First let me start out by saying you shot an outstanding buck.
Now for the hard part.
First - I don't much care for the positioning of the ears. I have seen this before with mounts but it's not for me.
Second - The hide is covering the burrs around the buck�s bases. To me it takes away from the buck�s natural look of the rack.
Third - The upper part of the buck�s nose looks fine. But the bottom part of the jaw from the nose to the bottom of the eye looks to be missing its natural mass. It is almost like you shot the lower jaw off and your taxi tried to reconstruct it.

Caldwell... With all this being said. If your happy with your buck and mount that�s all that matters!!!

Great buck, but have to agree the nose and mouth look like a pronghorn.

I'm not a fan of the mount. Would disappoint me greatly to pay for that.

The side view looks better but the forehead looks kind of protruding in the frontal view. . I have seen a lot worse though

Nice

That's a good looking buck, but I think the skull cap was positioned to high on the mold and the taxi didn't use enough clay to fill out the face and jaw lines, I think he just stuck it on the mold and called it good. This is wher wit always helps to have field pics of Uluru trophy for your taxidermist to use as reference material.

Nice mount and great buck

Looks like his nose is swollen and he just ate a lime. Mouth and jaws look puckered.

I think it looks really nice. It's a awsome buck bigger then anything I ever shot.

But sense you said that did you mean to have the ears facing different ways?

Nice deer but you said be honest you got screwed I would be pissed!!

Lots of opinions and comments. Don't take any the wrong way. The mount from the pictures looks pretty good.

What every one needs to realize is that not ALL animals are created equal. Lots of factors work into the mount- Long snouts, short snouts, long ears, thin coat, heavy coats, on and on.

Ears are always a preference. the only time you see a deer with the same ear position is when the are startled or at alert. If that's what you like tell the taxidermist and they mount them that way, but that's not the norm.

I like the one about the jaw being missing. All deer are mounted on a pre-manufactured form and NO bones are ever left on a mount,only skin. the Form has the eye sockets,nostrils, mouth, Skull pocket and details molded in. Some modifications may have to be made to the form for snout length, but overall there are 100's of different size forms available to choose from. Measurements for the neck, nose to eye are very critical and should be recorded. The taxidermist cuts out some of those areas to accept the skin or to mount the eyes with a little clay build up work at the nose and eyelids.

The only concern that you should have is if the skin was mounted using a dry preservative or Tanned. The dry method will tend to shrink and crack in a few years.

There's one other thought--It might have even been Freeze Dried, the whole head.

Great buck but the way he covered the antler bases with its cape is not the right way to do it and makes it look off. The jaw is too pointy and tight looking. The ears I have no problem with. Id be pissed about the bases though.

So whats the story on it. Your first attempt or something?

The nose and jaw shape look like an antelope a little.

i've noticed several comments on this.

this is becomming more and more common for taxidermists to do this, it adds a bit more realism to the mounts

who mounted it?

^^^^it has been posted on the taxidermy board

Nice buck

I think it looks GREAT!

No, a great taxidermist mounted this for me, but I have never seen one look this way so wanted some opinions. Said he mounted this as if it was a competition mount not a standard mount like most are used to seeing. So I am guessing there is allot more detail into this mount, the jaw being one of them. I appreciate all of your opinions. Like I stated I wont get mad I just wanted some honesty. I felt the same way about the jaw and mouth and didn't know if it was just me or not, I have not seen a jaw look this way but I guess in competitions they do.

the onlything that looks a little off to me is where the antlers meet the skull it looks to be a little high idk if he didnt mould the manican well for the cap or if thats just how the deer looked in real life either way i would be proud to have it on my wall

not to be rude but why does it look like it has an inflamed lymph node sticking out of its neck is that just the angle?

lol,

bad angle + bad light+ iphone camera

great deer!