Gentlemen, I am trying to decide on a Black Bear mount. I recently killed a very nice Black Bear 79" long in New Brunswick. I was going to go with a rug, but am thinking about going with a full body mount. Do any of you have any pictures of bears you have mounted?
I want to keep the mouth closed and thinking of either standing with arms down in alert position or on all fours walking. Yes I know standing will take up less room, but think you will miss all the grear hair/fur on the back.
Any advice is appreciated.

Hello David.....Congratulations on your Bear. I have been hunting in New Brunswick the past three Springs, and have had all of the bears mounted. The first was made into a beautiful rug, the second a full mount with mouth closed and hands down. The one I was fortunate enough to get this spring will also be a full mount. If you PM me with your email, I will be more than happy to send you a picture of the full mount. Also, check Van Dykes web site where you will find many Black Bear forms. www.vandykestaxidermy.com Good Luck!

David,

Here's one I had done about a year ago. I made the wooden base, but my taxidermist did the landscaping. -TONY

Ain't black bear hunting great!! I only started a few years ago but I love it. I started in Saskatchewan (got a beautiful little light blonde - rug w/ head and mouth open), then to Alberta (two blacks, one very heavy boar measured 6'6" - he's a full body standing with arms lowered but not by its side, elbows bent forward w/ paws bent downward. the head w/ mouth closed, is slightly turned. the whole Idea is to give a natural appearance of the boar standing to get a better view of something. It's the best bear mount I've ever seen.) and then to B.C. I took two so so bears there. One is a 6 ft. sow with a good coat. The other I call my "mistake bear". There was a good boar with a sow in the thicket. The sow broke out into a narrow opening running full tilt at 60 yds. I snap shot and nailed her only to realize she was not the boar I was seeking. She will be a shoulder mount. The better bear will be a rug with open mouth. In my opinion, you can't go wrong with the standing, closed mouth natural pose.

Congrat's on the bear but watch out! Black bear hunting is addictive. :-)

Tony......That is an outstanding display! How big was that Bear and what did he weigh? I may have my Taxidermist look at your picture and see if he can replicate it.

quote:

Originally posted by Texas Hunter:
Congrat's on the bear but watch out! Black bear hunting is addictive. :-)

Boy is that the truth!

Personally, I prefer a rug with an open mouth.

Don't lay it over furniture or on the floor. It won't look good for long if you do. Bear fur is a Dust magnet so keep in mind it needs to be vacuumed off about once a year.

I would suggest that you talk to your taxidermist. He or she should be able to show you dozens and dozens of different mount positions that are available as stock manniquins in their supply catalogs. If the stock positions won't work, they can alter the forms for a special pose.

Also, they should work with you to see where you are going to put it in your house and make suggestions as to how to make it look its best.

If your taxidemist won't do this, I suggest you look at other taxidermists!

Good luck.

JDS

Hello;
The problem with full body mounts, other than all that dust gathering and the fact that they are comparatively expensive, is the amount of space they take. The average house just doesn't have the space available to do them justice. To fully appreciate them, you have to be able to step back and see the whole scene and imagine yourself back in the woods or wherever.
I like my trophies as rugs, easy to display, easy to clean and you don't need a crew and a moving van to get them around. As for the open mouth versus closed, I've decided I prefer mouth closed. I've seen too many botched attempts by the taxidermist to make the animal look fierce or pissed off. Nice if done right, but not too many taxidermists have the skill or the familiarity with the animal. Then again, its basically an unnatural expression for most subjects.
Grizz

Agreed with Grizz an all counts, except maybe the cleaning, I'm not regularly involved in that activity.

Generally a rug looks more impressive than a full body mount, especially if the bear isn't too big (which yours isn't). Open mouth, unnatural pose for most, and done right only by the best (I can cry at the sight of most snarling cats, very few do it right).

I generally don't like the upright poses (personal thing), but Tony's bear higher up in this thread looks nice. It's off the floor a bit, making it more impressive, nice base, etc. But then you shouldn't have to cram such a nice display into a corner, it deserves a bit of room around it. Which I wouldn't have.

That said, my bears so far haven't been big enough to even think about a full mounts, so... nice problem to have!

Frans

I have a friend who has skinned out a several bears cased and has them haning by their noses from a coat rack in his trophy room. It looks really cool.

Pete

Many thanks to those who sent me pics.
Tony really like the natural look of your mount, plus you get a good look at the bears hide/fur which is not seen from the front view of a standing mount.
I have decided to go with a rug mount, from the pics I've seen it is a great way to display the bear and show off its hide/fur.
I am in the process of turning my attatched garage into a den/trophy room. Think the bear rug will set it off.
Again many thanks.