I do taxidermy for my day job, so here's a suggestion:

If you do one of these again, use some felt and super-glue to fit the clip on the leatherside/middle of the tail. Then sew the leather together, one side to the other to the tip. I know skins/tails look like they won't be as full if you reclose the skin like it was in life, but trust me, it'll work and look pretty nice. You might also try putting an inside 'skeleton' of a wire and some cotton wrapped around it, to give the tail some thickness/posability.

Thank you very much for the advise. I am curious if you have any advise on stitching so the fur doesn't stick out of funny angles like it does on the back. I did go through afterwards and pull the fur out from under the stitching but I am still not thrilled with the back. (I am also a bit of a novice with deer hide, I normally work with coyote for masks and such)

If you can wait until I get home tonight, I can draw a diagram for you. It's called a 'baseball stitch' and if you do from the correct side the seam is hidden perfectly. :3 Deer hide can be tough to sew because it's so thick, I usually use a 3 sided needle for it(It looks like a triangle from the end).

Thank you. I use a scriber/jeweler's Awl/(I think it has another name) to make a hole and then thread with either a kneedle and thread or wire (wire more often than not, its stronger).

I'm probably gonna wear it down. I love the top! The underside just looks a bit off. . . maybe it'll be different when I see it in person?

Will have to tweak the belt mount a bit then. Thought you were going to wear it up but with the back looking like it does, I would wear it down too. I will take another crack at cleaning up the back tomorrow. Deer fur can be amazingly uncooperative but I will keep working on neatening up the back. And a attempt a bit of grooming too.

well. . . I'd prefer to wear it up, you're quite right there! Do whatever you feel best, hon. The reason I want to wear it up is because I work about 14 hours out of the day at cons. . . and I'm sitting most of the while. I'd like the wear it the whole time, if I can! If I have to wear it down, I'll have to take it off all the time. . . .

if you could just get the bottom to look like the top. . . I dunno what's involved, but. . . that'd be enough, honestly. The top looks great!

I will see what I can do today. I might also remove a bit of the wire stitching and go with glue instead, if I can't get it to look right the way it is. And then you can wear it up, that's how the belt piece is set up now.

I removed the wire holding the backing piece on and replaced it with some glue. It looks a lot better (less scraggily anyway). I have to let the glue dry and then groom the tail a bit before photographing it again.