# Questions on a deer I had mounted.



## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

I understand my mount won't look exactly like the pictures I took but the face is shorter and a white spot that was on the neck ended up under the chin. Was the form sized wrong or is this just normal? On the plus side the neck is nice and swollen. Other than that the mount looks real good. I have salted dry hides before and know that they shrink & change some. This was not a "cheap" job and done by someone with some 25 yrs. experiance who I would use in the future. Just wondering... Dave


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## fish patroll (May 8, 2002)

sounds like he used the wrong size of form


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## Ebowhunter (Apr 5, 2000)

Ask him. Twenty-five years as a professional should provide lots of information.

Touch and feeling adds a lot of understanding to the changes from live to dead to rebuilt.

A deer hung head down will have very fat looking head when it is dropped off because the fluids congregate in the face. It should not be as fat when it is picked up or other "things" will be out of place.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

If you post a photo of the dead deer and a photo of the mount, with both showing the percieved problem areas, then we might be able to give more details.


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## Big Buck (Feb 8, 2000)

Pictures will tell alot when mounting.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Ebowhunter said:


> Ask him. Twenty-five years as a professional should provide lots of information.
> 
> Touch and feeling adds a lot of understanding to the changes from live to dead to rebuilt.
> 
> A deer hung head down will have very fat looking head when it is dropped off because the fluids congregate in the face. It should not be as fat when it is picked up or other "things" will be out of place.


Pictures were not taken after hung (on the ground right after pulling it out of the truck). I will try to post some pics shortly.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Pics are in my gallery. Been trying for a couple hours to get them in a post   (done it before) but can't seem to get ur done. Sorry.:help:


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## Andy Montalbano (Apr 4, 2006)




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## baydog2 (Jun 14, 2003)

Is this the buck that is mounted in the above pictures? If it is the white patch is a lot lower and more circle shaped, could he have used a different cape for some reason.


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## ERnurse (Jan 22, 2004)

Well without getting too critical, I would say that the neck is bunched under the jaw line at the top of the neck where it meets the jaw
and if you feel there I think you will feel the wrinkles, common when a taxidermist attempts to stretch the neck as big as they can it will bunch there. The eye to nose is short, that is just form selection, when you order forms you order them with measurements one of which is eye to nose.

If you dont mind me asking what did you pay for that mount?


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## chris_kreiner (Sep 6, 2006)

baydog2 said:


> Is this the buck that is mounted in the above pictures? If it is the white patch is a lot lower and more circle shaped, could he have used a different cape for some reason.


 
I was thinking the same thing. It kinda looks like it might have been a different cape until you look at the curvature of the white patch on the end of the nose. It looks like it should be the same cape but I really don't understand what happened to the white patch on the neck. It doesn't look like it is pulled up cause I think that the hair patterns would be jagged. The photos of the actual mount are pretty dark and hard to see what exactly could be going on.


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## Trophy Specialist (Nov 30, 2001)

I hate to be critical, but I'm assuming that from the nature of the post, you are looking for some expert opinions and I just won't insult you by glossing things over. From what I can see from the photos, the incorrect possitioning of the throat patch is just one of many problems with the taxidermy job. What I would suggest is that you educate yourself on what makes up a quality head mount and then go out and visit all your local taxidermists to see who is producing good work. I put together a section on my website that addresses some of the key aspects of a quality deer head mount (I'm going to be adding more to it this year). You can view it at http://www.trophyspecialist.com/taxidermymountquality.html

You can also do a Google search to find lots of articles on how to select a good taxidermist and what constiutes a good mount. Education is the key. Once you know what to look for, most problem areas on a mount will be obvious. Unfortunatly, most taxidermy customers will wait until after they kill their trophy and then call around and usually take their prize to the cheapist taxidermist. In taxidermy, you really get what you pay for.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks andy & bay dog for posting the pics. I'll try to address as many of the questions as I can. Price-$350. Cape seems to me to be the same, as the it has a red coloration to it as well as other marks as chris indicated (yes I know other deer can have the same color). Same deer as in pics. No wrinkles under neck, but at is one at the back of the neck which I think would be a no-no. Eye to nose ratio - there is a measurement on the I.D. tag of 7" which matches the eye - nose length but I have no idea what the dead deer measured. One thing occured to me last night was the dead deer's mouth was open, mounted it's now closed, so that will change the "look" of the face a bit. Finally, when you look at someone's work, it could look real good (as I think this one does) but how would you know if it replictes accurately unless you see pics of the deer "before" work is done. Sorry pics are dark, taken with my camcorder - no flash. If requested I could get some more light on it. I thank you all for your unbias opinions and want to offer my opinion to you if you ever need one on outdoor power equipment. Thanks again.


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## Taxidermist (Jan 3, 2002)

Switch taxidermist!!!!!! that mount is bad for a 25 year vet. Get some better photos and repost.

Rob


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## dsmithgall (Oct 10, 2006)

that mount looks like the guy had 25 minutes experience, not 25 yrs, unless you mean he has 25 yrs of experience jacking up the ears, then maybe... WOW
I also noticed that the gun is missing from the mount,  Nice deer though-congrats


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## Liv4Trappin (Feb 22, 2006)

When it comes to Taxidermy, I really don't like to sugar coat things for people when they ask questions.All in all, your Taxidermist is really the one who needs the education on what a proper deer head should look like.A good set of reference photos would really help him out a ton!For starters, the whole head is really an eye sore being under groomed.The shape of the eyelids and brow area look very flat and much to round.The lip slot looks to have been opened to much as well (with a closed mouth mount, you should have both hair patterns from upper lip and lower lip touching.)I'm sorry that you had to pay $350 for this level of work.If you have the time, bring that head to some local Taxidermy studios and have them critique it as well next to their work.Hope this helps.

Mike


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## Ole Spike (Nov 22, 2004)

Ferg, first off, congrats on taking that beautiful buck. I agree that the guy probably used the wrong sized form. The head does look too short and too tall. Apparently,the throat patch is off because the form was too small.


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## FERG 06 (Oct 6, 2006)

Thanks for all the input. The little details aren't that big of a deal to me (I'm not looking for an award winning mount). I just want some thing to hang on the wall. But when I brought it home and compared it to the pics I took, it was like "dang" that doesn't look anything like my deer. Live and learn. Don't have time to deal with it anymore and consider the case closed. You're welcome to post more but I don't think it's nessesary. Maybe in the future if I've got the money I'll look into having someone redo it. Thanks again.


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