Brian has given a few excellent pointers on selecting a taxidermist from a taxidermists point of view. High (#1) on his list was "Go see their work". I would like to expand on that thought just a touch. As for my background; I am not a taxidermist, I am a consumer. For a lot of years I was a reasonably uninformed consumer. Over the past few years I have become a bit more of an educated consumer. Certainly not a judge, but I think I'm a little more educated than the average consumer. I've got a bunch of deer mounts. No giants compared to many but they are all special to me (& my wife). Anyway, a few things to keep in mind when you go to visit a taxidermist to see their work:
1. Do
NOT look at the antlers!!!! God made those, not the taxi!. If you just want to look at the antlers, save your money & do a Euro or a horn mount. Ok, look at how the hair meets the base. Is it neat clean and well placed all the way around? Are the antlers positioned such that the angle of the main beam as it leaves the skull is on the same line as the bridge of the nose/forehead? With rare exception, it should be. Are the antlers mounted symmetrically? Are the antler burrs roughly 2 fingers from the back of the eye? If not, it will likely screw up the eye shape. But overall; do
NOT look at the antlers!
2.Look at the eyes. They should be clear, clean and with rare exception, symmetrical. The shape should be correct. Google "deer eye images". They should look like that. Some taxis could help themselves by doing that. The eyes in most instances should look like they are focused on you, no matter where you are in the room. That's what deer do in real life. There are exceptions but they are done on purpose. I have a great mount with a deer rubbing one of my white pine trees. It has the eye on that side slammed shut. Taxi had a tough time getting that one right but he eventually nailed it! I also have a dual pedestal mount where a whitetail buck & a mule deer buck are interacting with each other. That one would look wrong if the deer didn't look like they were looking at each other, but they are the exceptions.
3. Look at the ears. They should have a natural shape. They should be thin and have crisp edges. They should be positioned in any one of a number of anatomically acceptable positions. It's frequently desirable to have ears in different positions. It may accentuate the antlers or just break up the monotony of having every mount's ears upright & erect. They do need to be anatomically correct however. A deer will never position it's ears such that, if it rains, water will run in the ear. They also need to be in emotionally acceptable positions. A deer with one ear up and alert while the other is laid back flat in a totally pi$$ed off position is just plain wrong. Often overlooked but very important are the ear "butts" or base of the ear. This area should be of appropriate size & shape. There are a lot of muscles in that area that allow the ears to do all the moving that they do. They must be part of a correct mount. Not just a big wad of sculpting clay, they should show some definition. The position of the butt is also very important. In a living animal the ear butts are very close to the antler bases. Look at some pix of living deer. Too many mounts have a big gap between the ear butts and the antler base. Some taxis must use dead deer pictures for reference, if they use any at all!
4. Look at the lips. There shouldn't be too much lip showing and for God's sake they shouldn't be smiling!!! I know a guy who was so upset when he got a trophy back that had a smile and raised eyebrows (from a highly recommended taxi) that he started taking classes to learn how to mount his own deer that didn't look "gay". He's doing pretty passable work himself these days!
5. Look at the nose. Again symmetry is key. Nostrils should be open but not flared. The nose should have some texture bumps, not flat. Some even recreate the "rosettes" on the nose with little hairs in the center of each one. Probably most important is the nose should
not be BLACK. A deer's nose is a complex fleshy grey color,
not black!!!
6. Look at the grooming. The hair on the neck should lay fairly flat, even on a long haired late season specimen. It shouldn't look like a "bad hair day". Hair that won't lay flat is a sign the taxi doesn't know how to select the right size form. It should also be groomed down (like down towards the ground, not down the neck). That is the way it is in nature. so that rain runs off, not down the neck.
7. If you can, take a friend with you that is more knowledgeable than you to help you interview a prospective taxi.
8. Lastly, did I say
DO NOT LOOK AT THE ANTLERS!!!! They are the one thing on the mount the taxi has nothing to do with. Unless of course, you want the taxi to do repair work on your trophy. Then ask to see their repair work.
Sorry to be long winded, but it really pains me to see someone subject a great trophy to bad taxi work. All you talented & knowledgeable taxis, on IW please feel free to correct anything I've said incorrectly. I'm still learning...
