread that out on top and then lightly dust with more clean dirt . I next add a few pine cones and trees for contour and movement by drilling a hole deep as possible without going thru ply bottom and 5 min epoxy them in , I throw a little dirt at bottom of tree before glue kicks off . In my opinion always use odd numbers . As in 3 pine cones 3 upright ( stump and trees ) 3 rocks . Better balance that way .


More to come

 

Now I move base back over to wall or mounting wall to make sure it locks on hangers and Bear is level when hanging in place , with foot touching but not really any weight on base . You guys are probably saying how the hell is the client going to know where to put the hangers. Here is how . Let’s go back to the beginning to get to the end . I put a level line on my mounting wall and I spaced the base hangers 16 inches a part . The male part of the hangers was put on the base so it would lock down and be level when inserted into place , I put the bear in place and marked where it’s hanger had to be to make it hang correctly when base was finished and screwed it in . So all hangers are on mounting wall and after everything was done, I rehung everything back on wall to ck for alignment. All was good so I took base and bear off and set aside . I put top left and right on hangers as the hung , Now I took a non stretching string (waxed heavy thread ) and tide it to each hanger tite going in a triangle shape from one to another tying it not looping it so it don’t move. Now to rehang on another wall just as the client will . I will tell my client take a level and draw 2 marks 16inches apart where he wants to hang this , now take one of the hangers and screw it on that level line pull the other hanger tight and drew it to the opposite level line , now take the top hanger and pull it up tight into place and screw it in . Cut string off as all hangers are in place to rehang his mount and enjoy . More pics to follow

 

Hope you understand all and enjoy it . I mount things like this so shipping or moving it is simple . Two pcs that can come apart and be put back together with ease , can you imagine trying to move this with 1 leg bolted to base , you would have to make a back board that is really not nessassarry .

 

Glad you guys are getting some help out of my post . Glad to share

 

Thanks I appreciate it . I really enjoy helping