I've got an elk shoulder mount that I had done almost fifteen years ago, and it's never been on the wall. I want it in my home-office. The screw is going to be 11' off the ground. What is the best / safest way to mount that thing? Sounds like three men and three long ladders, or three men and some good scaffolding.

I got a sheep mounted 9' off the ground by myself, but it wasn't what I would like to do more than once.

Are there any professionals that do that kind of work? Should I talk to a local taxidermist or gun shop?

You can obtain some light scaffolding to work from. A ladder will not be safe given the possible weight. Usually can rent from Home Depot/Lowe's etc.

Light duty forklift, or pallet stacker, scafolding and some help...

A few employees, and stand back....

Try your local Home Depot.

http://www.homedepot.com/webap...catalogId=10053#row3

I checked-out my Home Depot last night. They don't rent but they pointed me ten miles north and ten miles south to two stores that do. I'm going to check them out later today.

I can see that I'm going to have to invite my son and son-in-law over for a beer this weekend.

I put an eye bolt in the ceiling beam right above the spot where you want to hang the mount and then use a come-along and winch it up into place.

Here a buff I shot last fall over by Jackson hole Wyoming (I got lucky and drew a tag the 2nd year I applied)

the wife winching it into place.


sorry for the crappy cell phone photos


finally up on the wall



The mounted buff probably weighed 60 or 70 pounds. I tried to wrestle it up the ladder with my wife pulling on the rope.
The come along worked a lot better with a safety line incase something broke.

Interesting. The eye-bolt would be helpful for my elk, except I would have to scaffold-up another 7' to reach a ceiling beam.

I'm looking at renting scaffolding from Home Depot. It's all out on the job right now. The cost is $120 a week for a 15' set. (I need about 10' to get it done, but over 12' for some items my wife wants placed in the living room.)

I still haven't quite got it visualized how I wrestle the elk onto the scaffolding short of backing a gin truck through the front wall, but I'll take it a step at a time.

Scaffolding! It's the only way. Most of my stuff has bolts that are about 11'-12' off the floor. A 6' scaffold with 6" casters makes it very easy to hang even the biggest mounts. If its a big mount like a Moose, two people can easily stand on the platform and hang it.

I hung an Eland using a ladder. Dang .... I'll never try that again. Too dangerous and those big mounts are very cumbersome.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:
Scaffolding! It's the only way. Most of my stuff has bolts that are about 11'-12' off the floor. A 6' scaffold with 6" casters makes it very easy to hang even the biggest mounts. If its a big mount like a Moose, two people can easily stand on the platform and hang it.

I hung an Eland using a ladder. Dang .... I'll never try that again. Too dangerous and those big mounts are very cumbersome.

Full Croc with three ladders, 7 people, and five attempts.

Brett hasn't been back for dinner since.

Where are you in Texas? If in dfw area, I've got a guy with all the tools. He did it for my dad, but also for DSC every year at the convention.

I have a 14 foot ceiling in my TR; my moose is about 12 feet up (mounted in a sneak type mount). I hung him with my neighbor's help using two tall step ladders. Very difficult, and if the antlers were not detachable it would have been impossible. Next time I am just hiring someone to do it. I have two elk, two caribou, a kudu, and a sable mounted high as well; none were close to that moose in terms of difficulty. All but the sable have detachable antlers.

A cape buff and eland is heavy as well, but I have those mounted only about 6 1/2 feet off the floor.

Makes me really appreciate the fact that one of my cape buffalo, a kudu, and an oryx were pedestal mounts.

This is good Question , Just had a friend try by himself to rearange his room to make room for more Trophies. Why I don't know but he used a extention ladder . It slipped out from under him , Cracked 3 ribs and dislocated his shoulder , lucky enough to get to his feet and get to a neighbor to take him to the hospital.
After that he hired someone to hang the rest of the mounts. Still recovering , should take 5 - 6 months for his shoulder. His range of motion is not good , can't get the mail from the box with that hand yet.
BECARFUL AT ALL COST YOU NEVER KNOW.

DSC Member, you have a private message.

Scaffolding is the correct answer. Big mounts such as an eland are more cumbersome than heavy.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Full Croc with three ladders, 7 people, and five attempts.

There is a Polish joke in there somewhere ...

I have damn near killed myself 2 or 3 times in my own house hanging a kudu, a waterbuck (they are right next to each other about 10ft up) and a bison on my fireplace mantle (again about 9-10 ft up). I somehow mangaged to get them up there and hung solo.

Last year,in Las Vegas, I finally did fall helping a friend hang his bison 10ft or so off the deck. I fell, landed on my lower back and ass, and I cushioned the bison's landing with my head and left shoulder. Somehow, I was fine and so was the mount.

No more of that crap... scaffolding all the way now.

Scaffolding for sure. Safway Scaffolding is the easiest and most sturdy to use for someone who hasn't erected scaffolding before. Call a local Safway scaffolding location. They have over 95 locations in the US. Several in TX. Might be one close by.

Another vote for scaffolding. I damn near killed myself hanging my eland - and there were 2 of us. Moved it across the room and hung it higher by myself using scaffolding, no problem.

Job completed, at a cost. The cost was $900. I located Headhunter Trophy Care (Wade West) through Cabela's and DSC. They are out of Weatherford.

They used scaffolding on the items my wife wanted placed at the 12' level in the living area, double ladders on the elk in my office, and were able to get my cape buffalo in place from the ground, with one man on a short ladder pushing the snout to get him flat against the wall.

I would guess it was about double the cost for me to rent scaffolding from Home Depot, and rent a truck to haul it in. I'm sure it would have taken me a lot more time, with a lot more risk than using professionals. I've got no regrets. They done good.

ANYONE trying to hang a large mount HIGH is asking for BIG TROUBLE if you don't use a scaffold. It may not go the way one of mine went once in my young stupid years.... three guys three ladders one big moose.....one guy on each antler myself in the center to walk up 12", guy to my left looses footing, it slips off a rung, at the 10' puts to much weight on me in the center holding the moose neck and nose. I fall being off balance... both guys hold the moose about 1-2 more second and then it's on it's way down... I hit the floor and bounce on my back. I look up and in slow motion here comes the 58" moose shoulder mount I roll to my left and it HITS...Front brow tine drives thru my right bicep and thru my arm and into my chest cavity between my rib cage stopping a inch or so from my heart... I pass out for a few moments, next thing I know I'm getting my first ever ride in an ambulance, They sewed me up and walked out of the hospital an hour later, IT hit nothing...the tine went between the bicep and the bone and between the ribs into the cavity and pushed the right lung aside as it went it never puncturing it. Never use a LADDER to hang a mount over 6 feet high...New rules LOL

Had to hare this.

Damn Dennis, that was a close one!

I'm glad Wade was able to help. He's a good cat. Also a good one to contact for reconditioning or repairing mounts.

These can be rented almost anywhere, will fit through a standard doorway, and make it a half-hour job.

Or if you want more room.

I've also notice the mounts I have done in Africa are considerably heavier than equivalent size mounts in the US. Yes, I know there are differences like horns vs antlers, but I have Gemsbok from the US and Africa and the one from NM is considerably lighter than the 2 from RSA.

I have always just spent a few extra bucks and had my contractor do it.

I hung up a large bull elk by myself (detachable antlers thank God!).

I pulled the breakfast room table over to the spot, put a rug on it, then a 5 foot step ladder on top of the table.

Put the elk on my right shoulder and stepped onto a chair, then onto the table, then up the ladder.

The lag bolt is 10 feet off the ground.

I cannot recommend this method! Especially seeing as I did it when no one else was home. A mishap would have been really, really bad. Yes, I have learned my lesson the easy way and only share this to help keep anyone else from being as stupid as me!

Scaffolding is the only way to go if you have more than one or two large mounts. The smaller style, generically called Baker scaffolding, is reasaonabbly priced, and can be stacked up to 18' high in one section. This will get you up to everything but the very highest mount, as when standing on top you can easily reach to about 24' off the ground. two people on the scaffolding will be able to hang even the largest shoulder mount. I bought three sections a few years ago for about $400 used, and they have been a lifesaver in countless ways. A very wise investment.
Bill

I hired a taxidermist to mount my Alaskan moose. For an extra $50 he agreed to hang on high on the wall. That way if he dropped it, he would fix it.

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
Full Croc with three ladders, 7 people, and five attempts.

There is a Polish joke in there somewhere ...

In order to insure success, studs, preferably at least three in number, must be involved.

My taxidermist, Southwest Wildlife, delivers my mounts to my house and helps hang them (actually, I sort of help them) at no additional charge.

If you live the Phoenix valley, I highly recommend them.

Hanging job from hell. Scaffold and ladders leaned off the staircase with the help of 5 people got it done. If I sell the house it is staying there!

Rent a scissor lift provided it will fit in your home. You can place the mount right on the lift with you.

I agree with the lift or scaffold. I my case the stairs complicated it. Can't get a lift on stairs.

I am n the rental business. Yes u can rent some bakers scaffolding. Be sure to get outriggers if you are going more than two high to add stability. To get the
head up to where you want it rent a duct lift, put a shipping pallet on the duct lift and crank the head up to the desired level. I have one customer that will get on the duct lift and have someone crank him up to where he wants to be and he works off of that. This is not recommended.
The best idea is a small scissors liFt if u can get one n the house. Good luck

Trapper Tom, that is awesome. I can't imagine hanging that Tahr!