Jump to content

Mounted up my last buck...

WNY Bowhunter

By WNY Bowhunter,
in Taxidermy

 Share

Recommended Posts

WNY Bowhunter Experienced

WNY Bowhunter

Posted
Posted (edited)

I mounted my 6th and final deer from last season yesterday. Now, I just got to keep an eye on him while he dries and then do the finishing work...

zDSCN1028.jpg

zDSCN1011.jpg

The pose we were going for...

zIMAG0016.jpg

Unfortunately, the original cape starting slipping bad when I first attempted to do the mount a few weeks ago. I had to find a replacement cape that would match the light orangish color of the buck...

zDSCN0759.jpg

zDSCN0740.jpg

Also, I remounted my October bow buck last weekend...

zDSCN1020.jpg

Edited by WNY Bowhunter
  • Like 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WNY Bowhunter Experienced

WNY Bowhunter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Almost all of them look good in pictures. :)

 

How do they look in person, would somebody pay for it? 

 

Are you doing this for hire?

 

They look darn nice...........................

Actually, I find it quite difficult to take good quality pics of a mount where everything is in proportion. I may be a bit biased, but...I believe my mounts are more realistic than what most people around here get back from their taxidermists. Honestly, most people don't know what to look for in a quality mount; if it resembles a deer they are happy with it. Not me...

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
jjb4900 Newbie

jjb4900

Posted
Posted

Actually, I find it quite difficult to take good quality pics of a mount where everything is in proportion. I may be a bit biased, but...I believe my mounts are more realistic than what most people around here get back from their taxidermists. Honestly, most people don't know what to look for in a quality mount; if it resembles a deer they are happy with it. Not me...

I agree, many places just pump them out as fast as possible.....I've seen quite a few that I've had to bite my lip while looking at them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wolc123 Grand Master

wolc123

Posted
Posted

Did you tan the capes yourself? I used to trap a lot when I was much younger, and if I did not do a good job of fleshing, the hides they would slip. Especially the coons, which have a lot of fat that needs to be removed. I never had trouble with muskrat or fox hides. I know that getting the hides tanned is normally the part that takes the longest as far as getting a mount back from a professional taxidermist. Not many of them seem to tan their own these days.

I still have the back part of the hide from the first buck I had mounted, about 30 years ago, laying over a beam out in my barn today. All I did with that one was cut off as much fat and meat as I could and salt the heck out of it. You can pull hair out of it but it takes a little effort to do so. I keep it around in case I run short of bucktail jigs and deer tails during bass fishing season. The body hair works in a pinch, but the fish seem to prefer the action of the softer tail hair. There are some particularly finicky lake trout up at my in-laws Adirondack camp, for which I have tied up some even softer squirrel tail jigs.

Although you might be still learning the hard way as far as the tanning process goes, it looks like you have the rest of the work pretty well mastered by the looks of those mounts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
WNY Bowhunter Experienced

WNY Bowhunter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Once the hide is removed from the deer it's susceptible to bacteria growth and once they get into the hair follicles the hair can pull free. The deer was killed in the afternoon on opening day and I caped it the following day and immediately put the hide in the freezer. There is a reason that taxidermists keep extra capes on hand...ruined capes happen.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

Posted
Posted

Once the hide is removed from the deer it's susceptible to bacteria growth and once they get into the hair follicles the hair can pull free. The deer was killed in the afternoon on opening day and I caped it the following day and immediately put the hide in the freezer. There is a reason that taxidermists keep extra capes on hand...ruined capes happen.

Yea I hear ya but it would suck to have a different cape on your mount. Especially if it had unique markings. Both my Mule deer mounts had unique things so I was able to make sure they were in fact my hides.

1 was a double white patch and the other was very very worn top of a right ear from drop brown point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
phade Mentor

phade

Posted
Posted

Yea I hear ya but it would suck to have a different cape on your mount. Especially if it had unique markings. Both my Mule deer mounts had unique things so I was able to make sure they were in fact my hides.

1 was a double white patch and the other was very very worn top of a right ear from drop brown point.

 

Some of the responsibility is on the taxi - but a lot of people fail to realize that most of this is on the hunter - they should cape it as quick as possible, especially in early season. The bucks I shoot are always caped within a very short timeframe.

The old buck I shot on Oct. 1 in 55 degree weather a few seasons ago....we caped the thing right then and there in the field in the darkness, and got it on ice. No way was I letting an early season cape slip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

Posted
Posted (edited)

Some of the responsibility is on the taxi - but a lot of people fail to realize that most of this is on the hunter - they should cape it as quick as possible, especially in early season. The bucks I shoot are always caped within a very short timeframe.

The old buck I shot on Oct. 1 in 55 degree weather a few seasons ago....we caped the thing right then and there in the field in the darkness, and got it on ice. No way was I letting an early season cape slip.

Yea agree. A lot of people lose Antelope capes because they shoot them on a hot day and let them bake in the sun all day in the back of the pick up truck. Same with early season bear in NY Edited by Biz-R-OWorld
Link to comment
Share on other sites
WNY Bowhunter Experienced

WNY Bowhunter

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yea I hear ya but it would suck to have a different cape on your mount. Especially if it had unique markings. Both my Mule deer mounts had unique things so I was able to make sure they were in fact my hides.

1 was a double white patch and the other was very very worn top of a right ear from drop brown point.

I felt kinda bad about it, but I'm sure it will happen again. Thankfully, my cousin was really understanding about the whole thing. I'm in the same boat with my bowkill from last fall...I decided to remount him on a different cape. The mount looks much better bow but it's not the deer that I killed.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...