A month or so ago I stopped by my Taxidermist to check his progress on the pile of animals he is doing for me. He pointed to a Blesbok drying on the wall and said my Nyala was drying in the other room.

I went into his back room and was instantly sickened at the sight of my Nyala. Everything was how I wanted it mounted except the upper curves of the horns was only 3" apart. When I shot him that gap was closer to 8". I had shot this particular Nyala because he had the wider horns, and I really liked their shape.

I went home and made a desperate request on the Taxidermy Forum of the possibility and difficulty of changing the horns at this stage of completion of the mount. I got almost instant responses from several of the taxidermists there (THANK YOU GUYS VERY MUCH!). I then printed an 8x10 photo of the Nyala when I shot him, and went back to my taxidermist.

I was at his shop when my taxidermist took the skull plate off my Nyala and I helped (?) him re-set the horns to their proper width.

Anyway, I had a phone message earlier this week that my Nyala needed a home. My reaction upon seeing the completed mount was quite different than it was a couple of months ago. This time when I saw it hanging on his wall I said "Wow! That is beautiful."

My photography is not the best, but here is my Nyala in his new home in my living room.


And I found an open corner in my trophy room for the Blesbok.

On my last African hunt I recorded the widths of the various horns that I will give to my taxidermist so, hopefully, this won't happen agan.

Very nice! By the way, how wide is that mulie? Great buck.

Thanks, Seven, make me climb up on a barstool to measure him. He's just a fraction under 27".

I shot him in the early 70's when I lived in NW Colorado. He was the start of my trophy collection.

Very nice