What can you do with trophies?

[SFRanger7GP]

What else can be done with trophies? I am looking for suggestions, ideas and thoughts. I hope a few taxidermists and PH's will comment.

Situation: Last year the wife and I were looking around our big home and asked "why do we have all of this?" We have no children; we are not getting any younger and we really did not want to be tied down to a home any longer. So we did a big downsize, bought a condo and sold the house. Everything happened so fast we had to put a lot of stuff in a climate controlled storage. We are currently selling, donating, etc. to get rid of more stuff.

Obviously, our trophy room and high ceilings do not exist in the condo. The wife and I both have trophies we love and we are putting some in the condo while trying to avoid making making it look like a trophy storage area. We have a lot of euro mounts so we set up a trophy tree that allows several euro mounts to be displayed. We put up a couple shoulder mounts and other euro mounts. Sadly, several mounts are in storage. We are looking for ideas for now and the future on how to use our trophies.

I removed the antlers from all the whitetail and red deer euro mounts. We are going to have decorative lighting built (antler chandelier) and make cabinet handles and drawer pulls. We are thinking of converting some of our shoulder mounts to euro or "cap and horn" mounts. We are also looking at using horns for scone style lighting.

Future hunts: Here is another dilemma. What do we do with future trophies? Anything special we would like to bring back in some shape or form. Probably as a euro mount or the horns/tusks to be used in some sort of decorative form and hides for leather goods. We will also be looking more into management hunts where the hunt and experience are the trophies. What about a trophy that really deserves a special mount and display? Would a PH or Lodge be open to displaying a clients trophy in the lodge (client paying for the taxidermy, of course) with the hunter's name?

I would appreciate any ideas, thoughts and photos with ideas for current and future trophies.

Thank you...........LL

 

[JimP]

On my upcoming hunt next year I have thought about just bringing back Euros, and I have also thought about talking to my taxidermist about the capes. There are always someone looking for a good cape to repair or use for a mount.

I am also going to build a unique trophy tree to display my Euros. It may be something as simple as a old cedar log stripped of it's bark or I may build something a little bit more extravagant.

If you have a sporting goods dealer in your neck of the woods you may want to talk to them, some are always looking for heads to put onto their walls with a small plaque with the hunters name on it. On the lodge you would just need to talk to the operator and see if they would like to display some for you.

Then there is always the home design angle. Where I live the home design folks go nuts over elk, mule deer, and bears for their clients to display in their "trophy" homes and they pay a decent amount to get them. But you do need to hit them at the right time when they are looking for those kind of items.

 

[375Fox]

I do this with kudu horns

 

[mdwest]

I enjoy doing DIY projects with tanned hides... and have also recently had a set of hunting boots and a set of western boots made from by cape buff hide...

My leather skills aren’t the best... but I enjoy knowing things like a knife sheath, a rifle sling, a cartridge slide, etc came from an animal I personally took and that I actually made the item that I’ll use on a future hunt, etc...

While it’s nowhere near the workmanship of something you’d get from Murray, Trader Keith, etc.. I knocked out this cartridge holder using a small bit of my buff hide...while certainly not even “good” in terms of craftsmanship or even remotely “pretty”, it will get the job done on my July safari, I enjoyed making it, and I’ll enjoy using it 1000x more than I would enjoy anything I bought elsewhere ...

 

[Red Leg]

What else can be done with trophies? I am looking for suggestions, ideas and thoughts. I hope a few taxidermists and PH's will comment.

Situation: Last year the wife and I were looking around our big home and asked "why do we have all of this?" We have no children; we are not getting any younger and we really did not want to be tied down to a home any longer. So we did a big downsize, bought a condo and sold the house. Everything happened so fast we had to put a lot of stuff in a climate controlled storage. We are currently selling, donating, etc. to get rid of more stuff.

Obviously, our trophy room and high ceilings do not exist in the condo. The wife and I both have trophies we love and we are putting some in the condo while trying to avoid making making it look like a trophy storage area. We have a lot of euro mounts so we set up a trophy tree that allows several euro mounts to be displayed. We put up a couple shoulder mounts and other euro mounts. Sadly, several mounts are in storage. We are looking for ideas for now and the future on how to use our trophies.

I removed the antlers from all the whitetail and red deer euro mounts. We are going to have decorative lighting built (antler chandelier) and make cabinet handles and drawer pulls. We are thinking of converting some of our shoulder mounts to euro or "cap and horn" mounts. We are also looking at using horns for scone style lighting.

Future hunts: Here is another dilemma. What do we do with future trophies? Anything special we would like to bring back in some shape or form. Probably as a euro mount or the horns/tusks to be used in some sort of decorative form and hides for leather goods. We will also be looking more into management hunts where the hunt and experience are the trophies. What about a trophy that really deserves a special mount and display? Would a PH or Lodge be open to displaying a clients trophy in the lodge (client paying for the taxidermy, of course) with the hunter's name?

I would appreciate any ideas, thoughts and photos with ideas for current and future trophies.

Thank you...........LL

I'll be no help. We upsized when I retired.

However, regardless of floor and wall space, we all eventually get there. I take a lot of photography during hunts and our joint vacations. From those photos and notes, I build photo journals of each adventure using Shutterfly. Relatively few "trophies" follow me home any longer.

 

[Rubberhead]

After spending good money getting a few special ducks "mounted" and getting back something I didn't recognize I decided spend my money on quality camera gear and become a "digital taxidermist"...

Part of my planning for Africa is writing a "story board" for the photos I want to take and present. When I get back, I'm going to bind those photos into a coffee-table-sized book.

Something along the lines of...

...and, it doesn't always have to be dead stuff...

 

[Ridgewalker]

I donated a number of horns, antlers, euro mounts, and skins to a junior high biology teacher. She says every year her kids love seeing something besides pictures.

 

[Rubberhead]

One other thing I started doing with a buck I killed in 2017 was making sure to keep the shell casing and writing the date and a few words about the buck, or duck, or whatever. I'm keeping those casings and have plans for a display of some type.

 

[R.M.C.]

I'm with redleg, you gotta up size for that giraffe mount that might come in the future lol. No help from me either lol

 

[Red Leg]

I'll be no help. We upsized when I retired.

However, regardless of floor and wall space, we all eventually get there. I take a lot of photography during hunts and our joint vacations. From those photos and notes, I build photo journals of each adventure using Shutterfly. Relatively few "trophies" follow me home any longer.

 

[SFRanger7GP]

We have been doing books of all safaris using Shutterfly

 

[Nyati]

I´ve only done euro-mounts for reasons of space. But the problem is still there, so I only keep the best ones and my grandson gets a trophy now and then

 

[Rubberhead]

@Red Leg - "They" say great minds think alike - apparently, it’s true for minds like ours too…

 

[WAB]

We have been doing books of all safaris using Shutterfly

We do the same. We’ve been using mixbook, same idea from what I can see.

 

[Arctic97]

I have had taxidermy done and left there for my friends' lodge to enjoy the next time I visit. First it is way inexpensive to have done, and then not having to pay for crating, shipping, customs brokerage and shipping again, it becomes a pleasure to do. I also have always done the cartridge case trophies as Rubberhead said above for my kids and friends. They all enjoy having and displaying them at home. Another fun trophy I like to do is to get the skinners to give me the nut sack without my hunt partners knowing about it. Then I get some salt from them and find a Coke, or a beer can, and over the course of the week or two of the hunt I dry out what becomes a cool little dice cup trophy for them. Fun stuff to do....

 

[VertigoBE]

some great ideas here

 

[Chago]

View attachment 403357

This is a brilliant idea. I had one made for my wife on mother's Day. On Shutterfly. It's a free website you go on and upload pictures. I did pictures from our dating days, wedding, then of the kids etc. And you pay only for what you print. They make blankets, cups, shirts and these really nice albums. She loved it. You boys can thank me later. But I was planning on making these for my trips moving forward. When on a hunting trip I'm taking pictures of every mountain top, every valley. I love looking at them. So I would suggest every hunt take a ton of pictures and make albums. They can sit on the coffee table. And that's apparently in style today. My wife has a bunch of books on our table right now. I have no idea who from or what they are about. All I know is they were selected for there color to match the decor lol

 

[Buffalo1]

Consider donating to a museum with offers a tax deduction. I know this is not in the "Biden Spirit" of paying taxes is just being a good American, but it is taxable donation.

It's a win-win deal as people get to enjoy seeing animals and fish and you get a tax deduction.

 

[Philip Glass]

You are now in an envious position. Now you can go enjoy the hunt and forget about all the costs of shipping and taxidermy!
Me, I’m still building a trophy room/collection and it costs a lot!

 

[wlambert]

I'm no help, built a trophy room that doubles as a rec room/extra space to hang out. I enjoy having the mounts available - I get to visit Africa every day this way.