I had a buck mounted that had about a 15" 9pt rack on it. This year I shot a 10pt with a 19.5" rack. I had my taxidermist swap out the racks on my mount (wich is all I asked him to do)
When I got it home I notice that because the first rack had been narrower that the ears were covering up part of the main beam. It looks ok and most people don't even notice, but it bugs me a little.

My question is can my taxidermist fix this. Can the ears be moistened back up and lowered??

I can post pics if someone needs to see, but I don't have them with me now.

He may be able to rehydrate and move them but you stand a chance of slippage.

yeah I think I will just shoot another buck and get a fresh cape and start over.

? why didn't you mount that one to begin with?

LOL ! Story of my life. It is a narly looking rack with a lot of Character, but when I was in the woods I was standing behind the animal and did not think it would make a good looking mount. The next day everyone I showed it too said they would have mounted it. Looking at it from the front it looks a lot different. I will post a pic when I get back to work this week.

Here is a pic of the buck, I will post a pic of the mount tomorrow. I forgot to bring the SD card.

Definatly worth puting on the wall

Ok here are the pics of the mount I promised weeks ago. LOL
What do you think? The one in question is on the left in the one pic

Mark part of the problem is the ear butts , their too high and too far back, your taxidermist needs to use more reference when mounting animals

It appears as though the rack was placed too far forward, can you see how close the burrs are to the eye, thus crowding the area where the ear naturally sets when in a forward positiion. If you follow the jawline to the back of the skull, the ear butts are low, too big and misshapened (not anatomically correct). You can really see in your first picture how the ears appear to be mounted on the neck, not the deers head.

Take a look at the live deer below and you can see how much furthur back the rack should be set on the head of your deer mount.(you can even see this on your trophy deer pic) You can also see by following the jawline, on the live deer, where the earbutts should be and the size and shape of them.



Tazz is correct in stating your taxidermist should use more reference material when mounting.

If this hasn't been mounted too long ago, the antler base and possibly the ear area can be rehydrated and corrected. Even if the rack was set back properly and the ears left as is, you would probably be much happier with your mount. I would also have your taxidermist soft brush or clean off that white paint around the deers eyes.

Many of our whitetail and coues deer clients have their deers ears set in a backward position (behind the rack) to show off the rack better.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Mary

to me that deers head looks way bigger after it was mounted. the antlers are way to far forward.

SRW read my first post. The Deer mount/cape & the rack are two different deer. They should look different. The mount originially was a small 9 point with about a 15" spread.

I just need to shoot another one and get a fresh cape and start over. No biggie.

Ear bases are off location and the rack is too far forward.

Shoot two deer and use a far-better taxidermist.