I saw a picture of a very elegent trophy room in my SCI mag and it had a very nice looking bull elephant head on the wall. Has anyone had something like this done? Is it the actual skin from the elephant or is it a reproduction? Has anyone seen one of these up close, do they look any good? I've never seen an actual elephant mount, only the tusks on a pedestal, but if they do reproductions, might be an interesting way to have a cow elephant done.

Sevens

I have had more than one discussion with the wife on where an elephant shoulder mount would fit. Probably why I have not taken an elephant yet. They are big! I have seen quite a few mounted heads, and to look right it really needs a big wall. You need to keep in mind the cost related to the mount. The shipping on an elephant cape will run you well in excess of $1000, the tanning is usually in excess of $3000. Most taxidermist list mounting cost as "POR", price on request because they want to see the condition of your skin, and a bad skin can take many days of finish work. A quick look at some price lists show the job starting at about $12000, and that is probably the low side. That said, there are some fairly nice reproductions out there, I think they start at about $7000, much cheaper of course. They have them most every year at SCI in Reno. Most of the reproductions seem to be smaller than the real thing, but they too are very BIG. So, the elephant shoulder mount will remain toward the bottom of my wish list for a while. Interestingly enough, one of the best looking reproduction elephant heads I ever saw was hanging in a shop in Victoria Falls the last time I was there. Didn't have a chance to check on the cost. Just make sure you have the space. There are some very good reproduction tusks out there, and they are very difficult to tell from the real thing. I would say that a non hunter would not be able to tell the difference. Most taxidermist that do African work can put you on to some of them, and the price is quite reasonable in my opinion.

The majority of the elephant heads I have seen in trophy rooms have been fiberglass replicas. Not the same as the real thing but look great and much less expensive.

Plus, it would take a wall the likes of which only a castle would have.

Yes, not something for a standard height ceiling for sure. Not to mention a good 5 to6 feet side to side for enough space.

I saw one that was almost finished the first time I went to the taxidermist's place. WOW! I'm 5'1" and one of its ears was bigger than me. It was beautiful, but you would really have to have the right place for it.

There is one on the wall of a museum close to where I live. In fact, next Wednesday our local chapter of SCI meets there. Would you like me to take a picture of it for you? I can post it at huntingpictures.com. If so, email me so I don't forget:
gnaugle@comcast.net

My taxidermist has one to do and will be doing it in the next couple of months, I can't wait to see it. It is from Bot and has the thick tusks.

Sevens:

The Peconic Hunt Club,in Long Island,NY, has a bull elephant shoulder mount in its meeting room. (the tusks look,to my inexperienced eye like about 60 lbs) The meeting room (I hope I have the name right)has a high arched ceiling. Sheer boasting compels me to mention that I donated a Cape buffalo shoulder mount to the Club which hung opposite the elephant on the other side of the room and I was very pleased to hear from a club member that visiting children always asked more questions about nyati. (He dominated my apartment living room wall so much that he scared visitors and was better than a burglar alarm)

Sevens,

First, you cannot import any portion of a cow elephant. A cow elephant hunt, which may be the sportiest of them all right now, does not permit any portion of the animal to be imported into the USA. Your only "trophies" are the hunt and the photos.

A shoulder mount of an elephant is suitable for a hotel lobby or a very large hotel dinning room. It would take an exceptionally large home with 20 foot walls to accommodate an elephant shoulder mount. This is why most normal people have other trophies of their elephant. Ku-dude

You can go to this link, Foster's Big Horn has one, I made a trip up there just to see the trophy room. I sat at the table under the elephant, it is impressive. the tusks on the wall go with the elephant, the ones on the head are replica as the real ones are too heavy, at over 90lbs. each. Most of these trophys are very good, done over balsa wood. and the lady working there that I spoke to said that the original owner that took the game would have his taxidermist with him on safari sometimes and he made sure the skins were taken care of right.

ONe of my lottery dreams is to have a trophy room that surpasses this one. (minus the half dozen rhinos). Foster's Big Horn

I think not being able to import animals like cow elephants and cheetahs is an absurd rule as we can hunt them, but who am I to make the rules. I forgot just how large an elephant really is. I was thinking about having a replica done, but for the price it costs to have a replica made I'll go on another safari and have a picture blown up of me and the elephant. I do have 16' walls, but I'll save that space for a bull elephant. It would be counter productive to spend all that money for a replica when the elephant doesn't even have tusks, but a bull would be a different story. Sure would make for one helluva conversation piece, "You killed an elephant!"

Sevens

Dago,



That place is about an hour away from my home and I've been meaning to go there. A lot of the people around here that know me have actaully cut out newspaper articles on the place and recommended I go there. I'll have to get over there sometime, How's the food?



Sevens



P.S. The author of the article doesn't seem to have the best outlook on hunting, reffering to the animals as carcasses and saying the elphant appears to be roaring as if in mortal pain. Atleast no direct insult to hunting.