Mounting a sleeping deer has been a venture to the extent of almost becoming an obsession with me. From the time I came across an article in "Deer and Deer Hunting magazine" on sleeping deer, until its completion. I was continuously looking for good reference. However, the lack of good reference of sleeping deer and how to pull it off with a shoulder mount whitetail, delayed the project for several years.

                  The only way to mount a sleeping deer was life size, but this created a major problem. In competition it would be grouped in the large life-size category and therefore not eligible for the Brushac award (the ultimate award in whitetail taxidermy). After talking with judges like Cary Cochron, Joe Meder and Mike Adams, along with Mike Kirkhart, the NTA competitions chairman, I found that I could use a half life-size mount and still compete for the Brushac. As it turned out there was still some confusion in Buffalo as to what category "Sleepy" would be Judged in.

                  The biggest reason for doing a sleeping deer was that it had never been done in competition, and I felt it was time to shake things up a bit. When you mount a deer with closed eyes for a competition, you go out on a limb. Cary Cochron told me before I started; "If you're going to close the eyes it better be 100% right, because now there are several key elements not visible to the judge (pupil placement, nictating membrane, coruncle gland etc.) and because of this the judge with probably look much harder at everything else."

                  While attending the NTA convention in Columbia Missouri, I was able to talk to many whitetail experts about my idea. I was given the opportunity to watch live deer sleeping, (after many hours of waiting with the camera ready) thanks in part to generous suppliers that helped sponsor Richard English and his deer display. With a camera fully loaded with great photographs, and many new ideas in my head, I proceeded to drive my buddy, Andy Willette, crazy on the 18 hour drive back to Vermont.

                  I began the piece a couple weeks later, when I borrowed an awesome set of antlers from a collector, Gary Merril ( an 8 pointer that scores in the 180's). Using the antler casting method described by Larry Blomguist in the '94 issue of Breakthrough magazine, I broke ground on the "Sleeping Giant".

                  My next step was to consult "Yoda" (Mike Adams) and pick his brain, as well as go through his extensive reference to see if I could borrow a few needed pictures. Many calls and a few road trips later he just kept saying something about the "force" being with me.

                  I had two capes for building "Sleepy", a 250 lb Maine buck and an Alberta monster that Brian Dobson supplied me. Both were skun out using full dorsal incision. The lower front legs were cut from the hoof to the first joint in the front, to hide the stitches ( the mount would be laying on them). The capes were fleshed, salted, pickled in Formic acid and liqua tanned. Both capes measurements were compared to McKenzie's new LD-9200 1/2 life-size form that I would be using, and I decided on the Maine buck because it was much closer in size to the form (but it's always nice to have a spare). I had the form made without rods in the legs to make it easier to bend the legs while putting the skin on (this idea came from an article written by Roger Martin and Bill Yox in the Spring '95 issue of Taxidermy Today).

                  Form modification began withdrawing center lines in four places on the neck. Nine equal size cuts were made and 1/2 inch thick wedges were removed from the left side then replaced on the right. All pieces were numbered, then pinned in place to check the anatomy and antler clearance on the forms back. Once I was satisfied with what I saw the wedges and sections were set in place with bondo. The gaps where the wedges had been removed were filled with 2 part foam and then smoothed with a rasp and 50 grit sand paper. The re-countered neck was given a skim coat of thinned bondo (thinned with fiberglass resin 50/50) to smooth it out and give it a consistent surface for the hide paste to adhere to. I replaced the original head with McKenzie's change out head (CH-32 8" eye/nose). The one on the form was 7 3/4" eye/nose and not wide enough across the eyes.

                  Because I had never done a closed eye before, I decided to practice on several spare capes that had been buried in the freezer. This turned out to be a great learning experience, that and what I learned from talking to Mike Adams really made a lot of difference in the mount. When a deer closes its eye the upper brow slides over the eye orbit, giving the lachrymal crease a heavy soft look. The upper lid does 90% of the moving, the lower lid becoming straight in line with the lachrymal crease with the upper lid coming down to meet it.

                  Because of what I learned, the brow of the form was ground down and checked for symmetry with a contour gauge. The bridge of the nose was built up with Apoxie-Sculp to give it a more roman profile.

                  When I did these practice heads I was also having a problem with the eyes opening slightly after the hide was dry. This was solved by setting the eyes with Apoxie-Sculp and using a bondo eye (cast of a tohican IQ) for the eye that was to remain completely closed. The other eye was set in Apoxie-Sculpt and allowed to remain open 1/16" to give the feeling that the deer might not be completely asleep.

                  The ears on the cape were very large (very common with Maine bucks) so I cut the ear canal off a pair of buckeye liners and attached the blade section from a pair of research mannikins plastic liners with hot glue. The two sections were blended with Apoxie-Sculp and the veining on the backs was done with hot glue. The hybrid ears were then attached to the head. The ear butt muscles were sculpted using Apoxie-Sculp and allowed to dry over night. The next day they were cut off along with the antlers to create a three piece puzzle that would fit together perfectly the day the hide was installed.

                  The nose was removed 1" behind the nostrils and the nasal openings were dremmeled out and a buckeye septum was installed and blended with Apoxie-Sculp. The completed nose was pre-painted with Lifetone Natural Flesh then reinstalled using hot glue.

                  The look that I was going for in the mouth was that of a completely relaxed deer. His front lip and left side lip hanging out with his tongue visible over his front teeth (check out your dog when it's sleeping and you'll know what I mean).

                  The lips, tongue, and palette were cast using RTV rubber with ultra fast catalyst and made from Fantasticast. The teeth were from the Maine buck whose cape I was using. All parts were fir to the form and all papelli were hand rolled and installed one at a time. All mouth parts were painted before mounting, using Lifetone paints.

                  Now that eyes, ears, nose and mouth were ready, another problem arose. How was I going to work on the left eye, nostril and left side lip when they would only be three inches from the shoulder. The solution was to cut off the head behind the eye orbits and make a socket from a 2x4 to allow me to mount the head on day one and then reattach on day two with bondo.

                  Before mount, the hide was washed in Tail and Mane shampoo, then rinsed until the rinse water was clear. Tail and Mane Conditioner was then rubbed into the hair and the hide was tumbled in hardwood sawdust (this really softens the hairs).

                  The first day of mounting "sleepy", the ears were done using Lock-Tite for glue and watched and adjusted until set. Next the eyes were sculpted with Apoxie-Sculp and allowed to dry approximately 1 1/2 hour before applying the hide, using Buckeye Supreme for hide paste. This was necessary when doing a closed eye because I needed to lift the lid I had sculpted and tuck the upper and lower inner eye skin, then press it back down until the lids touched. Apoxie-Sculp gave me the flexibility that clay wouldn't.

                  The lip line was glued using Apoxie-Sculp blended to the texture of "all natural peanut butter ( you know, really slimy). This area was slowly worked for approximately 2 hours, squeezing excess out and using it to help blend that cast lips. This would leave very minimal blending to be done once the head was dry. The mounted head and remainder of the hide were then put in a plastic bag and placed in a refrigerator overnight.

                  On day 2 the head was attached using bondo, the mounted ears were set into their sockets, and the dorsal incision closed six inches down from the ears to hold things together while all adjustments to the hide were made. The antlers were then attached  and the Y incision was closed using the invisible stitch with repair thread and a 1" needle. The back of the mount was completed  by cutting a 1' wide slot the length of the back and then tucking in the extra hide. To me, this gave the mount a more finished and natural look. The last thing to sew was the front legs which was done with a 1" needle and repair thread. I used approximately 5 lbs of critter clay to make skin wrinkles in the neck and to hide the seam ( a roll of clay was placed on either side of the seam and then worked into the seam with Buckeye Supreme while the mount dried).

                  Several hours were spent combing all hair patterns with a tick comb and looking at what I had just completed from all angles. The temptation at this point was to adjust and arrange things until more harm than good resulted, so I decided to call it a night and put a plastic bag over "sleepy" so that he wouldn't dry too quickly. During the next two weeks the mount was groomed, back brushed, and basically babysat, or as my wife would say "Are you still playing with that deer?"

                  Finish work proved to be fairly minimal. The lip line was blended using a gloss medium varnish by Liquatex. The ear canals and septum were blended using Apoxie-Sculp. The nose interior was then textured using a make-up sponge that I borrowed from my daughter( for some reason she didn't want it back). The nose pad was built up with modge-podge then painted and built up more to give it some depth and a real nice fleshy look. All painting was done using Lifetone paints. The last thing to do was install all the missing whiskers in the muzzle, lower chin and nose pad.

                  The white oak leaf was made using a 1 inch round steel for the stem and 3/8 inch for the various lobes of the leaf. These were welded together and bent until they resembled a lead. To this was welded a 1/8 inch expanded metal which was then covered with fiberglass cloth and resin. After much grinding and smoothing it was ready for painting.

                  The leaf is supported by a base in the shape of an acorn that was made by laminating plywood and smoothing with bondo. The habitat is made up of preserved fall leaves, princess pine and other organic materials common in the north east. All of the plants were preserved with Never Say Dye.

                  The first competition was the New York state convention in April. Joe Meder was the whitetail judge at that show. The giant was the highest scoring piece in the show, taking first place and best of category in the masters class, along with the people's choice and WASCO award. Stefan Savides attended the show judging birds so I had him critique my piece. He thought it was unique, but wondered why I had chosen to put the deer on top of a "school bus" (the leaf was painted a bright yellow at the time". After his comments I figured there were two things I could do: 1. repaint the leaf or 2. install taillights and retractable stop sign and start transporting kids to school on it.

                  The final tune of for the national was the Connecticut Association of Taxidermists Show. Cary Cochron was judging and I wasn't about to miss out on having one of the best critique my piece. The mount took a first place blue ribbon and best of category in the division of excellence and also the Brushac award for best of show whitetail and the WASCO award.

                  Nationals was nothing short of amazing for me. Once again my mount had won. This time the North American Champion, the Van Dyke Award for most original and creative presentation, and best of all the Joseph Brushac Memorial Award. Oh yeah, they also drew my name for the $10,000 prize.

                  Thanks to Cary Cochron, Joe Meder, John Matthews and Stefan Savides for their critiques which helped me immensely. To Mike Adams, a thank you doesn't seem anywhere near enough. You're the best!

                  The "Sleeping Giant" is dedicated to my wife Valarie, and my two children, Rebecca and Colin. Only with their support could I have achieved the things that I have.