European Mount Deer Stand

I am posting a couple of different things today, first this project of my husbands which is the most creative.  The plant where my husband works was shut down for two weeks over Thanksgiving.  That left a lot of time for a man that can't sit still for two minutes.  So what's a guy to do?  How about making a custom stand, to mount a deer a coworker got this year. 
First he found this stump in the woods that was all twisted and gnarled, and ingenious guy that he is, he figured it would make a great stand for the mule deer Phillip got this year.  So out came the chain saw and the project began.

 Here is what the stump looked like cut down and in the process of removing the bark and scraping the wood down.  He did all of this by hand with chisels. 


















Then he made an outline of the bottom of the piece, and cut a base out of some rough sawed wood that he planed.  He drilled some holes in the bottom of the log and filled it with concrete to stabilize it and then attached it to the base.  He was still unsure of what the mounting plate should look like, so we went on line and found one that was in the shape of an arrowhead.  As I said, creative guy that he is, he figured out the design, estimated the size, made a pattern and cut one out.  He even beveled the edges to give it more character.  You have to understand, he did all of this without the deer head for a reference.  Calculating the angle of the mounting plate was one of the biggest challenges.  He used a picture in one of his outdoor magazines, cut off a few inches of the top, and somehow came up with the right angle.  He stained the base and mounting plate in golden oak and finished it with some poly. 
Here it is with the deer mounted on it in it's home.  Not only Phillip liked it, but his wife and daughters did too.  The plant is going to be shut down for another week after Christmas, I wonder what he will come up with then.