MtGoat,
Great report and excellent trophies. I guess I was really lucky with all of my animals that I took earlier this year. I was using a .30-06 and all went down within 100 yards of getting shot and all went down with a single round. I think I would have been just as shocked as you were when they got up and kept on going. Yikes!
I also took my rangefinder for that very reason and it really paid off. It helped us put rounds exactly where we wanted them (except when I popped off two rounds at a jackal and one at a baboon but that is another story).
I would go with shoulders for them all...especially since this was your first African safari. I am sure you have a great taxidermist that you use so make sure he gives you a good deal so you can get them all done. You won't regret it if you do...but you will if you don't!
Sanderson,
Thanks for the compliments. Even my PH was shocked when the hartebeest got up and ran. It took 3 hits from a 338 Win Mag and one from a 375 H&H, and got up and went again! A fourth shot from the 338 finished it, but it was truly amazing. In the end, we weren't sure which shots hit where, but 4 of the shots were in the chest (I didn't notice where the fifth one hit) and both front legs were broken. Even just mechanically, I'm not sure how that could work.
As far as the mounts go, the problem that I am wrestling with is space. Before I got a wild hair at SCI in January, I had no expectation of going to Africa. (Life is full of surprises, isn't it?) I have things comfortably spaced in there. I had one spot reserved for that once-in-a-lifetime whitetail and another for something else. With that, the room was supposed to be full.
I don't want to end up with animals on top of each other. I could use the whitetail spot for the wildebeest. I think that the 2 gemsbok might work as a pedestal mount. Another option for them would be one shoulder mount (pedestal or wall) and one as a European mount. The kudu probably takes the "something else" spot, displacing a cool painting.
Having mounted my first caribou that, it turns out, is nice but not exceptional, I want to be really cautious about what I mount. When they arrive at the taxidermist, they will be scored. That will give me a better idea about how big they really are. I can mix those scores with my own assessment of how special each one is to me. It is likely that 2 - 4 of them will end up as European mounts.
I hope to go back next year. If I hunt and shoot a good buffalo, I will
really want to have a place for it - preferably a shoulder mount. Cats aren't as much of a problem. They can be done as either a rug or a full body mount (I have space for a couple of those on a high ledge in the trophy room.
These are good problems to have.
(And, I leave Friday for a trophy elk hunt.)
. I shall live vicariously through you and a few-select others.... God Bless!!! You give me hope.
