Few people realize the work that goes into mounting an animal. Below I will take you through just one element, the ears, of a white-tail deer. The photos were all taken in Pennsylvania, at a friend's cabin. He regularly fed the deer so we were able to observe them from relatively close, and all of the photos were taken within a five minute span of time. This is an excellent demonstration of a taxidermist's most valuable tool...reference pictures!
To set the stage, it was late spring...early June. There were four deer present - two mature does, and a yearling doe and buck. I surmised the yearlings were each mature doe's offspring. The dominant doe guarded the feeding stand, and only once let the yearling doe eat...I presume it was her yearling.
Dominant doe. Semi-aggressive, threatened, ear-set. The other mature doe was trying to approach the feeder.Note how each ear can be positioned independently of the other.
Back view of the previous image. Most clients prefer the ears to be set the same on each side, but damage to one ear, habitat (scenery), or positioning on your wall,
and most commonly, antler size and position, may all play a part in your choice of ear-set.
Dominant doe 'warning' the other mature doe. Notice how forward her ears are placed. Unless an aggressive pose, I would seldom set ears like this in a mount.
This was a very rare capture, snapped just seconds before she (dominant doe) charged and hoofed the other mature doe. I will probably never mount a deer with ears in this position, though it would be very tempting! Also note how the whiskers are "alert" and the nostrils are flared.
Other mature doe. I would probably label this ear-set as submissive-aggressive. She wanted to challenge the other doe, wasn't ready to back down, but wasn't ready to charge or instigate. Kind of a "I'm not afraid of you" message.
Young buck with a sneak ear-set. He was planning the best way to approach the feeder without the dominant doe seeing him.
Alert, forward ear-set. A very common position chosen for mounts.
Front view of a relaxed, forward ear-set. Very nice choice for most mounts.
Dominant doe warning the young buck. Notice how it differs from the warning she was sending to the mature doe. She was not threatened by the young buck, "pissed off" is probably the best way to describe her. She verbally warned him with a bleat. How I wish I could understand deer-talk. I'm sure it was something like, "Now listen here you little PUNK!"
This is a close up of the previous image, with light added to show you how the ear-butt (muscles that control the ear position) was set. As a taxidermist, paying attention to detail like this is important. To build up the muscle (all done with clay) in an unnatural position can ruin an otherwise perfect mount.
The dominant doe eventually allowed her yearling to approach the feeder. The yearling, on the left, was very submissive, seeming to ask permission to eat. Note the eyes, semi-open, and the ear-set back, but semi-relaxed. The dominant doe can only be described as tolerant in this picture, but she did run the yearling off as soon as she tried to eat the corn.
This close-up of the young buck's ear shows all the work that goes into just one ear.
It's not uncommon for the tips of the ears to be split, most commonly from insect bites. Because this buck was so young, he has only a tiny split at the top of the ear, but observing the hair patterns around these splits allows me to make the best of nature's imperfections.
A common "mistake" in any mount is the taxidermist failing to airbrush the inside of the ears. They should have a healthy flesh-colored appearance, with just a hint of pink. Most mounts you will see will have a yellowish brown color to the skin.
Hair patterns are also very important. The ears dry very quick, so the first 24 hours after your deer is mounted, I must constantly brush hairs and work the skin. The cartilage is removed from the ear and plastic earliners are inserted. Just 1/16 of an inch too large will likely cause the ears to split at the tips in years to come. Too small, and the edges will curl. While deer ears are not as bad as smaller mammals, extreme detail must be given to "splitting" the ears all the way to the edge. This is done with an Exacto knife and is very tedious.
Splitting the ears on a squirrel requires patience...and a bottle of Valium! If you question the importance of good ears, take some time and REALLY look at the mounts at Bass Pro Shop. You will seldom see a small mammal without split and curled ears.
There is so much detail involved in a deer's ears. In this picture, pay attention to the veins, both the contour, size, and color. Because this is a spring deer, the hair is more sparse and the detail more pronounced. A fall harvest may (or may not) require that special attention be paid to the vein structure of the deer's ears, but a skilled taxidermy is always up for whatever challenges present themself.
As mentioned earlier, we use plastic (sometimes fabric) ear liners and the costlier ones have the vein detail as seen in the image. To keep this detail, a taxidermist must be careful when splitting the ears. When inserting the ear liners, a good fit ensures the detail of the ear liner can be seen. Because the ears dry quickly after mounting, much attention must be given to positioning the skin and working the hair patterns. It's the secret to natural ears, and can often take hours to get it just right.
This plastic ear liner has great detail, and although costlier than others available, it's worth the price. One thing missing, which you can see in the picture above, is the deeper colors of the less pronounced veins.
If you take a moment to look at the inside of your forearm, near your wrist, you can usually see the blue color of the veins. Now make a tight fist, and notice how the veins become more pronounced and take on a deeper color.
Because the hairs on the ear are so dense and short, air brushing the vein colors on the skin is not really an option. To obtain the deeper blues the ear liners must be airbrushed, usually with a much deeper shade of blue so that they can be seen from the outside through the skin and hair. Yes, it's tedious, and probably something you would never have noticed had I left it undone, but when coupled with all of the other detail put into your mount, you will notice just one thing that sets me aside from most taxidermist --- your mount will look alive!
Knowing you have chosen a professional taxidermist is your only real assurance that your mount's ears will look good throughout the years. If cartilage isn't completely removed, and ears split to the very tip during the mounting process, it will still look natural when you pick it up. Only after that cartilage dries and is faced with the heat and humidity in your home, will you notice the damage years down the line. I put just as much time and effort into the ears as I do your entire mount. I take pride in everything that leaves my shop.
The dominant doe eventually allowed her yearling to approach the feeder. The yearling, on the left, was very submissive, seeming to ask permission to eat. Note the eyes, semi-open, and the ear-set back, but semi-relaxed. The dominant doe can only be described as tolerant in this picture, but she did run the yearling off as soon as she tried to eat the corn.
This close-up of the young buck's ear shows all the work that goes into just one ear.
This plastic ear liner has great detail, and although costlier than others available, it's worth the price. One thing missing, which you can see in the picture above, is the deeper colors of the less pronounced veins.
