Bill Yox

Livbucks, sorry I couldnt get in sooner. Your biggest problem with the ears hiding the antlers is NOT small antlers. The ears are grossly misplaced. It was common practice once to just stick em where theyd go, and say good enough. Nowadays the taxidermists are studying them and learning to focus an ear just like an eye. Bring those ears back to where the ought to be, and rotate them for "focus" and the antlers will be visible, no problem. Yellow mounts nowadays can be from epoxies that cure initially, but later on can weep and discolor the hides. The older mounts often were yellowing because they were pickled and never neutralized. The acid has continued to work the skin, yellowing and cracking them. Also, over time, cigarette smoke and kitchen grease kill mounts. Anyone who doubts me can move a mount and look at the fresh wall behind it, as opposed to the dingy wall around it. Makes you wonder what the lungs look like (yep, nonsmoker here!) Try using oven cleaner on the mounts, but be careful. Good luck.

M.Magis

Bill, I'm glad you mentioned that about the epoxy. I had a hunch that may be true, but never had anything to back up my theory. It's one of the reasons I quit using epoxy on ears. Not to mention, what I use now is much easier to work with.

livbucks

Hehehe...I told you so.
Believe it or not, the guy that mounted this was considered to be very good and was in high demand. I guess the mount was good for the times, but times have changed and most people that know deer will see it's many flaws now. The snout is round like a jar of pimento olives. I should have taken a pic from under looking up because the top lip overhangs the bottom like a walrus' mouth. The ears are not cupped but flat like flippers too. I guess the guy worked with the knowledge and materials that were available then. We still admired it in spite of these shortcomings. It does not hold up when placed with modern mounts on the wall, so I get it for experimentation....aint I lucky?
What will clean the years off the horns and make them new looking for when I remount it?

livbucks

What could that be?

M.Magis

I had a container of Buckeye Hide Adhesive that had been on my shelf for a couple years, so I tried it out. I really just wanted to get rid of it as much as anything, butit seems to do just what I want in an ear adhesive. It's much more tacky than the Supreme I use everywhere else. It holds everything in place, yet allows me to make any adjustments needed. The Supreme works well too, but I like the tackiness of the Hide Adhesive.