Croc is on license for this fall and I'd love to shoot one. But, what would I do with it after I shot it?

That's all I did. Personally, I wouldn't waste my money on getting the skin tanned. I have the full croc skin down in the store room with no plan for its use. It's tanned for taxidermy (not tanned into leather).

Regards,

Terry

A full body mount with its jaws on the hindquarter of a zebra or wildebeest of course!

Scott

I think Terry's mount is the most practical. I have a 1/3 lifesize and I wouldn't do it again. A flat skin if you have room is pretty cool particularly if you get a big one. You can do a shoulder mount but I would think it would look a litte weird in most people's houses.

Mark

Absolutely, shoot one... Terry's pic is exactly what I want to do with mine..When I shoot one...Think positive...

Mike

They are fun to hunt. It can be a difficult hunt as the crocs are extremely alert. Also, shot placement is critical.

If you want to save the skull for a mount, don't shoot him in the brain (the skull tends to explode). Do a neck/spine shot (which I think is easier and just as effective in anchoring the croc).



Regards,

Terry

Slip it in right behind the smile...


Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Jriley:
A full body mount with its jaws on the hindquarter of a zebra or wildebeest of course!

I had my thoughts on a full mount but this will be great for the trophy room.

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
Do a neck/spine shot (which I think is easier and just as effective in anchoring the croc).

Terry,

Not to hijack the thread, but where is this shot made? What are the landmarks on the animal to use as refernce, so to speak? It may be obvious, but I thought I'd ask as I've never seen it any of the literature.

-Steve

Steve, at the back of the mouth is an upside down smile like line and the bullet has to go right there to sever the spine...
Hence, right behind the smile..

Mike

I think everyone should do I full body mount! And I could help you out with it!!!

All kidding aside, a Croc makes a real impressive mount, don't just do it lying there, put some life into it!

Details? drop me a line!

Steve,

A couple of inches from the end of the "smile", right where the head meets the neck.

Look for the point where the neck starts, the scales will become larger and there should be an almost natural aiming point if you follow the line of the "smile" to the point where it meets the neck.




Of course, the shot shown assumes you are on the same level as the croc. As is often the case, you may be shooting from an elevated position (the bank of the river, as was my shot - about 15 to 20 feet above the croc). In which case you have to perform a 3D visualization of the the croc's spine and shoot higher on the neck into the spine.

Multiple and immediate follow-up shots are recommended. I shot mine three times, even though the croc didn't move after the first shot (his head jerked up and then he went completely still after the first shot). If you saw the Dangerous Game croc episode on OLN a few weeks back, you will know why. A brain shot and follow-up neck shot was made, while they were congratulating each other, the croc slipped off into the water.

Regards,

Terry

Got it! Thanks Guys!

-Steve

Just the head can be taxidermied as well, similar to Terry's skull mount but with skin.

Last July I shot a croc on the Zambezi river. Despite what ANYONE tells you DO NOT shoot a croc if it is facing directly towards the water. I did just that and despite a perfect brain shot that blew his brains out and a follow up shot through the neck, it still managed to slide into the Zambezi, because of the thrashing of its tail!

To cut a long story short 4.5 hours later we managed to recover the dead croc by pure luck and hard work on part of the PH (Mitch Bunce). We found it in 20'+ of fast flowing water.

They are a great animal to hunt and I will do it again God willing.

Another interesting fact. If you have to leave your dead croc and go back to camp to get some help to get him loaded, you need to tie him up. A croc can have postmortem muscular twitches, he can actually move enough that he could disappear into the river (even though he is very dead). There are a couple stories about this in Robertson's book, The Perfect Shot.

Regards,

Terry

Not that I could ever do something like this as a mount, (or at least not at the moment) , but I would lie to see something in a mock water feature looking a bit like this




The alternative would be along the lines of it grabbing something like a wildebeast or zebra by the nose.

Would any of the taxidermists out there now if the still water pose could be replicated?

Rgds,

terry is right about the post mortum - after I shot mine we had to take it down river a bit. I shot in on an island and all we had was a 10' boat. 4 guys and the "dead" croc in the 10' boat. Then he starting twitching and snapping his jaws. Anyway we got him back & i did a lifesize scene with a bushpig. Made a really unique mount.

I saw a croc trophy in Sports Afield that had been ruged out. It was probably the coolest trophy I have ever seen. I have been dying to shoot a croc ever since.

We were cooking a snapping-turtle one time here at the house. We'd caught a big snapper live, then took it home and cut it's head off.

After we cut the head off, we set it out for a while to bleed and dry in the sun a bit.

We started cleaning it about 90 minutes after we'd cut it's head off and upon opening the turtle, it's heart was still pumping.

Reptiles are amazing how well they can keep functioning long after critical systems are removed.

Here's a wide selection, any one of the poses here ought to work.

quote:

Originally posted by DigitalDan:
Here's a wide selection, any one of the poses here ought to work.

Sent a chill up my spine.I would shoot myself in the mid air than land in that pool.-
Locksley,R.

I've got a few of ideas for you. Going along with the attacking a zebra idea, how about something like this: http://julianandsons.com/album/pages/191off238653-0003.htm
There's also this idea:
http://julianandsons.com/album/pages/t-19-22tr145.htm
I've seen one done as a full body mount walking across the floor of the trophy room. It looks good, but takes up a lot of room.
My last idea, if you've got tall ceilings, I always thought it would be cool to get one mounted in a swimming position and have it hang from the ceilings. It would look like it's swimming through the room. Hope some of these ideas help.

I saw one at SCI lat year that was incredible. Large croc was mounted with some acrylic or such looking water being thrashed out by his body, rocks and brush, two antelope jumping over (sorry, don't know what type they were) the "water" that the croc was leaping out of, one had cleared his back, he had the other by the back leg. Excellent mount, probably cost more than the safari though.

Red

Cowboy boots.

Dave

quote:

Originally posted by tommygunn5645:
I saw a croc trophy in Sports Afield that had been ruged out. It was probably the coolest trophy I have ever seen. I have been dying to shoot a croc ever since.

Anyone have a pic?

quote:

Originally posted by Sevens:
I've got a few of ideas for you. Going along with the attacking a zebra idea, how about something like this: http://julianandsons.com/album/pages/191off238653-0003.htm
There's also this idea:
http://julianandsons.com/album/pages/t-19-22tr145.htm
I've seen one done as a full body mount walking across the floor of the trophy room. It looks good, but takes up a lot of room.
My last idea, if you've got tall ceilings, I always thought it would be cool to get one mounted in a swimming position and have it hang from the ceilings. It would look like it's swimming through the room. Hope some of these ideas help.

Did you guys see the Gun Rooms on that site. Damn and I thought I was bad.

I saw one full body mound up side down on a cieling of a trophy room. It was a nice +/- 4.5 meter crock and looked very good. It saves a lot of space in the trophy room.

Eat some of the meat in camp! Just save the skull, and belly skin. The skull for the trophy room, along with the hunt picture, and use the belly skin, tanned for leather. Have them skin it from the croc's chin to the end of it's tail, on the under side. Then have Murray make you a rifle soft case!

My friend has a full body mount standing up with the jaws open and the body and tail curved about 30 degress. Looks really great and takes up a lot less space. It sits in the corner of the dinning room. One thing to remember about full body mounts is that the tails are relatively fragile as far as taxidermy goes so need to sit someplace where they wont be knocked into by kids,dogs,sweepers,etc.. I dont remember the number the taxidermist gave but it was some ridiculous number of screws in the thing.

I agree with Mac, Croc is great. I especially like it as kabobs.

Lot of great information here, thanks you guys. I'm no longer concerned about what to do, at the very least I'll eat him and have the skull and trophy photo like Terry. But, that mount and rug on the Julian Bros web site was pretty darn cool. I also appreciate the shot placement lessons.