My "budget" yeah I know, is coming together for a plains game hunt in '05. I seek your sage advise. Being an optimist, I will have about 9-10 animals coming back to the states "someday"! Assume I have limited "wall space", "floor space" and wife has imposed a budget! Of the below listed animals which would you consider for "European mounts", full-bodied mounts, shoulder mounts, or other. Also assume that each is a "representative" specimen. Eland, Nyala, Sable, Tsessebe, Kudu, Zebra (rug), Bushbuck, Waterbuck, Impala? My "WAG" is a budget of less than $6,000-$7,000 for this piece of my puzzle? I appreciate your insight and experience.

muygrande

imho, this is not sage advice.

Do the eland as a euro the shoulder is really too big unless you have a huge room. Nyala look really cool as a full mount but thats half your budget right there so a shoulder. Sable as a pedestal mount, tessebe as a euro. Kudu shoulder looks awesome, zebra rug of course, bushbuck euro unless it's huge, waterbuck shoulder unless he loses a lot of hair in tanning then euro. impala euro because you are already over budget, but a great impala shoulder looks really good.

The cost of taxidermy is easy to figure. Write down exactly what you think it will cost. Write down how long you think it will take the taxidermist to finish it.

Take the cost you figure X 2
Take the time you figure it will take X 3

That will be approximately right!

Jeff

Bwanajcj, Fredj338 and Jeff, I am already way ahead of the game thanks to your time and knowledge. Oh, Jeff is that some algebraic equation or just experience speaking? B and F both prefer the Nyala to be full bodied, I like that. My guess is that if I do the Eland, Tsessebe and Bushbuck in European and have them done in Africa my budget should still work? This is great information and worth every penny I am spending - this is a great educational tool thanks to the many experiences that you all share so freely - thanks.

If you go shoulder mounts for everything, about $5000. The Zebra makes a great pedestal mount & the backskin can be a good size rug. The only one I would concider for full mount is a Nyala, so many colors & textures, they look great full mounted. Cost for a full Nyala, say $2200. Don't forget to budget $1200-1800 for dip & ship to the US. If you do Euro mounts, have them done over there, much cheaper. Good luck in 05.