" Game Head Of The Month " June 2023

Colorado bull ready to go home

 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=john.bellucci.3&set=a.10223614810178400

This large Whitetail Deer buck, taken by Mr. Jim Bruno - US Marine Sergeant and furniture builder - was big! Not just in its measurements, but also in its proportions ...

Many bucks that came in the past few years, had very large ears. In fact, the majority of them have large ears.

Here, you can see the extent of the tick damage on the shoulders, and up along the neck. It is a shame, really, that such a brute has to show these marks. The biting ticks irritate the animals so much that they spend a good deal of the time rubbing themselves against trees and such, to relieve the constant biting and itching!



The large Matuska Whitetail Deer nose casting has some terrific interior detail ...



Of course, in the end, our log wall is a perfect place to show off any buck ... tick-bitten or otherwise!


Even the company of another head nearby, this big buck stands out!

 

beautiful 13 point.just beautiful.

 

Thanks it’s on a rotating stand but it won’t let me post a video

 

to bad. did you get dizze going around it.

 

Really nice job. super pretty animal

 

It took a Blue in WV in masters

 

Thanks to all for the kind words

 

Really like that 13.
Glad you shared some of the process too.

 

the nose details you did are really nice. Do you use replacement noses, a Dremel, etc?

and for the flesh color details in front of the eyes, are those painted onto the manikin or added as a finish detail? If you don't mind me asking.

 

Thanks
I use the nose from the manikin and Dremel and rebuild, finishing details I put in

 

For years, I used to carve out my nostrils using a modeling tool ... no Dremel. Over the past few years, I've started using replacement noses, from Matuska Taxidermy Supply, Head Quarters Supply, and from Clint Rickey's 'Champion Choice'. I really like the nose casts from Matuska, and I have used them more frequently of late.

Before applying the skin over the nose cast, a thin layer of Critter Clay is worked into place on the end of the nose cast, and up over the nostril wings. This softens the look and fit of the skin some. Pro-1 Premium Hide Paste holds the skin in place all over the headform, including the nose area.

This is the Matuska Taxidermy Supply Nose cast on the headform ...

And this is the Deer mounted over the nose cast ...

This nose for my own little buck, is from Head Quarters Supply. I used 70% Isopropyl Alcohol to smooth and shape the Apoxie Sculpt used to blend the nose to the headform.


All my color restoration is done using Windsor & Newton oil paints, and is part of my finishing process. I am proficient in oil painting, so using oils in my Taxidermy finishing is just second Nature to me. Here are just some of the portrait paintings I've created over the years ...
My famous head portrait of the great Race Filly, "Ruffian".

One of a handful of Wildlife paintings I ever made. This one is my own, and as you can see from the date, I painted it in 1972!

This is "Seattle Slew" as a Stallion, with his son "Slew O' Gold" when they both stood stud at Three Chimneys Farm. In the background is the famous Stallion Barn.

"Forego" - The Great Gelding! He stood 17.2 hands tall, and was the Champion New York Handicap King, and three-time Horse of the Year!

I recently discovered this photo I took of my "Forego" painting before I added the background. I scanned it and cleaned it up to make it suitable for viewing.

 

Thanks for sharing this, your paintings are really nice. I went to art school and don't have an airbrush so I also use oil paints for my mounts, it's been working pretty well so good to know other people use them as well. Hope you're still painting sometimes!

I did a mule deer recently with a Matuska replacement nose and was really happy with it, with everything I got from them actually, form, ears also. I don't know if others have had this experience with matuska or if it was just luck but it was the easiest mount I've done so far, everything fit perfectly. I just wish they had a few more pose options with their manikins. I'm always curious who uses the noses and who carves them out. Thanks for the info.

 

Every time I am carving out a nostril I think about using a cast nose. Very nice work.

 

Congrats, you deserve it on that one.

 

It takes me 15-20 minutes to cut the nose off form and put a septum in and nose back on , takes me longer to put a replacement nose on it and blend back in , I did a tutorial on it on here just look it up . Thanks for the kind words on my mount also