My deer mount , opinions?

Bigriver · May 30, 2008, 08:02:00 AM

I got my head back from my new taxidermist. Honest opinions, how does it look? I like it, but I tend to pick apart thing like this. Wondering what the taxidermy experts think.

Bigriver · May 30, 2008, 08:05:00 AM

vermonster13 · May 30, 2008, 08:08:00 AM

The neck looks wrong to me but I'm no expert.

Bigriver · May 30, 2008, 08:13:00 AM

Yep, that is the concensus here too. The buck had such a large neck, he said he had to use a mule deer form. That made me say :confused:

vermonster13 · May 30, 2008, 08:14:00 AM

Seems like he could have sanded the form down to make it blend a little better.

jgbennett6 · May 30, 2008, 08:20:00 AM

They make whitetail forms to fit almost any size neck i believe, it doesn't look that bad, was his neck that swollen when you shot him?..

Dannon · May 30, 2008, 08:26:00 AM

Big River, I've been a taxidermist for 15 years. Its hard to give any good critiques without any close up pics of the eyes, nose, and mouth areas. From what I see the brisket looks ligned up properly and it looks like a good commercial mount to me. I'll have to tell you though thats not a mule deer form. Thats appaers to be a Meder form which is a form molded to fit the big northern and midwestern deer. You should be happy with that mount.
Dannon

nd chickenman · May 30, 2008, 09:03:00 AM

I'd be happy to hang it on my wall! Looks good to me. The first nice buck that I shot was when I was in high school. I didn't have the funds for a pro taxidermist, so I got wind of a guy that did them in his back shed. I didn't know the guy and a neighbor took the head to him. He called a couple months later and the head was done, with a friend, I drove to his place. We knocked and entered his display area. My friend and I looked at the deer mounts, the duck mounts, the rabbit mounts, the fish mounts and they were ALL cross eyed!! including my deer head! I yelled "Hello" and the old gent came from the back room, HE was cross eyed!! I guess that explained it. Sorry for the long story but I learned a lesson on picking taxidermist at a young age.

Kevin Lawler · May 30, 2008, 09:11:00 AM

Ears don't look natural. I see that alot.
Here's some pics of natural looking alert deer ears.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/WhitetailBuck.jpg/800px-WhitetailBuck.jpg
http://www.chestnutridgewhitetails.com/images/herd/breeders/locust2.jpg
http://garyleeper.com/web%20images/wildlife/big%20pics/12%20dee_B061462.JPG

DeerSpotter · May 30, 2008, 09:16:00 AM

Brian,

I know must be painful, so if it gets too unbearable, just give me a call, you have my number from when you refinish my bow, and did a great job on my bow. I'll take the mount off your hands that way you don't have to look at it. That will ease the pain a little more. That is wonderful looking 8 pointer. But it looks like he was older than what an eight pointer would be.

Matter-of-fact, I will just drive down, that way we can save on shipping

Pastor Carl

Apex Predator · May 30, 2008, 09:23:00 AM

Looks kind of sleepy to me.

DeerSpotter · May 30, 2008, 09:24:00 AM

And I think if the photos were taken from eye level the ears would look different. The ears look like they're up because the photos taken from a downward position. And if focus was on the nose of the deer, the neck is going to look bigger, if it was taken with the wide-angle lens, the sides of the deer are going to look a little bit more noticeably bigger. And because it is an upward angle the antlers are going to look a little out of shape in the photo. Also the bottom of the neck, is going to look larger than what it is because of the angle of the photo, the eyes will look smaller because of the angle of the deer, and the angle that the photo was taken.

The photo needs to be taken on level ground eye to eye and you would see the difference, if the photo was taken from above the neck with look smaller, the eyes would look bigger.

There are a lot of variables to consider when taking the photograph.

An example is, how large a deer looks if you take a photo from a lower angle, it's the same thing if you take a photo of a person, and the camera is that waist level, instead of eye-level. It's more of authority look, is the way you see most executives photos taken or CEOs, the waist level gives them the look of power. Note I did say the look !

I did photography for over 20 years, and I'd like to think I could improve anything with the angle and lighting and also my filters of my camera. There is only one thing I could not improve with the camera,

That's a person's heart, and attitude !

Pastor Carl

tradtusker · May 30, 2008, 10:05:00 AM

i like em!
nice job

Widowbender · May 30, 2008, 10:05:00 AM

I'm not a taxidermy expert, but I stayed at Holiday Inn Express last night

...That's an awesome looking deer...Here's what I'd be doing if he were on my wall... :D :D :D :D :D :D

David

Can Hahaka · May 30, 2008, 10:11:00 AM

Well he doesn't look as good as he did at 15 yards walking in front of me last fall. But a nice mount and memories for sure.

Dick in Seattle · May 30, 2008, 11:03:00 AM

Looks like he could use a bigger smile... but then, he's been shot! :^)

Captain Dick in Seattle... whose only set of antlers is from a deer killed with a 57 Chevy.....

Blackhawk · May 30, 2008, 11:54:00 AM

Dick,

I hunted deer with a 56 Chevy for four years and never got one.

As for the mount, looks good to me.

Gun · May 30, 2008, 06:53:00 PM

Looks OK to me. The eyes look natural from what I can see. The neck does look a bit large just below the head on the lower picture. But tough to tell from the pix.

I too found out long ago to spend a bit extra with quality taxidermist. You have to look at them for a long time, hopefully. I do try to stay away from the top end guys that win awards however. Those mounts don't look like real deer to me. Too pretty. Like the difference between a "hooker" and the "girl next door".

I'm getting two next week myself. Saw them the other day, They just need to be painted. Look great. I may post them on here.

ZaneD · May 30, 2008, 07:04:00 PM

It's a real nice deer, but here are my thoughts on the mount. I'm definitely NOT an expert but I've seen many mounts so that's what I'm going on.

IMO, the neck looks kinda rough, he could have blended it better where it widens. The eyes look rather strange, not sure how I would describe them, just woke up mabye?? I also think that the ears are perked up a little too far.

It's not bad, but if it were me, I'd go with a different taxidermist next time.

Zane

carparcher · May 30, 2008, 07:06:00 PM

I am w/ ya on the sleepy look. Still a fantastic mount! I would LOVE to catch a dude like that while he was nappin'!