I shot a nice deer last year and got it mounted, it is currrenty hanging over the fire place. I've heard this can damage the hair and such, My question is how much heat is to much? Its a gas fire place, and the deer is mounted about 4ft higher then it, it never seem to get extremelly warm when the fire place is on. Is it more a problem with wood fire places or is it best that I move it?..thanks

A problem that is as big as or bigger than the heat is the lack of moisture that results from burning wood.

That will dry out a mount, and can make the skin/extremities/ears very brittle and can even crack the skin.

The heat in time will destroy the glue used in the mount and cause drumming.It can do a whole lot more than just that,depending on what materials were used in the mount and how the taxidermist did everything.

DO NOT PUT A MT. OVER OR NEXT TO A FIRE PLACE. it can cause a lot of damage to you mt's.