Another thought provoking question for you all.

Recent posts on the African forums have shown many people discussing trophy mounts, and the associated costs. A few have even said, they are satisfied with photos, that the actual hunting process is the important thing. Of course, to a man, they go ahead and kill that hunted animal; so there is somewhat of a dichotomy at work.

Have any of you ever seriously considered just having blowups (24 X 36 inch or bigger) pictures made of your hunt kills and doing that in lieu of the expense of doing a trophy room?

just curious,

Rich
I am an on the ground then on to wall guy personally

Good question.
For me the actual trophies is quite important, so for me pictures isn't enough.

But as a man of limited funds, I need to consider different kind of mounts. I have some mounted and some Euro. Can't afford to have them all mounted. Often when I have them Euro mounted, I keep the skins, just in case I wan't to mount them later.

Big trophies and very special trophies get stuffed.

quote:

Have any of you ever seriously considered just having blowups (24 X 36 inch or bigger) pictures made of your hunt kills and doing that in lieu of the expense of doing a trophy room?

As long as I'm not starving or sacrificing anything for my family, I am building as large as a trophy room as I can. I appreciate the photos, especially now since my animals are in storage, but the cost of taxidermy is always something that I factor in to my hunts. Like Anders said, pictures just aren't enough for me.

Now, I would forgo building a huge trophy room and just fill every room of the house up with animals instead if it meant I got to hunt more. I have a feeling that might be a tough sell if I'm married though.

I like a mixture..... but this is a taxidermist speaking...

all points of view are equally valid. Maybe, if I'd been on a dozen hunts and had fifty animals...

Half a dozen or so mounts is just about right for me. My wife starts talking about building another new house, and I mention a trophy room, and she changes the conversation.

Rich

I feel that mounting the trophy is very important to me especially if it is an expensive hunt and there will not be many.I will not go to africa and hunt tuskless but I will hunt a big tusker instead.I try to get as much as I can from a hunt.A travel/cultural experience,eat the tasty meat,sun,walk,furniture,shoot,souvenirs/gifts etc... I bought a beautiful tablecloth on my last trip and will spread it out on the dinner table on christmas eve.I should've bought an african candle holder so I could have a candle light dinner.There are some really nice trophy rooms posted here.I got a couple of favorites.

Rich,

That sounds like a good way to keep postponing building a new house without having to fight the fight. I like it.

Charles

I keep thinking if I mounted less I could hunt more. I am also running out of space. I just haven't got there. I like skull mounts on some animals, but I want something three dimensional that I can touch on the wall.

I have not yet been able to bring myself to pay at least as much as (sometimes more) of what the animal cost to hunt, to have a trophy shoulder mounted.

I rather spend the money on hunting.

I always have a Euro mount done -- even with some pretty average animals that I have shot -- but I guess I cannot keep that up for ever either.

Perhaps one day, when I am big, I'll be able to afford to hunt more and still pay for the shoulder mounts as well.

Like someone else commented, I like the European skull mounts. The are about 1/3 the cost and they take up a lot less room.

Rich,

From our 2004 hunt to RSA, my father and I got all our trophies back and mounted. It was nice but a big bill to go along with it.

We also did a Printed Framed Picture, Double matted etc, of about 30 pictures from the trip in different sizes. Came out to be somewhere around $250. It looks really nice, and gives you memories of not just the animals too.

Another thing to do is get this from Pottery Barn.

http://www.potterybarn.com/pro...pkey=cshelves-ledges

Its the Studio Wall Easel.

We have this in our house, the nice thing is you can mix and match photos from hunts/fishing/touring, and update trips, or change photos from the trips. You actually don't need frames, as Costco will print your pictures with a Black Frame around them for $10 a piece.

If you go the Wall Easel Mount, PM me and I will give you a good idea what you need/don't need from them.

While not close yet, someday I hope to put a taxidermist's kid through college one hunt at a time.

I greatly prefer the shoulder mounts, but so far I've not taken more than one of any African species. I'm not swure I'd get 4 kudu shoulder mounts. I'll probably go with Euro mounts on duplicates in the future.

quote:

Have any of you ever seriously considered just having blowups (24 X 36 inch or bigger) pictures made of your hunt kills and doing that in lieu of the expense of doing a trophy room?

I have never found Playboy to be a satisfactory substitute for the real thing.

Just sayin' ...

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:

quote:

Have any of you ever seriously considered just having blowups (24 X 36 inch or bigger) pictures made of your hunt kills and doing that in lieu of the expense of doing a trophy room?

I have never found Playboy to be a satisfactory substitute for the real thing.

Just sayin' ...

Wendell,

So are you saying you like mountin them big "buffalo" types...Saw one of them at the bar about a week ago. You sure as hell couldn't pay me to mount that thing.....

Just between us and the fence post, many of the trophy room pics I've seen here have been, ummm, well, OTT (over the top). Sometimes, less is more, if you know what I mean. I appreciate a beautiful animal mounted on the wall but if it is so crowed you can really focus on one at a time, it loses something for me.

I really liked the pics of Hemingway's trophy room and it only had what, maybe six or so? Very elegant. To me, that is the difference between art and wal-mart.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
Recent posts on the African forums have shown many people discussing trophy mounts, and the associated costs. A few have even said, they are satisfied with photos, that the actual hunting process is the important thing. Of course, to a man, they go ahead and kill that hunted animal; so there is somewhat of a dichotomy at work.

Rich, I don't know why but this attitude makes my blood boil. This is not the first time I have heard this sentiment(if the hunting "process" is the important part, why do you have to follow through and kill the animal?), and I have heard it from hunters and non-hunters alike.

The kill is part of the process. I really don't understand how anyone, much less a hunter can fail to understand this.

Furthermore, the kill is the most import "part" of the hunt. I'm not saying the kill is more important that all other aspects of the hunt combined, but the kill is the only part of the hunt that is truly mandatory. The kill it is the ultimate goal of the hunt, and as such it is part of the entire hunt.

Even before you start planning a hunt, you "dream" about it. And the hunters I have discussed this with the dream centers on taking(killing) a big elephant, or mule deer, or buffalo, or whatever.

And when we actually set out to kill the animal we undertake a course of action that is consistent with our personal ethics. And yes, sometimes we fail to complete the process and kill the animal and still have a great hunt, but the entire hunt was dedicated towards trying to kill our quarry.

If at any point the killing the animal is not the goal, the activity ceases to be a hunt and becomes something else entirely.

quote:

If at any point the killing the animal is not the goal, the activity ceases to be a hunt and becomes something else entirely.

+1

Jason,

you make the point. I would rather make one less hunt and have my trophies mounted than a photo album.

thanks to all,

Rich

I realize my trophy area is small compared to most. It's part of my living room and part of the TV/library room and other parts of the house. I enjoy my mounted animals, my skins and my photographs. They bring back the memories of the adventure and the hunt. I've hunted all over this country and Alaska. I've hunted Mexico also. Africa next year. I've been in over the top rooms that leave me cold by just the volume alone. I've been in trophy rooms that have a few animals but were welld one and pleasing to the eye. It's all in what you want. There is no right or wrong trophy room. It's your trophy room and your hunting memories, no one elses. I've included a small photo of part of my living room trophy area, which means a great deal to me. I'm 67 years old, and it holds a lot of good memories of wonderful hunts shared by some really nice people.

A few exceptional mounts are good. Mine always end up in the garage anyway. Photos from here on out for me unless it is something really great.

Here's another idea how about doing a pro DVd and the photos cost more than just photos but still cheaper than taxidermy then you can really relive your hunt anytime of day and night and show it to whomever.

I stopped having my trophies mounted about the same time I retired a dozen years ago.

Part of it was my reduced income and the lack of wall space at home and at our cabin, but the real reason was I took up writing the memoirs of seasoned international hunters, all but two of them Weatherby Award recipients.

These guys have hunted in up to forty countries on six continents, taking just about everything that walks, crawls, flies or swims. I usually made two trips of a week or more to their homes and interviewed them in their trophy rooms.

One of my clients has three huge rooms -- one for his 70 to 80 lifesize mounts representing every type mountain game in the SCI record book, another for his complete collection of virtually every African game animal, and one for everything else.

In addition to these huge rooms life-size mounts were displayed here and there throughout his entire 36,000 square-foot, 13-bedroom home. I don't think he knows how many mounts he has, but I suspect the number is more than 300.

Spending a week to ten days at a time in homes such as his and those of other clients with similar collections ruined me as a trophy hunter.

I continue to hunt as much as my resources and health allow, but my animals don't get mounted or shipped home. Now that I don't write for newspapers and magazines, I also take very few photos.

It has taken a lifetime to get there, but heads and photos aren't needed to remind me of where I've been or what I've done.

Bill Quimby

quote:

It has taken a lifetime to get there, but heads and photos aren't needed to remind me of where I've been or what I've done.

I'm lucky enough that my lack of success got me there when I was in my 20's.

I've never been one to mount a lot of things I've hunted, and that same goes for pictures because most of my life I hunted alone in North America, and it seems if I had one at all,the camera just rides around in my pocket or back pack and is simply forgotten! Like you, however, I think it makes a lot of sense to do the picture thing, and I wish I had done just that early on!

I did save a lot of horns and antlers over the years most went on the garage wall, or on the barn. After I started hunting Alaska and Canada I bought an underwater 35MM camera because I ruined several regular cameras from rain ,or falling into rivers ruining them. I had a few deer mounted, and a couple bear hide rugs made but even those were unfortunately lost in a house fire we had a few years ago so the horns on the barn were all we had left.

Today I have just a few mounts and horn displays, a few tusk, skulls and back hides, and a few pictures in albums, and just a little video. I simply don't have room today for any more mounts, but I regret not having more pictures however it is hard to take your own picture with an underwater camera that has no timer, or port for tripod!

Now that I have good digital cameras that will blow up to make quality pictures I seldom hunt anymore at age 74, and on a retirement budget! At this point my hunting is about over as age and health, along with finances have about closed that door! I guess I could sell about 50 firearms and go on one last blowout!

I think if in fact I ever do get back to Africa, which I sincerely doubt, I will not have any mounts made or any thing shipped, but will take my wife and let her take video, and stills till the cameras break from the load to have pictures for albums to leave to my kids when I pass! If I had it to do over, I don't think I'd have any taxidermy done at all and go the picture route!

MacD37:

I also am 74, and not doing as much hunting as I would like to do. And, like you, I have more than 50 firearms I no longer need. A reduced income and increased medical problems can take their toll for us old geezers. I do want to get back to Africa one last time, but there's nothing I really want to hunt. I won't take a camera, though. I'd be content to tag along with a first-timer and share his enthusiasm.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Maybe, if I'd been on a dozen hunts and had fifty animals...

Wow, it took me 45 years of multiple hunts each year to get 50 mounts.

Pictures and photo albums are nice, but for me, nothing compares to good taxidermy.

I have a mix in my humble trophy room...some mounts from various kills and also some nicely framed pictures from other hunts (smaller pictures than what you mentioned, but framed and matted in nice frames). I like the pictures as they add some 'scenery' to the memories, but I still enjoy viewing the mounts more than just taking in the pictures. - just my .2 cents. OK, I'll shut up now.

I like the pictures with the mounts. Most of mine are traditional mounts but from now on, I will only do this with an exceptional animal or something that is exceptional because of its coloration like a nyala. Everything else gets a euro mount and a pic. For me, a mounted head doesn't invoke the feeling that I had during the hunt but put that mount with a picture of the hunt and I enjoy it much more.

Just photos has never even occurred to me. I'm nto a wealthy man by any means, but I would rather spend the extra money to put them on the wall. I've heard the argument that foregoing taxidermy (or doing Euros instead of shoulder mounts) means that taxidermy costs could be rolled into more trophy fees but for me the trophy on the wall gives me something to look at and reflect.

I like to mount one of everything that I harvest. That is easy for me to say since I haven't harvested an Ele yet IMHO Pictures are OK, but nothing like standing there looking at a mount. If I can afford a mount, I will do it.

I have a mix of shoulder mounts, horn mounts, Euro mounts, rugs and pictures in my room.

Say what you want but I love it all! I love beautiful mounts and if there is a great photo that's well done and compliments the trophy that makes it even more special. A friend who has killed lots of game and mounted nothing told me once, "it's all vanity". He may be right but I look at those trophies and they're special on that winter afternoon when it's snowing outside to be able to re-live those moments once again. Some of our trophies we all hang are very, very special and are the results of great trips where we poured our heart and soul into the planning and preparation. These trophies are the acknowledgement of a job well-done and I'll never be ashamed of them or bashful regarding hanging them on the wall.

I have a Friend who is doing the Big 5 with a crossbow , He Darted his Rino with a Crossbow instead of a Fiberglass replica he has a Large Picture of Him and the Rino in the field.