tschaef

Yup, he's tanning them himself, he's also done 2 bear rugs and is tanning a few caribou hides for me.

Shootem Up Taxidermy

hello and here are some tips for him.you can see great improvments as he gets more exp.but try useing gavinized nails 1" long,there finished nails to tack the lips in place and whenit drys you can push them on though the hide and cover with epoxy,I use warter soulabale epoxy all the way around the mouth joint.sorry for my poor spelling.As for the eyes use the brite tech economy eyes there black and more real looking.deer in the wild eyes are black.Now the ears I dont use ear liners they drum to bad.I use small fiber bond bondo.Works great and will never ever drum and the ears look fuller with it.I hope these tips have helped,but dont forget to whatch those rinkeles like the guy before me said bye for now.Joey

striperhyper

The 2nd pic the one on the right actualy looks good.That would be one that i would pay for if i brought mine to a taxidermist and he did that.The othere two looks funny, but there goo for his first time.The one thing i think makes that firts on look weird is his eye choice on it.Im just getting into taxidermy, and the mistaks he is making is helping me out by me learning form hi and what to and not to do.There is some good info on your post guys thanks.

Hobbes

Shoot em Up, I hate to argue with you here, but your advice is misleading.

If a hide is properly thinned, the lip slot cut properly,the lip tucked properly, and a good quality adhesive is used, nails or pins are absolutely not required. I noticed in another post that you are using dry preservative, which may very well require the use of nails, but a tanned skin that is prepared correctly does not require nails if a good adhesive is used. The apoxie finish work should normally only be required within the nasal cavity to blend skin to the septum, slight areas around the eyes and to rebuild the exposed portion of the lower lip beneath the nose pad. It should not be required to make nail hole repairs around the lip line or fill in areas that have "pulled free".

As far as bondo ears go. I have used them with success and they can be made to look nice, but your assumption that they never drum is false. The nice full look you speak of is also incorrect in that a whitetails ear is not "full" but is very thin and the only thing thatshould givea full look is the grooming of the hair. Also, the assumption that ear liners always drum is false. A properly fitted earliner using a quality adhesive can achieve an incredibly realistic ear without drumming.

Your suggestion that the Bright tech economy eyes are even close to some of the other eyes available is also false. Whitetail eyes are not black and any good reference can reveal this to anyone who has the willingness to observe. There are a number of quality eyes that are available, while bright tech may be sufficient for lower quality commercial work, they do not compare to other eyes that are available.