The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Hunting Trophy Room Pictures First African Trophy is completeGo | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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I went to RSA (my very first safari) back in March of this year. My dip and pack shipment arrived in July. The first trophy I chose to have completed from this shipment was the kudu. It is now complete - reference shot added:  The trophy:   I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. You can see on the flank and muzzle of this mount that this boy was fighter - lots of scarring. It was a nice assurance that I got the right mount back because I remember just how cut up this old boy was. The sad thing is that I have not even seen this mount in person yet: I'm deployed overseas right now and my taxidermist (Steve Evers of Wildlfe Creations in Omaha, NE) was cool enough to email me some shots of it hanging in his studio. I was actually debating doing my smallest mount (a beautiful, SCI Gold level steenbok) first, but since I'm not there to pick the poses and habitat in person, I opted to wait until I return to order that. Instead, I just gave the remianider of the deposit t have my gemsbok mounted. Hopefully, I'll be getting home just as it's completed.  | ||
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Reference, reference, reference. | |||
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Ah, yes - Thanks for the reminder, Scottyboy. The reference shot has been added up top. | |||
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luis i meet you one time at the show in omaha look me up osagetaxidermy.com Osage Taxidermy Hastings Ne 402 984 0855 osagetaxidermy.com | |||
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Looks great! Great moment when one finally get to hang up the trophies from a hunt! Anders Hunting and fishing DVDs from Mossing & Stubberud Media: www.jaktogfiskedvd.no ..and my blog at: http://andersmossing.blogspot.com | |||
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Very nice. . | |||
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Thanks for the compliments on the trophy. It really is killing me seeing this guy hanging up without any way to see it in person. I'm still at least a week and change away from getting back and worse, the guy who mounted it will be gone on vacation for a few more days into my return.
You were at the booth with the video of that crazy (some might say explosive) shot on the jackal, correct? The muddy dagga boy pedestal mount? Is my memory stating to go or am I at least close? | |||
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Fantastic! That came out very well. Excelelnt trophy. | |||
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Thanks, Biscuit. It will be a great memory to have this old boy hanging on the wall. One thing that I will always lament is the fact that you simply cannot preserve that beautiful, natural horn color from when the animal is still alive. Maybe I'm just ignorant of what's out there, but I've never seen a kudu trophy that kept that gorgeous, tawny brown color in the horns. They all darken up after the boil n' oiling. | |||
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Those horns are so much darker mounted, that is strange. | |||
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rhomm - Yeah, it's a pity that the color changes so dramatically. I saw several kudu mounts before I left for Africa and asked a lot of questions about taxidermy, in general. I was warned well in advance, by several folks, that there was simply no way to keep that original coloration. Looking at the horns fresh out of the dip and pack crate, it appears that something happens once they are boiled or otherwise prepped that darkens them up drastically. | |||
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The darkening occurs mostly due to fats and brain tissue mixed with the water in the cooking pot. I had a taxidermist in NZ ruin the horns of my Arapawa ram I killed there. When the shipment arrived, the horns were almost jet black and had many voids and cracks in them. I sent before and after photos, and he refunded the charges for the trophy prep. The horns of my blue and black wildebeests suffered a similar fate. This is the field photo of the ram below. As evident, the horns were quite light colored.  Tony Mandile - Author "How To Hunt Coues Deer" | |||
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Great info, Outdoor Writer. That confirmed my suspicions about the boiling process being the culprit. Is there any way to avoid the darkening or is the fact that the whole skull must be boiled mean the darkening is just inevitable? | |||
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Luis, there are ways to avoid losing color in horns but that is lost when they arrive in the States. The Fed's want all skull/horns reboiled upon arrival at a licensed facility (Taxidermist or Tannery). It's a losing battle. However, a master Taxidermist should know this and re-color horns to a natural condition. That's why it's imperitive to take good photo's of your trophies. Study them BEFORE you have your mounts done. Show the Taxidermist what color a Kudu's horns are. 95% of the Kudu I've seen mounted are still black. That is unnatural. As soon as my home is remodeled from this flood we had in May, I'll post some pics of what a Kudu should look like...and what they shouldn't look like. Cheers, David Gray Ghost Hunting Safaris http://grayghostsafaris.com Phone: 615-860-4333 Email: hunts@grayghostsafaris.com NRA Benefactor DSC Professional Member SCI Member RMEF Life Member NWTF Guardian Life Sponsor NAHC Life Member Rowland Ward - SCI Scorer Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6881000262 Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142 Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007 http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007 16 Days in Zimbabwe: Leopard, plains game, fowl and more: http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409 Natal: Rhino, Croc, Nyala, Bushbuck and more http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311 Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941 10 days in the Stormberg Mountains http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322 Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232 "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running...... "If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you." | |||
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That would be great to see - I can't wait to see what's possible given proper time and expertise. | |||
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Still looks pretty fantastic Luis! Not sure how I missed this on the other forum If you think every possible niche has been filled already, thank a wildcatter! | |||
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yep that is me Luis Osage Taxidermy Hastings Ne 402 984 0855 osagetaxidermy.com | |||
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Those kodo look real nice | |||
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Great kudu, it's good to know about the horns during the boiling process. Thanks! Brian Clark Blue Skies Hunting Adventures www.blueskieshunting.com Email at: info@blueskieshunting.com African Cape Trophy Safaris www.africancapesafaris.com Email at: brian@africancapesafaris.com 1-402-689-2024 | |||
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Perhaps methods have changed. My kudu was mounted in South Africa in 1988. I just went out to look at the mount again. The horns retain the original lustrous brown color. (Life Form taxidermy) "When you play, play hard; when you work, don't play at all." Theodore Roosevelt | |||
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Luis, Congratulations on a magnificent bull. I have to ask , did you take this bull in the Eastern Cape? Very nicely done! Marius Goosen KMG Hunting Safaris Cell, Whats App, Signal + 27 82 8205387 E-mail: info@huntsafaris.co.za Website: www.huntsafaris.co.za Skype: muis19820603 Check us out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kmghuntingsafaris Instagram: @kmg_hunting_safaris | |||
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You lucked out -- macerated vs. shoe polish / scorched. My taxi boils 'em immersed cf. the flaming bathtub approach in Africa. Had to get a brass brush after my second set and put gunstock stain over that, then Johnson Floor Wax to get my shield mount done. _______________________ | |||
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