Last winter I shot a huge wild boar in the Mountains of Tennessee with my 30/06. It's ranked 16th in SCI right now. I have never before entered a tropy but this was just to big and impressive to just stick on the wall. I know that there are a lot of trophys with a lot of "status" and wild boar is not one of those that people usually take real serious. The hunt I was on was a long mountainous spot and stalk event with a lot of effort and carfull judging of the few hogs I was able to see. Plus I have this mental weakness for hunting pigs whether in Africa or the USA.
Anyhow, I wanted this beast mounted and I also wanted to use the real teeth in the skull. I spent a while getting the teeth just right by casting the originals in polyester Resin with molds made of Latex rubber. This way I will have the exact duplicate of the original teeth in the mount. I had to then color them properly to match the originals. The photo I have here has the mouth open very wide and the teeth are covered in blood so they do not appear natural in this state. They are 3-3/4" long from gun line to tip on both sides. Funny how tiny the uppers look with the hide on the body. It's one of the reasons most experienced hog hunters will tell you if you see teeth at all it's a good pig because the lips cover so much of the teeth when the mouth is closed.
When I saw this boar with my field glasses there was plenty of tusk showing with the mouth closed. I knew right then this was one was exceptional!
I was also not content with the angle of the head. I changed that with a bit of an angle to the anatomy of the original manniken. The mouth of almost all wild boar mounts are open way to far to show the teeth better. Unfortunately they all look as if they are smiling to me. I am using a mouth which has been modified to keep the teeth almost touching when open. I know this manniken will appear as if it's open a normal amount but when the skin is on and the hair and lips are finished this will look much different.
I just thought that some of you who have never seen the "pre" mount of an animal would like to see what it looks like before the hide is pulled over and the final work is done. I'll post a few more as the work progresses. I have the tanned cape and the manniken needs only a little bit more work with some foam and bondo. I'll finish the remainder up this week and post more then.
I hope this annoying image staion will work with these photo's if not hit the refresh button and they may reload to show them.
