WELCOME BACK!  We are almost at the completion of our professional deer mount. Throughout the past three issues of Taxidermy Today, we have focused on the professional mounting techniques I use when skinning, fleshing, auto tanning, manikin prep and mounting a deer shoulder mount. From the very beginning of Part #1 of this article series, I made it clear that the purpose of this article series was to concentrate on the specific techniques involved in creating a high quality professional mount for your customer. Providing you with techniques that can be repeated a thousand times to satisfy the American sportsman has been my goal from the beginning. Techniques that you can build a business upon and satisfy your customers is the heart and soul of the taxidermy industry. It’s not the competitions and the “thousand hour” deerhead that makes the taxidermy industry GREAT. Instead, it’s the consistent quality of a “repeatable” professional whitetail mount that keeps the financial gears of this industry turning. It’s the professional taxidermists (fulltime or part-time) across America in their taxidermy studios, basements or garages that have built our industry and created a strong livelihood that we enjoy today. This article series is dedicated to you. YOU are the reason America has the strongest taxidermy industry in the world!

Thanks for coming back for Part 3. In this article we will be looking at all the things involved in mounting a Professional Shoulder Mount. So, let’s not waste any time and get right to it! First, lay the cape out on a bench and stretch it from side to side. This will put width back into the cape getting it back to the original proportions before fleshing. I tug pretty good to regain the neck measurement.

Welcome back — I hope you enjoyed the first part of this article series. Throughout Part 2 of “Mounting a Whitetail” we will be covering everything involved in getting the manikin ready for mounting the hide. We’ll start with preparing the surface of the manikin to accept hide past and move on to antler setting, lip slot – nostril – tear duct cutting, septum insertion and finally eye setting. The accuracy and quality we perform throughout these procedures will have a direct impact on the ultimate quality of our mount. So let’s jump right in and get to it!