Judged against the live animal, every time.
A mount either looks like a whitetail or it doesn’t. Eye depth, ear set, the wet look on a nose, the way the neck muscles sit for the pose. These are the details I spend my time on, and they’re the ones you’ll notice every day for the next thirty years.
More mounts leave the shop every month. The newest work always lands on Facebook first.
How to judge a mount.
Hunters ask what separates a good mount from a great one. Here is what I look for in my own work, marked on a real one.
- Eyes that look back
Correct depth, a horizontal pupil, an eyelid that follows the eye and a tear duct with real shape. Bubble eyes or a stare that follows you around the room mean the eye is set too shallow.
- Ears with muscle behind them
Ears sit where the buck carried them and the ear butt is rebuilt so there is mass at the base. Wrinkled, papery or drumming ears mean rushed liner work.
- A nose that looks wet
Deep nostrils, a soft gray-pink interior and a dark brown pad with a sheen. Flat charcoal black is paint doing the job of detail work.
- A neck that matches the pose
A sneak has a relaxed neck. An alert buck has tension in the brisket. The form is altered to your deer’s measurements rather than picked off a shelf.
- No seam you can find
Hair patterns lined up along the back of the neck so the incision disappears, and no thin spots where hide was stretched over a form that was too big.
Let’s talk about yours.
Text me a photo and tell me where it’s going to hang. I’ll give you a straight recommendation on pose and mount type.