My first blackie

[jackelope]

i also think he looks like a normal mature deer. nice to see the white in the face, reinforces the fact you killed an old mature buck.

[YellowDog]

The white the taxidermist was referring to was not in the "face" but rather in the nose and lips.  Its not exactly white-white but rather a pinkish-white.  If you look at the mount of the non-typical blacktail in the taxidermy section, my buck does not have a solid black nose like that mount.  He sort of has white blotches scattered on his nose between his nostrils and upper lip. 

I believe my taxidermist does a lot of big game, including black tail bucks.  He said he gets a lot of big black tail bucks from the unit I was hunting.  He just pointed out that mine had more white (lack of pigment) to his nose than most he sees. 

[jackelope]

huh...interesting.
either way, leave him alone.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Personally I wouldn't pay attention to anyone that said that wasn't a trophy.  Thats your first Blacktail and a dandy one at that.  I've had parents bring in their kids does and spikes to have them mounted.  Why wouldn't you leave it like it was coming out of the woods?  If I am not requested by the customer to change something on an animal I don't! 

[cipryan]

I would rather have unique than main stream on a mount anyday. 

[Antlershed]

Awesome buck. Definitely leave him the way he is. 

[billythekidrock]

I want my mount to be as close to the real thing as possible not what someone thinks he should look like.  Anyway, I have the photos to show the lack of pigment and I have confidence that my taxidermist will get it right and the photos will back it up.  Again, thanks for the kind words.

Put a 8x10 photo  of the buck under the mount when it is done.

[jackelope]

Put a 8x10 photo  of the buck under the mount when it is done.

make it one of the harvest photo's. that is cool as hell
good idea billy.

[bucklucky]

I dont paint my noses all black, Dude, Your messing with fire I use 3 colors on the nose , blends from near white to not quite black.  :rolleyes:Geeze, Black is for rookies!Its just the picture that makes it look black. I went back and looked. If I were monting that buck I would personaly take pictures of the nose for my own referance and use it when finishing the mount, Just like i do for any facial features on a buck thats out of the ordinary, roman noses wider heads , heavy heads etc..... Any good taxidermist would.

[YellowDog]

Hey bucklucky, believe me, I was not in any way trying to talk bad about your work.  That is a beautiful mount.  I am not a taxidermist and am not qualified to question anyone's work.  I was simply asking a question.  I am not even saying that you painted the nose all black on that mount.  I guess I should have said dark nose instead of black.  I'm sure there is a great deal of detail work in that mount.  If not, you could just use a frikking magic marker on him.  I will have to see if I can get a close up shot of just the nose on my buck and I think you will see what I am talking about.  I was simply using the mount to give folks an idea of the large amount of white that is on my bucks nose, not to say anything bad at all about your mount.  You said you blend from near white to black and that's what it looks like.  My buck really does have a lot of whitish pink blotches on his nose.  I don't think blending would be the issue on my buck.  Again, your mount looks fantastic and the nose looks good to me. 

[bucklucky]

OOPS, I should have put LOL in there somewhere. 

[HawkeyeBilt]

Got to love them blacktail. Congrades on your first blackie its a beautiful buck.

[jae]

Very nice Blacktail! Ones like that are hard to come by, It will loook great on the wall. Congatulations!