Shoulder vs Euro Mount

[C.W. Richter]

I would choose kudu over eland. An eland shoulder mount is huge! And they are almost hairless which can be a challenge for taxidermist if cape is even slightly damaged. Not particularly pretty either. Go with a euro for them. Hands down. Black wildebeest make an "interesting" shoulder mount for sure. They are difficult to prepare for euro due to shape of horns. Consequently, African taxidermists frequently overcook the horns.

Edit: I see from your avatar you already have a kudu. I have three kudu skulls on the walls of my little <800 sq ft home.

But, a NICE, BIG old mature blue bull will also have quite a mop of hair on its head and a HUGE dewlap, not to mention huge-based, worn off tipped horns. Def takes up room, but they are beautiful. A collection of spiral-horned mounts (i.e. did the S. Slam in Zim/SA-eland, kudu, nyala, bushbuck) look quite good arranged together properly on the wall!

 

[meigsbucks]

I don’t have a dedicated trophy room. The boss has decreed the kitchen, dinning room and master bedroom are off limits for trophies. I have them everywhere else.
As to the question of euro versus mounts, it’s a very personal choice. Finances, space and personal aesthetics play into it.
For me, for the most part, I mount one of each and euro others. I did shoot a great eland but went euro due to space and put a photograph of it next to it. Going forward, it will be mount a few new species and coffee table books of photos of the hunts.

 

[BJH65]

Red leg has some excellent interior decorator skills. Very tasteful. Well, after moving 4 times ourselves without a moving company during the last 8 years and balancing that damn 80 lb Eland mount on my shoulder as I climbed up the ladder to hang on the wall, I kept telling myself this is it, this is the last time I’m getting too damn old for this! I wished that every shoulder mount I had was a euro mount, such a pain to move and hang and during the move, shoulder mounts always susceptible to damage. From here on out, only euro mounts and/or pictures! Also, this is it, no more moving!

 

[Altitude sickness]

Red Leg, what are your challenge coin rules for the bar ?

 

[Albert GRANT]

I have had a few shoulder/ full mounts done, and although nice to see the true representation of the animal, they take up a lot of space and you can't do anything with them. I've come to prefer skull mounts (unsawn unlike traditional euro mounts), particularly when they are not permanently attached to a plaque. This allows you take take them down and handle them anytime you want- I've found on bigger animals that actually impressed guests more than a shoulder mount because they can feel the heft of it and get a true appreciation of the size up close. My example is that people know moose are big but don't really understand how heavy even a smaller moose rack is until I take the skull off the wall and hand it to them. Love to see the look of amazement come across their face while trying to handle the weight of it. You can get far more of these in a space before running out of room than shoulder mounts, but if money was not an issue and you could have whatever size space you want, then a mix of all mounts would certainly be the best option.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Earlier in my life I would have gotten an Eland mount. Now between the space and realization that no one I give them too will have space or even want them. I’ve moved a huge wall pedestal moose to a freinds bar. Along with an elk, deer and Turkey. And other euro mounts. To fill walls in his pub.

Given elk mounts away. The rest got rotated out to my shop

Leaning more and more to no taxidermy. And or European mounts. And pics

from

 

[buffybr]

Although I do have 2 Euro mounts, I'm not a fan of them. One is a pronghorn antelope that I wasn't going to have mounted so I gave the cape to my taxidermist and he gave me back a euro. The other is my American Buffalo that I had a shoulder mount done of him, and had my taxidermist clean the skul and put fake horn sheaths on him. That's kind of an icon of the American west. Both of those euros are in my basement.

Not counting those 2 euros, I have 80 taxidermied mounts in my house. Two of them are fish, my best northern pike chasing a yellow perch (one mount), and my best male grayling, and two are birds, a ringneck pheasant (under glass) in the corner of my bar, and a male wood duck.

I have 7 full body mounts varing from a Cape Grysbok to my Musk ox, one rug, my first black bear, and the rest are shoulder mounts on the walls and on pedestals.

 

[D-Orcutt]

Although I do have 2 Euro mounts, I'm not a fan of them. One is a pronghorn antelope that I wasn't going to have mounted so I gave the cape to my taxidermist and he gave me back a euro. The other is my American Buffalo that I had a shoulder mount done of him, and had my taxidermist clean the skul and put fake horn sheaths on him. That's kind of an icon of the American west. Both of those euros are in my basement.

Not counting those 2 euros, I have 80 taxidermied mounts in my house. Two of them are fish, my best northern pike chasing a yellow perch (one mount), and my best male grayling, and two are birds, a ringneck pheasant (under glass) in the corner of my bar, and a male wood duck.

I have 7 full body mounts varing from a Cape Grysbok to my Musk ox, one rug, my first black bear, and the rest are shoulder mounts on the walls and on pedestals.

That’s wildly impressive

 

[Troubleshooter]

Everyone always suggests a euro on eland but to me that discounts the trophy significantly. I understand space is always an issue but if you are hunting an old bull the trophy really isn't the horns, it's the face mop, dewlap and dark color.

Agree 100%.
I was intrigued by the shoulder mount of a Lord Derby Eland that I saw in a sporting goods store, and a Euro would not have done justice to that magnificent old bull. But it did take up a huge amount of space which I just do not have here in my humble abode. If I am ever so fortunate as to harvest one someday, it will likely be confined to photographs.

For the other animals, I think that a mix of shoulder, pedestal, and Euro mounts can be a good choice. It depends on the animal, available space, and your budget.

 

[Reed Thoma Outdoors]

Agree 100%.
I was intrigued by the shoulder mount of a Lord Derby Eland that I saw in a sporting goods store, and a Euro would not have done justice to that magnificent old bull. But it did take up a huge amount of space which I just do not have here in my humble abode. If I am ever so fortunate as to harvest one someday, it will likely be confined to photographs.

For the other animals, I think that a mix of shoulder, pedestal, and Euro mounts can be a good choice. It depends on the animal, available space, and your budget.

Pictures are great too. I am waiting for my taxidermy to get done from my safari in July which includes an eland. Everyday I still look at the pics and am joyed to have those memories. Good pictures are just as good as taxidermy, I am just really fascinated with taxidermy and dream of building a trophy room one day.

 

[Hunt anything]

Good pictures are great but how many times do you sit down and look at photo albums or pictures on the wall? I have photo albums, 8x10 pictures on the wall and videos of some of my hunts. I may look at the albums once a month or every 6 weeks will glance at the pictures on the wall when walking through my trophy room and only watch the videos once a year or so. I will sit and study my mounts almost daily. My trophy room is where my wife and I sit and watch TV which is one reason we spend a lot of time in there though
Of course this is just me, I’m close to out of room so I will have to rethink my trophy strategy again after next year’s safari.

 

[Bigry]

I went a bit different with my wildebeest

 

[Hunt anything]

@Bigry , what are the dimensions on that piece of art? I’m hopefully going to take blue wildebeest next year and am weighing my options.

 

[Bigry]

@Bigry , what are the dimensions on that piece of art? I’m hopefully going to take blue wildebeest next year and am weighing my options.

Not sure on the exact numbers yet as it is leaving SA on friday.

 

[Hunt anything]

Who was the taxidermist?

 

[Bigry]

I used our outfitters taxidermy. Dinkwe safaris and taxidermy. I got the idea from Nabers taxidermy here in the states.

 

[Hunt anything]

I used our outfitters taxidermy. Dinkwe safaris and taxidermy. I got the idea from Nabers taxidermy here in the states.

My wife has a cousin that has hunted with them, by the pictures of the taxidermy he has shown me you made a wise decision.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Red leg has some excellent interior decorator skills. Very tasteful. Well, after moving 4 times ourselves without a moving company during the last 8 years and balancing that damn 80 lb Eland mount on my shoulder as I climbed up the ladder to hang on the wall, I kept telling myself this is it, this is the last time I’m getting too damn old for this! I wished that every shoulder mount I had was a euro mount, such a pain to move and hang and during the move, shoulder mounts always susceptible to damage. From here on out, only euro mounts and/or pictures! Also, this is it, no more moving!

Yeah, but this i know: Edgar Allen Poe was his architect/interior decorator. We read a story and then "POOF," all of a sudden we have the BEST trophy rooms....it's diluted. lol

 

[.300RUM]

My first trip, Waterbuck, Gemsbok and an Impala. Shoulder mount for Waterbuck and Gemsbok and likely sku for mount for the Impala.

 

[RLL]

Eland is a boring euro. It shows neither the size nor the regal nature of the animal. A well mounted bull will stop onlookers in their tracks to admire.
Same with a kudu. Mount one or two and then euros thereafter.
Black wildebeest and red hartebeest look great as euros but you lose the colors and character of the real animal.
Small animals like duikers and steenboks are cool skulls and their size makes them an interesting piece. They are also a fun mount-be creative and mount the first one, skulls after that.
A Vaal rhebok should at minimum be a shoulder mount done with some rocks and grass for habitat-it is far too unique for a euro!
If you are filling a castle with common game then euros are great preservation. But for unique trophies which you will have limited opportunities to obtain, do a shoulder and touch them every day and tell the stories while people marvel that your mounted Cape buffalo isn’t just another “cow skull”
No one ever looked at a buffalo skull and said-“he is looking at Me like I owe him money” good taxidermy will evoke such comments.
That said I have thousands of photographs in books and on walls that try to capture what I want to remember and share with people, it’s not the same but it is affordable and takes up almost no space, and no one is going to insist your picture books be hung in the garage!

My wife insists some be hung in the garage and I’m ok. I still get to hunt…