One thing to check is to see if it is the cape that came from your deer. Some unscrupulous taxi's may substitute a different cape if they've somehow screwed the original up.
Wow, that's a huge piece of more information...yeah I'd be very cautious to re-use him. Sucks for now, but the good thing is if you ever go a year without a mounted buck and it still bugs ya you could always go to another taxi and have it remounted better.
Here's another pic that really drives home the point that the neck on the mount is too thin. Even with gravity working the other way the neck on the buck is huge compared to the neck on the mount.
Either he used a different cape, or he painted the top of the nose too big ... looking at the kill photos vs the mount
What a shame that you are disappointed with the mount. I would say its time for a new taxidermist. I pay about $500 for a quality mount around here. Taxidermy is one of those things that you usually get what you pay for. I am always nervous when it comes time to go pick up my mounts, but have been lucky to never be disappointed yet. The good news is, now you have a great excuse to go out and kill another trophy!
my dad and i have are taxidermists. we do about 500 whitetail deer a year. i have a fairly good knowledge of deer anatomy and taxidermy work. by looking at the pictures, i dont think that is your cape. the hair is too short to be a deer in full rut. his ear construction is very poor which is why his ears arent shaped correctly and its also why they stick too far off of his head. he didnt do any air brushing so the deer looks unfinished. but the worst part is the horns, like preacher tony said, he tilted them forward to try to make them appear bigger, it always ruins the mount. if i were you i would find a new taxidermist this season this guy obviously has no clue
I totally agree with Greg on this one, the cape most likely shrunk. I've witnessed a buck with a larger neck then yours turn out much worse then yours. My dad mounted the buck, the worst part it was my brothers deer. He carved the s*** out of the form he bought to make it fit the cape. Something went wrong for him somewhere along the process from caping the buck out to after it was tanned and ready to be mounted up. The mount turned out so bad it is no more. He's done other mounts that have turned out great. He's mounted less then 20 deer I'd say. How long has the taxi. you took yours too been mounting deer heads?
Having seen a lot of sneak shoulder mounts, most tend to look like they have smaller necks. You can see some popular forms here: http://www.mckenziesp.com/Full-Sneak-C21.aspx Honestly, I'd be more unhappy with the ears on your mount than the neck but I wouldn't be happy with the scrawny look either. A good taxidermist will shave the hide enough that they can get an extra inch or two out of a cape. So there's no excuse to use a form with a small neck measurement.
That makes me feel a little better I guess. While mine didn't meet my expectations, it's not a horrible mount. :D I hate to say it but I have no idea whatsoever. I've learned a few valuable lessons this time around, haven't I?
this is one of our mounts. notice the air brushing in the ears, nose and area around the eyes. this color only exists while blood is flowing, thats why your deer looks dead. he is lacking all the color he had when he was alive.
Thanks for pointing that out. I'm colorblind, so I really didn't notice that until you said something. :D I'm assuming that since you said "air brushing" that this is something I could have someone correct, right? Christine, is this the same thing you were referring to with the ears or is there something else wrong? I'd really like to know so that I know what to look for next time.
The taxidermist should've measured the cape before he ordered the form. He probably had a smaller form on hand and took the cheap route and just used that one. I have seen where taxidermists have stretched a thin-necked deer to make it look bigger, but never the other way around. This taxi is sloppy.
Some taxidermists measure the neck size after the fur is off the carcass...which is not recommended. I do taxidermy and I always measure with the fur on, but make sure the tape is pretty snug. Most capes will give you about an inch or two extra stretch if tanned correctly. It looks like that is what he did, which gave him the smaller neck. If your friend had the same problem then im sure that he is just measuring the capes wrong. Sorry youre not completely happy with your first mount, I know its a bummer
I've seen that in mounts from western deer and I think he might have used that foam model.It looks more like a texas sized deer.
minus the fact of the small neck, i notice that the ears are the wrong shape as are the eyes and the nose color/detail are off. most likely he tanned it himself which could result in shrinkage and the ears are either done with bondo or liners that were put in backwards. I do taxdermy on the side and the best reference for both the customer and the taxidermist are live deer. look at live deer pictures and study their details, if it looks like a live deer then the taxidermist has accomplished his goal. A good bit of research prior to bringing out deer to the taxidermist pays off, sometimes others word isnt sufficient as their standards might not be as high as yours. Also, price can tell a big story, yes you might want to go to the cheaper guy but in the end that doesnt usually pay off.
capes are always measured from the skin side, as it were attached to the meat, not over the fur as this isnt a true measurement. With proper tanning and shaving you should always get the same size or bigger.
Not sure if this has been mentioned but I know you said he capped it out...it looks to me the cape was cut too short, if thats your cape. Eitherway looks like the cape was too short.
