opinions please 1 more time or??

[cwpayton]

MY Cost driven decision on trophy mounts done in Africa, amounts to 4000. shipping add 1200-1500 ?. import storage fees 1000. hey thats the better part of the cost of another hunt, In the opinion of you gentleman what should I do, hunt the african continent again or hang trophys on the wall, looking for some experienced help here. HARD DECISION but gotta make one. thanks you all.

 

[RR 314]

It sounds like you have already made the decision. . . or very close to it. I would go for hanging pictures on the wall as compared to trophies. I enjoy my taxidermy, but I enjoy the hunts much more than the taxidermy. Quality pictures evoke great memories as much as taxidermy. Well, perhaps pictures lag behind a little bit, but for what it is worth, other than perhaps another buff or three, I don't believe I will be bringing much else from Africa other than memories and perhaps tick bite fever.

 

[PARA45]

Well, I mounted everything I shot on my first safari. My second safari, I'm mounting all except the cow buffalo. I'm going next year, and I'm basically going to do Euromounts. I don't have any more room to hang shoulder mounts, and I don't want my house (living room) to look too crowded or tacky with too many dead animals on the walls. Even though my wife is my biggest fan, I want to keep her happy too.

It comes a point in life that hanging everything that we kill is not worth it. The older we get we wonder what will happen with all the mounts. @Red Leg has it right. Take great pictures, and do those photo books like they have in Shutterfly.

 

[meigsbucks]

After only two hunts, I have just about all the taxidermy I need / want. There are a couple I would like to add to add: Nyala and bushpig. After that it would be photos only.
I saw someone’s post (sorry I don’t remember who) where he had small shelves on his wall, each holding a photo of the trophy and the spent brass. A lot cheaper than taxidermy.
A coffee table book of each hunt would be great too. An added plus, you don’t have to dust them.

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

If there's zero chance to do both, then make more memories and hunt more.

If you're hunting with the same outfitter or even the same country you CAN ask them taxidermist to hold your mounts for an extra year so you can combine multiple safaris into a single D&P or finished shipment. I've got some stuff getting ready to hit the water right now that's a combination of multiple South African hunts over the last 2.5 years. Since nothing is super large the shipping, import, and storage costs remain basically the same but get spread out across more animals making the individual cost per animal less. D&P costs are under $100 per animal. This also gives you the option to spread your taxidermy out over a longer period of time, working with your taxidermist to finish certain mounts before others.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Go hunting.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

It depends. Would you accept hanging skulls on your wall? Skulls and a few backskins can be done over there and shipped relatively cheaply. A taxidermist on this side should be able to do hangers very reasonably or you could do that yourself. Provided of course the African taxidermist doesn't mess up the skulls. And yes, they can manage to screw up skulls. As me how I know!

So, what do you want for trophies? I have twenty-five African skulls hanging in my house and three more on the way. Three backskins (wildebeest and two springbuck). Plus ... let's see ... three mule deer skulls, four deer cap mounts (antlers on plaques), two elk cap mounts, and one wall mount pedestal mule deer. Yep, only one fur and glass eyes mount. And three moose cap mounts stored in the garage. Two of the African skulls are buffalo but truth of it is they are MUCH easier to display than the elk cap mounts. Moose cap or skull mounts are surprisingly space economical. So, what's your options for space? That, in my opinion, should be step one in your planning. And your wife/partner should be included in these decisions.

 

[BJH65]

I think you’ll get a lot of feedback on this and it’s been discussed a lot on this forum. I too prefer not to spend the same amount on taxidermy as the hunt itself. If it were me, I would rather go on an African hunt and bring no trophies back, just photos and video. This was something I never considered when I was younger, but as I accrued more taxidermy and less space to put them, it also factors into my decision, plus the rising costs of taxidermy and shipping.

Certainly consider European mounts to bring down the cost some and tanned skins perhaps. As a get older I value the experience more than bringing back a physical memento. I have a couple of upcoming African hunts scheduled and at most will only consider European mounts for some animals. Some have produced some excellent photo album books and excellent videos commemorating their hunt which is what I’ll do. Just my .2 cents.

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

In some book I read almost 50 years ago the successful elephant hunters would sell their ivory to pay for their next hunt. While I cannot any ivory, I apply the same logic. As @BRICKBURN stated, Go Hunting!

Take photographs and only send an exceptional trophy to the taxidermist.

 

[ActionBob]

Go hunting while you can! Go hunting until you are bed ridden and can't see the taxidermy anyway. Then look at the photo book

I should take my own advice but probably won't Taxidermy can get out of hand.... Especially when you start pricing new trophy rooms....

 

[Wyatt Smith]

The taxidermy will end up in the garbage someday. I say go hunting and take pictures.

 

[btheis13]

Have your wife get a 2nd job and then you can do both!

 

[Fatback]

I really enjoy my taxidermy and figure that cost into planning a hunt. If it was either or then I’d go hunting again. Do what you believe will bring you the most joy and contentment. I have decided that I am going with more euro mounts in the future, except the few animals that I want to get done life sized that are still on my bucket list. Mountain goat, mountian lion and African lion will all be life sized mounts if I am able to get them at some point in the future. I do have the advantage of having built my house around my taxidermy plans and allotted room for the various mounts I had at the time and the ones I have added since or that I will add in the future.

 

[grand veneur]

MY Cost driven decision on trophy mounts done in Africa, amounts to 4000. shipping add 1200-1500 ?. import storage fees 1000. hey thats the better part of the cost of another hunt, In the opinion of you gentleman what should I do, hunt the african continent again or hang trophys on the wall, looking for some experienced help here. HARD DECISION but gotta make one. thanks you all.

I experienced something similar until recently.

I hunted in Mozambique two years ago, the trophies finally arrived in Germany last week and I had to pay around 3000 USD for just shipping of raw skulls of a buffalo, an eland, a reedbuck and a bushbuck. It is enough for me. It was the last time I took African trophies with me. Sure, I already have a lot at home from times when it hardly cost anything. For me it is for this reason easy to say I don't want a trophy anymore, but if it is the first time hunting in Africa and maybe the only one, giving up a trophy is not so easy. Nevertheless, you can consider something like this because of the shipping costs. Nowadays these costs are exaggerated.

 

[dchum]

You don’t have to shoulder mount everything like it’s the Smithsonian.

I can’t imagine leaving cool stuff behind. Don’t need to pay for 1000 dollar shoulder or 250 for a euro either.

My kudu I just brought the horns back no skull. $20 bucks to clean and package.

Light fixtures for homes, knife handles, displays ect. Springbok horns make a great bottle opener and a classy magnifying glass just like we more commonly see with warthog tusks. (Have them cleaned and “sneak” pig tusk home for a freebe)


Just think out side the box. I agree not everything has to come home and budgets are real - but there are options that not only save money but can be very tasteful.

55 inch Kudu horn with a 40 dollar stand. Will make a great display

 

[grand veneur]

I can imagine what I would have had to pay additionally if there were skin included, and then the cost of the taxidermist. All in all, with these costs you can almost afford a PG hunt again or at least you can pay almost the trophy fees for the next buffalo. I will take all of this into account for the next big game hunting.

 

[grand veneur]

I often have more fun looking at an old pictures of myself with a game than the many skeletal parts that surround me. Luckily I don't have a shoulder mounts because I cannot endure that my victims are looking at me reproachfully all day long.

 

[Nyati]

Euro-mounts, you will save a lot of money and still keep your trophy.

Easier to clean and maintain too.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

The more hunts I do, the less taxidermy I plan for. The more hunts I do, the idea of having them recorded by a professional videographer becomes more appealing.

I love seeing my taxidermy. But for me it's reliving the shot, even it's my wife's or son's, that the mounts serve the purpose for. I'm not a "showy" kind of guy. It's nice to get compliments from other hunters who appreciate the mounts, but those compliments are not what I am after.

A well done video that is truly permanent and just takes up space on a memory chip is becoming that much more desirable. Of course I say that, but I'm a damn liar if I ever do take that leopard. That'll be a full body mount.

But that's a little less of a challenge to get into the house and keep the good Mrs. Phoenix Phil happy. I think @ActionBob and @Just Gina might agree....

 

[Puddle]

Thinking back (actually, way back) the exceptional trophies were shoulder mounted, and the representative trophies were skull mounts. Today, the truly exceptional trophies get mounted, and everything else is a 10x8 glossy on the wall.