European mount taxidermy questions

[RichD]

Will be doing my first African hunt in June to Botswana. Due to space and size limitations, I am planning on European mounts. My questions are: What is the average time to process those mounts? Do you have any recommendations for a good local taxidermist in Botswana? Lastly - Most all of the Euro mounts I have seen do not include the lower jaw of the animals. I prefer to have the entire skull intact. A friend of mine was a taxidermy hobbyist and mounted a pronghorn for me and several deer and elk mounts for friends with the skulls intact. Is that normally done in Africa?

 

[JimP]

A euro mount will be a fairly quick turn around. But then comes the shipping and waiting, and waiting.

As for the lower jaw you need to make sure that your instructions are quite clear in that you want it included. They also include a wooden plaque that the skull will be mounted to, if you don't want that you need to tell them.

Talk to your outfitter as far as a taxidermist. I doubt that they will want to truck your unfinished skull across the country to someone else if they have one locally.

 

[Red Leg]

Will be doing my first African hunt in June to Botswana. Due to space and size limitations, I am planning on European mounts. My questions are: What is the average time to process those mounts? Do you have any recommendations for a good local taxidermist in Botswana? Lastly - Most all of the Euro mounts I have seen do not include the lower jaw of the animals. I prefer to have the entire skull intact. A friend of mine was a taxidermy hobbyist and mounted a pronghorn for me and several deer and elk mounts for friends with the skulls intact. Is that normally done in Africa?

I would note that a true Euro mount not only does not include the lower jaw, it also does not always include the upper teeth. What you describe is an "American" scull mount. Nothing at all wrong with it, but you may confuse an African taxidermist who also does "Euro" mounts for Europeans.

Euro mounts:

The two Ibex below - done by a Spanish taxidermist - do contain the upper teeth. But that is an exception.

 

[VertigoBE]

Correct, a proper European skull mount does not include the upper teeth. The line along which to cut is not arbitrary either. There are some rules about the angle.

 

[Spearhead]

@redleg

I would note that a true Euro mount not only does not include the lower jaw, it also does not always include the upper teeth. What you describe is an "American" scull mount. Nothing at all wrong with it, but you may confuse an African taxidermist who also does "Euro" mounts for Europeans.

Euro mounts:
View attachment 522748View attachment 522744
The two Ibex below - done by a Spanish taxidermist - do contain the upper teeth. But that is an exception.
View attachment 522745

@redleg that is my favorite Audubon .

 

[Hunt anything]

Just my opinion, I would just have the skulls dipped & packed shipped to my house and see what shape they are in. I’ve had some d&p skulls come back in good enough shape to go on the wall and some that would require a little more work. If they need bleaching or anything else you can take them to your local taxidermist and get exactly what you want. But I’m not a huge fan of skull mounts even though I have a few.

 

[buck wild]

Not to cause you more worry, but I'd be more concerned with the Dip and Pack out of Bots with there only being one company doing it and they rep is not exactly stellar.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Your trophies will be heading to Maun to be processed, permitted, packed and shipped. There is a defacto Monopoly in Botswana.
They do their own ground transport to RSA for onward shipping. That load moves when the truck is full and if I recall that might happen quarterly(?). You will have plenty of time to choose where to locate those trophies in your home.

BE SPECIFIC and GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING. Confirm everything. Use pictures.

Good luck on your hunt.

 

[RichD]

Thank you all for your excellent help. I did not realize the true European mounts were different from the American "skull" mounts. I will definitely have to keep that in mind and hopefully relay my proper wishes to the taxidermist. Sounds like just a dip & pack with the completely cleaned skull in Botswana and shipped to my local taxidermist in Colorado is the best option.

 

[Nyati]

Euros I had made in SA do not have the upper teeth, those I had done in Spain have them, because I requested them that way. But no lower jaw, except for baboon and hyena.

Your choice !

 

[Randy F]

Correct, a proper European skull mount does not include the upper teeth. The line along which to cut is not arbitrary either. There are some rules about the angle.

Does anyone know where to find those rules about the angle of the cut? I do like how "clean" the mount looks without the upper teeth in @Red Leg 's example.

 

[ArmyAV8tor]

RichD,
The pics below are my take on the question. I added a piece of skin from the matching animal. Top teeth are included.

 

[WAB]

Not to cause you more worry, but I'd be more concerned with the Dip and Pack out of Bots with there only being one company doing it and they rep is not exactly stellar.

I’ve used Debbie multiple times without issue. I guess it could have just been luck, but they seemed competent.

 

[VertigoBE]

Does anyone know where to find those rules about the angle of the cut? I do like how "clean" the mount looks without the upper teeth in @Red Leg 's example.

I've tried to look around on the interwebs if I can find anything about this, but could not really find anything.

This is my Scottish stag, and is cut as close as possible that I could find according to the rules of the art. It is cut more than in @Red Leg 's example of his fallow buck, where only the upper teeth were filed away. The cut goes through the back of the skull, cut's the bottom half of the eye socket, and arrives just below the upper snout part. the goal is to not have any space anymore between bone and wood plank. It is quite difficult to execute as it risks breaking off the very thin parts of bone in the nose region.

The advantage of having it cut like this, apart from the esthetics of the skull itself, is that the antlers are in their very most upright position. When hanging them on the wall they will reach for the sky.

 

[Red Leg]

I've tried to look around on the interwebs if I can find anything about this, but could not really find anything.

This is my Scottish stag, and is cut as close as possible that I could find according to the rules of the art. It is cut more than in @Red Leg 's example of his fallow buck, where only the upper teeth were filed away. The cut goes through the back of the skull, cut's the bottom half of the eye socket, and arrives just below the upper snout part. the goal is to not have any space anymore between bone and wood plank. It is quite difficult to execute as it risks breaking off the very thin parts of bone in the nose region.

The advantage of having it cut like this, apart from the esthetics of the skull itself, is that the antlers are in their very most upright position. When hanging them on the wall they will reach for the sky.

View attachment 522882

Yours is very Teutonic looking, and I do all of my deer exactly like that (the whitetail and axis in my first photo above are done that way.) The fallow deer in my post was done by an Austrian taxidermist and was mounted on a baroque plaque (looks particularly nice with Mozart playing in the background). The Ibex were done in Spain, and all I saw there were done with the upper teeth in place. If you look closely above the ibex, there is a Euro of my chamois, and it was done by the same taxidermist as did the fallow deer. It has the German style cut. As you note, there are no hard and fast rules.

Lovely stag by the way - particularly for Scotland.

 

[AB2506]

All the game I have shot in the Eastern Cape have gone to Taxidermy Africa. I have had them all cleaned and bleached. I choose which mounting equipment I will use. They are considered processed and therefore do not have to go into quarantine. The upper teeth remain. I haved used some Skull Hookers and have some other possibilities.

 

[TKessel]

I would note that a true Euro mount not only does not include the lower jaw, it also does not always include the upper teeth. What you describe is an "American" scull mount. Nothing at all wrong with it, but you may confuse an African taxidermist who also does "Euro" mounts for Europeans.

Euro mounts:
View attachment 522748View attachment 522744
The two Ibex below - done by a Spanish taxidermist - do contain the upper teeth. But that is an exception.
View attachment 522745

Tremendous fallow!

 

[Jettech]

Make sure you specify and have them write it down you want the lower Jaw. I'm going thru a issue at the moment they did not include the lower Jaw of my Giraffe like I asked for.

 

[WAB]

I've tried to look around on the interwebs if I can find anything about this, but could not really find anything.

This is my Scottish stag, and is cut as close as possible that I could find according to the rules of the art. It is cut more than in @Red Leg 's example of his fallow buck, where only the upper teeth were filed away. The cut goes through the back of the skull, cut's the bottom half of the eye socket, and arrives just below the upper snout part. the goal is to not have any space anymore between bone and wood plank. It is quite difficult to execute as it risks breaking off the very thin parts of bone in the nose region.

The advantage of having it cut like this, apart from the esthetics of the skull itself, is that the antlers are in their very most upright position. When hanging them on the wall they will reach for the sky.

View attachment 522882

This is a great looking mount! I’ve done a number of deer and elk exactly the same way.

 

[fourfive8]

A flat sawsall cut makes it much easier and quicker to mount securely to the plaque. Leaving the complete upper skull intact with teeth requires custom fitting and time with each mounting being unique.