.fixed it

wow good job on em! on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being hardest), how hard do you think it is for a beginner? ive always wanted to do one but dont want to screw one up

the hardest part for me is the fleshing and turning , that takes me hours but the mounting part only takes half as much time , Id say about a 7 . I still have LOTS to learn but itil come with time !

those look awsome.

what all tools do you need to mount a deer??

Great job ! The ears gave me a tough time . I'm glad my buddy showed me how to only give them a small slice down the neck . Other wise I would have caped him all the way down . That would have sucked when it cam time to stich him up .

Again great job !

yes the short Y cut is alot better I think , TOOLS = not much just a clovers needle, waxed thread , a rounded butter knife for tucken lips eyes , a good sharp knife for fleshing and turning everything ,clay, hide paist,air bush or you can paint by hand , and thats about it ,

Afew other things that come to mind is tools to do the nose septom . You need to cut into the nose to make it deeper and then you push what I guess is called a septom tool ( Looks like 1/2 coper pipe cut in half ) . You then push this up in to the nose . You slide the septoms up the nose and file out to them .

Some guys will use a fake nose for this .

looks like a pretty good job to me.

Not trying to step on your toes but.. We all start somewhere. I did also 6 years ago. Now I am in competition mounts at the state level. Get referance material. Too much is never enough. Just a critique. Ears need painted/ Ear butts not correct/ eye shape is wrong/ black around the eye and going into the tear duct is incorrect/ nostrils need painted lighter color/ Flesh to natural white/. Look into some training if you can afford it. I am in the association for my state taxidermist and once a year we have a meeting and they have hands on seminars for the whole weekend. I wiork in one seminar 8 hours on just WT eyes. Look at my post down from your. I have 4 WT heads that I did for customers. Any questions? ASk away

They look great DS

THANKYOU , I am looking forward to mounting more soon now that the season is fixen to start .

Deerslayer64d,Excellent Job for your first and second try.
I have a good friend in Mich. that also competes on the state and world level and has won blue ribbons at both and some of the deer mounts that he did yrs ago he is now ashamed of.Keep at it things will only get better.
ndawoods25 you have some terrific looking mounts and I know it takes alot of time and effort to get to the level you have achieved.but do you have any of your first mounts to compare to?

Let me say it like this. My 1st mount was something I hung up. Once I figured out my mounts had taken a great improvement, my 1st mount went into a closet. My wife complained for me to take it out, she wanted the space. So I took it out, got a new cape, and remounted it. It had all the beginner errors and I did not want it on the wall for customers to think that was what level I mounted deer at. You get a dent in your truck above the tire on the drivers side. Dont you look at it everytime you get into your truck and wish it wasnt there??? Well I had a dent on my wall, and now I am proud to display it, after I (fixed) it. I was not trying to tear his mounts down. I know when I started I had a lot of taxidermist that asnwered my questions and gave me criticism, and thats why I am where I am. I had a taxi basically tell me he would not take no for an answer about me putting a mount in competition. I pushed and pulled the whole time, did not want a master level to judge me. After I completed the 1st mount, I mounted another one up for a 2nd entry into copmpetition. I took 2 3rd place ribbons. This year I want at least a 2nd place ribbon. If I dont get it, at least I gained the expierence.

Looks very good!

Good job! I think you did one heck of a job. I know I wouldn't try that!

thankyou!!! I did thisone over the weekend . try # 3

that one looks good, but it looks like it needs more detail around the eyes IMHO.

Better than what i could do though Great job!

This is the way a Deers eye should look. Keep practicing practicing
practicing and it will come to you. Always have reference close by and check it often, be hard on yourself, because if you like it then you are almost there. Any reference should be a photo of a live animal not a mount. Good luck.