Sometimes I go to a friends farm, he raises deer, and I study them, to get great live reference, watch their movements, ears, eyes,etc. Deer move their ears so many different directions. forward, back, one pointed down, one close to rack. I'd go with what you like, its always good to ask others for an opinion. I like your idea of the ear positioning, something different. You do see alot of that positioning in the head down poses, not so much the head up. But I've personally seen live deer head up, with the ear positioning you are talking about. You can check out my website, to get more idea's...http://www.wrightwaytaxidermy.com