My first Lifesize Deer
I had planned on mounting my friend Danny's lifesize piebald doe a couple of weeks ago. However, when I got into the project, I realized how difficult it was going to be. I had the skin already tanned and in the freezer. I pulled it out and determined that I needed to sew up the belly cut that Danny made when he skinned the deer. After what seemed like hours sewing the belly incision up, I cut the deer down the back so that it would go on the form better. I did a test fit to determine if the hide would fit the form. Ofcourse, all four legs on the form were too big, the neck on the form was about 3" too big and the belly/chest area of the form was about 2" too big. I took the sawzall and cut the form to reduce the girth in the neck and chest/belly. This alteration required me to cut the form into several pieces that were later reassembled with bondo or liquid foam. I also had to cut 1/4" out of the area between the eye and nose and I had to cut another 1/2" off the back of the head. Once I reassembled the form, I used my power sander and a hand rasp to smooth and reshape the contours of the body. A test fit showed that the form was ready to accept the skin.
I had cut several small holes in the hide during the tanning/fleshing process. I sewed them up and did a final fleshing on the nose, eyes, lips, and ear butts. There were also a couple of areas on the face that I thinned down. I normally use earliners in my deer mounts, but this deer had extremely small ears, and the earliners I use would not fit. Rather than trim the earliners down and reshape them, I decided to use the bondo ear method.
The form is a standing mount. To get the skin on the form, I had to remove one of the back legs. I cut it off with my sawzall and coated it with hide paste. I then inserted that leg into the skin and reattached it to the form with bondo. I put some clay over the seam and and pasted the rest of the form. I pulled the hide up onto the form and got the skin into position. I then clayed in the eyes and ear butts and pulled the head skin up onto the head of the mannikin. I then sewed the back incision and worked hide paste into the incision area as I went along. When I got to the tail area, I made a tail from wire, cotton, and clay and inserted it into the tail of the skin. I then attached it to the form and smoothed the transition with clay. I finsihed sewing the back and tied the stitches off.
Next, I tucked the eyes, lips, and nose and set the ears into the position I wanted them in. I then turned my attention to sewing up the incisions on the legs. Clay was inserted into the hoof area to give it definition and blend it to the form. After a quick check back over everything, I stapled wire mesh over the seam to make sure the hair doesn't kick up on me.
The deer is now drying. Once its dry and I can remove the pins, etc. and do the finish work, I will definitely post some pics.
Here are pics of 2 deer heads that I also just finished. They are ready for their owners to pick them up.
