After an African safari and the outfitters bill is paid, we now have to pony up several more thousands of dollars to get out trophies shipped to us and mounted for display.

Are they really worth it? Wouldn't good photographs blown up and professionally framed be just as good as a bunch of heads hanging on a wall?

Not trying to start a debate, just wondering what others think!

To me it would all depend on how deep my pockets where and what I wanted to spend my money on. You could mount your favorites and use skull mounts for the rest. If I had the money yes it would be worth it to me.
To me the photos are ok to have along with the mount.

Unless it is a "World Record", I stopped giving taxidermists $$$ years ago. If a new species, then probably a european mount.

I think European mounts look awesome. I know here in California a lot of wild pig hunter do just that and some opt to pull the tusks and lay them flat on a nice piece of wood and display with a nice 8 x 10 picture below.

Paul C

I am at the stage now where I already have too many trophies paid for and delivered or in the works than I will ever be able to display.

A lot of the ones I have now I would, if I could go back, not have mounted. I certainly could have saved a lot of cash passing on mounts.

When we start out hunting there, we don't know how many times we can go etc., and if you are fortunate, or maniacal, you end up going quite a bit. If after each hunt, you mount, euro or shoulder, your trophies, you amass quite a few.

I mean, how many gemsbok and impala do you really have room for.

Hence, for me, I've pretty much decided, unless it is a huge kudu, or a unique animal I am not doing any more trophies.

I think a few rugs and select horns, a buff shoulder mount and maybe a cat will fill up anybody's place, so save your money.

Right now, my study id full, and I have 7 euro mounts in the garage above the tool bench, and many more on the way...watch for them on ebay soon.....

Pick the ones that you like the best. I feel it's money well spent everytime I look at my leopard. As for the others a good photo is fine

I have euro mounts for all my european deer, excpet for one, which was a geriatric roe buck. I had my first fox done lifesize, and a jay that I shot, because it is such a nice bird to look at. None of my stags I had mounted. The antlers are impressive enough.

I **obviously** had my first (and sofar only) bighorn ram mounted, but not a mediocre whitetail, not the moose and mule deer, bears just dry-tanned. My antelope is at the taxidermist for a shoulder mount right now, simply because I love the white/tan/black colours, and I know I will enjoy looking at it on a daily basis, and I LOVED the hunt.

If it is special in some sense, (and practical size-wise) I'll still have the taxidermy done, but for most things skull mounts are good enough.

But not just pictures....

Frans

This is always a personal thing. I have very few mounts, an elk, two deer, a sable and a full leopard mount. Everything else is either a tanned hide (Zebra) or European skull mount, including three buffalo that came out very nice by the way. My next trip in August will be pictures unless I shoot a 60" Kudu or 42+" Buffalo.I have two houses and if I hang anything else I'd have to remove the grandkids pictures. You know how well that would go over.

It all depends on YOU. I like to have my mounts done for my trophy room, but only if the $$ is there to do it. Euro's also add a nice touch as well.

I agree that I would rather spend the $$ on the hunt than have them on the wall.

Good Hunting!

One thing to be said for photos. If you have a good photograper in the crowd i e PH or other hunter he or she can make the trophy hugh and not distorted as some I have seen. One thing to be said for at least bringing the trophy home is my expereince in BC with my Mt Lion. Took many pictures but the lab F*CKEN ruined them glad I had the hide to do a full body mount and I am looking at it now.

I have never been a trophy hunter so have few trophies. I have 2 Zebra rugs and my last Elephant tusks. I live in a small townhouse that have ceilings that are not quite 8' and the walls are decorated with pictures and good art work that my wife was pleased with. The furniture does not leave much in the way of room for pedastal mounts if I should so desire. I am not wealthy enough nor proud enough of my hunting accompolisments to warrant a 'Trophy Room'. I just spent my money on more animals and hunts and took plenty of probably rather mediocre pictures that bring back memories to me. To me it's all about memories.

I wish I could have read this thread five years ago. I would be a lot richer today. I can't wait till my last taxidermy in process is finished. From now on it will be just photos and maybe an occassional european in case of an exceptional animal.

It's pretty much photos for me with the rare exception. I have read about too many guys that regretted spending money that could have gone to other hunts. For me, the math is quite simple...more hunts or more taxidermy but not both. My wife doesn't care for taxidermy anyway but she is a photographer so that kind of makes the decision for me.

I am by no means a man with too much cash sitting around getting old. But on my first trip to Africa I had a zebra,kudu,gemsbuck and warthog sent home. it cost me with dipping,freight,broker fees close to $2000. I am having a shoulder mount of the kudu 52" and a pedestal of the warthog 12" done, at a cost of $1350. The gemsbuck cape is salted as is the zebra hide and sitting in my chest freezer presently. To be done possibly at a later date.
This August with some good fortune I'll have a cape buffalo and am considering just bringing back the skull/horns and no cape for a Euro mount. This will be the end of my bringing animals home from Africa for mounting. It just seems there are too many people trying to get rich off of the process. Pictures in a frame will suffice hence forth for me.

It occurred to me as I was retired about 3-4 years and running out of room for trophies, that it was futile and got in the way of hunting. So I take non-trophy animals and leave all the wall hangers for you guys,
What really got my attention was my wife inquiring what she was to do with all the wildlife someday,

Dak

I think there is a happy medium here. For myself with only three trips to Africa and some 18 trophies give or take, I still plan to mount a few more. Now for a gentleman like say, Saeed with over 100 buff to his credit, I can see where the pictures or just the horns would suffice. But for the neophite, I think it's borderline criminal not to mount your trophies. jorge

This may stir things up a bit - I have hunted for meat since I was a kid but, there are certain creatures I have killed that I would not normally kill just to get some meat. Examples include bears, a hyena and a mountain lion. For those I feel like I have an obligation to have a mount done - otherwise, I should have snapped a pic and let it walk.

BTW - cougar meat is excellent!!!!!!!!!!!

They are absolutely worth it, but only if you can afford them. If I were strapped for cash and had to choose between paying for hunting trips and having trophies mounted, I would skip the trophies and go hunting.

Also, as jorge says, how many mounts of one species do you need?

And if you do a fair amount of hunting, if you mount everything, or even half of everything, you will go broke building additions to your home just to house your trophies - unless you are filthy rich, of course.

IMHO, there does come a point when too much is too much - although I'm not there yet!

I taught myself taxidermy at 12 years of age, now 40 years later I've got a trophy room with all my special stuff from Mexico to Canada and Africa of course! It's very satifying to hunt that monster bushbuck on the Sabi River and then a year later get to reconstruct him yourself. Now I'm waiting on my son's first kudu to come in so I can mount it for him. I can see the smile on his face now. It don't get much better than that!

That's an interesting point...doing your own taxidermy. However, most guys that I know who started out that way now have so much backlog for friends, clients, etc. that it has turned into something else altogether.

One of the local sporting-goods stores now has all of my mounts from the last 30 years. A leopard and a bushbuck, both now at the taxidermist, will likely get hung on my wall. Everything else at home will be photos or tusks or european style.

We have a very nice African trophy room plus many other African animals throughout our home, with more to arrive this year. We love to show people, and talk Africa, and people love to visit. It's not the same as photos, but each has to decide as to their own tastes.

I have only been on 2 safaries with a 3rd in the plans. My house is already filling up with my wife getting concerned where we will put more. There are some I will still get mounted but it will probably be just the first of whatever species of animal I hunt. I still don't get tired of looking at the trophies on my wall and I guess I never will.

Only you can answer that one. Eat the cake? Keep the cake? Can I bake another one? What about a different flavor cake? (Like that.)

Third safari coming up, and I'm glad for our few trophies AND the chance to "bake" again.

BNagel

I'll put it this way, I can think of few, if any, of my mounts that I would trade in for the cash. But I can think of many trophies that I didn't get mounted over the years that I would gladly pay for now if I had a second chance. None of us know when our last hunt may be, so when in doubt with taxidermy, "Git-r-done!".

When I was ten years old, I shot my first whitetail - a nice, very symmetrical eight point buck. We were poor but it was taken to the taxidermist. Months later, the taxidermist called my parents to let them know that one of his regular patrons wanted to buy the mount. They sold it. Sure wish I had it. I agree with GL. "when in doubt with taxidermy, "Git-r-done!".

I think the trophies are worth it, but every time I go hunting it is in the pursuit of expanding my trophy room. I was always envious (and still am) of the trophy rooms you see in books and on trophy room tours. I've always wanted a huge trophy room of my own; can't have one if you don't have any trophies.

Since Jerry has my buffalo I'm going to say that I intend to kill at least a couple of hundred more trophies and have him mount them all. (I don't want to piss him off now, or have him think I'm not a repeat customer.)

On a serious note; if he does good, he gets my sable in 2008.

The short answer to your original question is "No, it is not worth what you will spend getting your trophies mounted." Having said that, I will probably continue to get mine mounted. When I sit in my trophy room and gaze at any one of the mounts there, it all comes rushing back to me and I am there again. Photographs would probably do the same, but not in the same way.
Hi. My name is George and I'm a hunting addict. I have been hunt free for 13 days now, since the last crow hunt.

In my case it comes down a) space and b) money. Our house has a pretty good selection of antilope -shoulder and European mounts + skins- and I´m running out of space.

I´ve run out of space.

So my waterbuck will be displayed at my mothers summer house and my inlaws are getting a blue wildebeest European mount for Christmas....

As of now I´ll be concentrating on-I hope- predators and skulls and the tiny ten...

And it does get awfully expensive in the long run.

It's all about the hunt, the experience and mounting your favorites can not be substituted with photos. But only your favorites. When I am down in my game room I am able to look at a mount and relive the hunt. That makes it worth it.

cewe, are you going to do full body mounts on the tiny ten? If so you ain't seen taxidermy bills and they rival the trophy fees.

DOJ: I´ve never been that interested in full mounts, I´ll be sticking to European mounts and pics. If I ever get a chance at an ele trophy I´ll want the tusks of course but even with a buff i´d go European to save space.

And I just love skulls! Next year I´ll be getting my hyena, three baboon, a vervet monkey and a bushpig skull!

They are just soooo cooool

quote:

Are they really worth it? Wouldn't good photographs blown up and professionally framed be just as good as a bunch of heads hanging on a wall?

I spent almost as much on Taxidermy as I did the entire hunt. Next time I'll tan hides and frame photos as the Taxidermy is just too much.

That said....there's not a single mount for sale!

My trophy room is full and needs to be expanded to continue hunting...but my wife keeps saying what are we going to do with these things...it is true, sitting by the fire with a nice single malt and gazing at the mounts put you right back on the hunt!!
Sad thing today is that bringing the trophies back has become so bloody expensive...because every Tom, Dick and Harry that touches them along the way thinks that all hunters are worth millions...especially Americans...and they deserve to get rich too!! It is becoming a real game to get trophies back for anything near reasonable...I for one will be leaving most of them there from now on...and do more hunting and less mounting...nothing hurts me more than a bad mount either!!...sometines you just can't tell a taxidermist (artist) anything...they'll do it their way...no matter what...some are great, but some are just excuses for robbing you blind...what can you do...once the trophy is done??!!...and all that money is spent??!! Tough decision...a good friend has the answer, he lives at a neat airport community and he now dislays all of his trophies in the hanger...beautiful bar and a floor you can see yourself in...roll out the plane...and start the party!! Cheers...

quote:

Originally posted by dakota45056:
..... So I take non-trophy animals and leave all the wall hangers for you guys, ......

Dak

That is exactly what I do. Well mostly. In the past full year I took a single trophy; a 5 1/2" steenbuck. Most of what I have hunted were selected as females or other non-trophy animals.

This comming Friday I'm off to my first own real hunt of the season, not guiding a foreigner. Quarry? A decidedly non-trophy blesbuck male, but one with a big body!

I like a challenge in every hunt, so on Friday the challenge will be to get a big-bodied, young blesbuck with low potential for ever developing big horns within safe sure muzzleloader range! Are there some trophies to take at the venue? You bet! Some will go an easy 18 1/2", but I leave these for real trophy hunters. The big boys will be safe from me!

In good hunting.

Andrew McLaren.