Sheep mount help

BurntRidge · Nov 22, 2021

I just got this photo from my taxidermist, and while I love the mount in general I’m not sure on the front legs. If I brought this up with the taxidermist could he go back and fix this or no?

grizzly · Nov 22, 2021

Nice ram. Congrats!

One thing is for sure, sheep are just shaped kind of weird.

ortegageno · Nov 22, 2021

Ears look a bit low also.

diablo · Nov 23, 2021

Definitely looks off - ears and lower legs. No way I’d pay LS price for that!

BurntRidge · Nov 23, 2021

diablo said:
Definitely looks off - ears and lower legs. No way I’d pay LS price for that!

Problem is, I’ve already paid.. but I’m definitely not happy with the finished product. Sadly there’s nothing that can be done to fix it is there?

BurntRidge · Nov 23, 2021

Here’s a front on picture for ear reference

OutdoorWriter · Nov 23, 2021

One for reference...

BurntRidge · Nov 23, 2021

ortegageno said:
Ears look a bit low also.

his ears sit low to begin with

Homer · Nov 23, 2021

I don’t like the front feet.....hide them in the grass

SS! · Nov 23, 2021

forrest gump feet. no bueno.

diablo · Nov 23, 2021

That’s a good idea - hide the front feet with a clump of grass. Ears are messed up but no one but you will ever notice. Has this dude ever done a sheep before?!

grizzly · Nov 23, 2021

I feel like the bend in the ankle isn't quite right. There is supposed to be a bend there, but it seems something is a little off. I don't know enough about taxidermy to know what can be done. No matter what, I'd recommend having an honest, calm discussion with the taxidermist. I think any professional would appreciate the opportunity to make everything right.

Here's another reference pic...

BurntRidge · Nov 23, 2021

SS! said:
forrest gump feet. no bueno.

I think the sheep now has a name lol

BurntRidge · Nov 23, 2021

grizzly said:
I feel like the bend in the ankle isn't quite right. There is supposed to be a bend there, but it seems something is a little off. I don't know enough about taxidermy to know what can be done. No matter what, I'd recommend having an honest, calm discussion with the taxidermist. I think any professional would appreciate the opportunity to make everything right.

Here's another reference pic...

View attachment 60259
View attachment 60261

I agree, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t bugging for no reason. I’m going to call him tomorrow and see what he says and what we can’t work out. Hopefully something can be done.

Tristate · Nov 24, 2021

The legs are a hard fix. May actually have to cut the rods bend new ones and weld them in place.

philthy · Nov 24, 2021

Here are both of mine. My desert is going uphill like yours and it doesn't have near the bend. Did I notice a "crease" in front of the hind leg, or is it just my old eyes? My rocky is pretty smooth there. I had a ton of offers to do my sheep, including a LS for $3500 and a 6 month turnaround. I paid around 6k and waited about 15 months for both. I'd definitely talk to your taxidermist.

BurntRidge · Nov 24, 2021

Tristate said:
The legs are a hard fix. May actually have to cut the rods bend new ones and weld them in place.

I was waiting for your response on this as you have a lot of experience. I called my taxidermist today and talked to him about it but he didn’t understand what I was talking about so I’m going to drive up and look at it in person and try and point it out. As a taxidermist is this something that you would fix if a customer wasn’t happy? I looked up the form online he used and it definitely is exactly like the form but it’s just unnatural to me.

SS! · Nov 24, 2021

BurntRidge said:
I was waiting for your response on this as you have a lot of experience. I called my taxidermist today and talked to him about it but he didn’t understand what I was talking about so I’m going to drive up and look at it in person and try and point it out. As a taxidermist is this something that you would fix if a customer wasn’t happy? I looked up the form online he used and it definitely is exactly like the form but it’s just unnatural to me.

View attachment 60422

That form is Timmy from south park!

Tristate · Nov 25, 2021

BurntRidge said:
I was waiting for your response on this as you have a lot of experience. I called my taxidermist today and talked to him about it but he didn’t understand what I was talking about so I’m going to drive up and look at it in person and try and point it out. As a taxidermist is this something that you would fix if a customer wasn’t happy? I looked up the form online he used and it definitely is exactly like the form but it’s just unnatural to me.

View attachment 60422

This is the hard reality of taxidermy. ALL FORMS WE BUY ARE FLAWED. The vast majority of taxidermists don't know how to recognize these flaws nor do they know how to correct them. This form has a lot of flaws. The front legs are one of them.

My question here is did you specifically pick this form out? I'm not attacking you and I want to help you.

BurntRidge · Nov 25, 2021

Tristate said:
This is the hard reality of taxidermy. ALL FORMS WE BUY ARE FLAWED. The vast majority of taxidermists don't know how to recognize these flaws nor do they know how to correct them. This form has a lot of flaws. The front legs are one of them.

My question here is did you specifically pick this form out? I'm not attacking you and I want to help you.

I did not pick the form, he asked what pose I like. I sent him pics of various other mounts but never seen the form.

Tristate · Nov 25, 2021

Okydoky. The reason I asked is sometimes if it is a specific form you picked a taxidermist could just say , "I did what you picked". Not saying it would be the ethical response from the taxidermist but it could complicate the situation.

I feel bad for you. I know how special a trophy it is and I hope you get everything worked out.

BurntRidge said:
I did not pick the form, he asked what pose I like. I sent him pics of various other mounts but never seen the form.

BurntRidge · Nov 25, 2021

Tristate said:
Okydoky. The reason I asked is sometimes if it is a specific form you picked a taxidermist could just say , "I did what you picked". Not saying it would be the ethical response from the taxidermist but it could complicate the situation.

I feel bad for you. I know how special a trophy it is and I hope you get everything worked out.

I pray I do, where as it’s been glued is there anything he can do to fix it or that I can take to another taxidermist to fix?

jims · Nov 27, 2021

I agree 100% with you that the front legs just above the hooves looks funky and not right. As mentioned earlier some forms are not correct or are in awkward positions. I usually go to the taxidermists shop to look at the form and everything just before he puts the cape on. This has prevented a lot of misunderstandings or flaws.

Any taxidermist should be able to re-hydrate the cape to make adjustments. I don’t think there should be any problem adjusting the area above the hooves. If your taxidermist won’t do it I’m sure another will.

stalker · Nov 28, 2021

jims, are you Taxidermist or did you sleep at a Holiday Inn? As Tristate stated fixing those legs now would not be an easy fix and could make matters worse. Re-hydrating may and may not be possible depending on the type of glue used. Is it possible? Yes but to state that any Taxidermist can or will do this is misleading.

Homer · Nov 28, 2021

stalker said:
jims, are you Taxidermist or did you sleep at a Holiday Inn? As Tristate stated fixing those legs now would not be an easy fix and could make matters worse. Re-hydrating may and may not be possible depending on the type of glue used. Is it possible? Yes but to state that any Taxidermist can or will do this is misleading.

very.....

JB1975 · Nov 28, 2021

stalker said:
jims, are you Taxidermist or did you sleep at a Holiday Inn? As Tristate stated fixing those legs now would not be an easy fix and could make matters worse. Re-hydrating may and may not be possible depending on the type of glue used. Is it possible? Yes but to state that any Taxidermist can or will do this is misleading.

Jims will probably say that sheep must have stepped in cheatgrass and his legs started to deform after that.

In other news, I hope you get your trophy fixed.

Tristate · Nov 28, 2021

I am sorry I am late to reply back to this thread. I have been in the pasture for a few days.

As far as rehydration and glue separation, I doubt that will be a significant problem. If for some crazy reason the skin was not tanned and was only mounted using a dry preserve agent then rehydration is highly risky. Some "home tans" are also risky for rehydration as many are not a true tan but a preserving soak or just a pickle soak. These can also make hydration risky.

As for the glue being able to separate from the skin, most commercial adhesives will separate fairly easily from a rehydrated properly tanned skin. If for some reason an epoxy style glue was used then you could run into a problem.

Hopefully your taxidermist will communicate with you well and yall can develop a plan to get your sheep the way you want it.

nogoodtags · Nov 29, 2021

Here is the main problem, every lifesize manikin I’ve ever used has extra material that needs to be removed. That bend to the back in the lower leg is where the dewclaw should be aligned. When test fitting the skin, I find where the dewclaws fit and usually end up removing up to several inches (repenting on manufacturer) so the hooves fall into place. That has not been done on your mount. Even if you could rehydrate and remove the skin for repair purposes this fix will likely make things worse in my opinion. Sorry this happened to you.