Taxidermy - 'Knowing what to look for' - Quick Tips for a Quality Mount

You’ve spent the last several months practicing and scouting. As the season progresses you work to pattern and outsmart the mature buck you’ve targeted. The time finally comes, you get your chance, draw, aim, release, the arrow hits the mark and the big buck goes down in sight!

As you walk up to the monster you imagine him hanging on your wall like many times before. But now what? Where do I go to have it mounted? How do I know if it is a good mount? What pose or style of mount do I want?

These are just a few of the questions that many hunters ask themselves after taking their trophy. And just like the questions of ‘which bow is best’ or ‘the best rifle is…’ everyone has their opinion.

Here are some helpful tips to point you in the right direction.

First, What to Look For?
For starters, taxidermists that are award winning artists are a good sign for quality. But many of these often come with a price. Look at their species you want to get mounted and what awards they won. If the taxidermist has won several awards on mounting ducks, he may only be mediocre on whitetail or mule deer.

There are many taxidermists that do not enter competitions and many do very nice work at reasonable prices. This however takes more research and knowledge of what to look for.

Here are some hints.

The Eyes Have It
If the eyes are bad, the whole mount can look bad. The eyes really are themost important feature to watch. Look for correct placement, not sunk-in or bug-eyed. Also look for symmetry, proper tear ducts without too much paint and putty, nictating membrane on the front of the eye to give it a natural look as well as white banding on the front or back of the eye. This will vary depending on the expression and deer pose. Look closely at the lacrimal crease and eye corner and make sure these look natural without any wide gaps. Taxidermists will also add the little bumps along the edge of the eyes that help it look alive. The size of the eyes is also depending on the deer pose; they do vary in size but should not be that noticeable. Subtle changes are OK, extreme changes are undesirable.


The Nose Knows
The nose should look natural with texture and depth. Peek inside and see if there is a nasal septum or just a blob of putty. Many taxidermists now use a septum or artificial nose that gives the natural shadow, deep look.


Listen to What I Have to Say (The Ears and Mouth)
The ears should have the hairline appropriately placed. You do not want to see the white hair outside the earliner border. Look for drumming or bubbles in the ear that would indicate the wrong sized earliner was used. Placement of the ears is critical. Often times you will find mounts where the ears are too low. They should be tucked up just behind the antlers and with that being said, watch for excessive rolls of hide around the ears. A good taxidermist knows how proper placement and form size will eliminate these issues.




The back edge of mouth is another area where big rolls of hide will form. Watch for a mouth that does not have excessive lip line showing or too much mouth showing. If you are looking at the mouth of a mount and you see it is smiling back at you, you may want to consider another taxidermist.


Hairline in Stitches or Not
The hairline/stitch line on the back of the mount should smooth, combed flat without noticeable gaps or abrupt changes. If the form being used is too big, the stitching will have a tendency to pull apart leaving unsightly gaps in the hide. Short hair, early season bucks make it difficult to hide the stitch line. To eliminate this issue, I have gone to tubing the hide. This is where you cut a shorter slit between the ears just big enough to get the antlers off, then ‘tube skin’ off the rest of the cape. This method means you have a small line of stitches between the ears with the full natural ‘no-stitch’ down the back of the neck. This is a little more difficult and time-consuming so the cost of tubing a cape maybe more.


Deer Pose or Position
This is where taxidermists are the most creative. They have so many different options and can modify forms to fit the want of the hunter. The choices are many: left turn, right turn (this is the deer’s position coming out of the wall), straight, sneak, semi-sneak, upright, full-turn, offset shoulder, rut, wall pedestal, floor pedestal, with plaque, habitats, open-mouth etc.


These choices seem endless. The best choices for a hunter is to go to the taxidermist showroom and look at what catches your eye and will fit in the place at home where you want to display your trophy. You will be surprised at how much room an ‘offset shoulder wall pedestal’ mount will take up on the wall.




Other Factors to Consider
Each hunter has to determine what price range is right. Several of the large professional taxidermy shops are very expensive but do not always put out the highest quality work because they have staff taxidermists that do their work. On the other hand, they do this job year round and become very good at it, so ask your taxidermist who is actually going to do the mount. Many of the taxidermy shops send out their capes and hides to get tanned which in my belief is the best way. These capes come back preserved to last a lifetime and will not loose color or continue to shrink or crack and in turn, these places often times have longer wait times than those that do self or home tans. Another option to a full shoulder mount is a horn or European mount. These are a fraction of the cost and is a great way to display any buck of any size.




As the saying goes,’ Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder’, this is probably more true for taxidermy. The question undoubtedly comes down to quality. If you what great quality, and don’t mind waiting a few extra months for your once-in-a-lifetime trophy, then pay the extra dollars to get it done. Each time you look at that perfect mount, you’ll never regret it!