Buffalo mounts - ideas and pics

As i've posted before, i'm about to book a Cape Buffalo hunt. What is the best way to display a mount?

Shoulder Mount?

Pedestal?

Euro skull Mount?

How much is a rough guess on the cost of a shoulder mount buffalo?

Any suggestions?

Brush Country in Houston is mounting mine. One is a shoulder mount, the other a skull mount, the cost are $1600 and $800 respectively.

When making your final decision on the mount, let the taxidermist know how high you plan on placing the trophy. I have 18' ceilings in the room I am placing the shoulder mounted buff. If it is looking up slightly all I would see is neck.

Good luck on your trip.

Tom, where will you be hunting your buff? Don't worry about the mount just yet, once you have the bull down, the hunt and sight of it will give you a great idea as to how best to mount it... but very good point raised by Mike - you want to consider angles, height and position before you give the taxidermist a go-ahead. Good luck and looking forward to seeing photos when you return. Cheers,

You can pick out a pose on what ever you have space for. If you do a wall shoulder mount and the buff will be place high on the wall, do a left, right or str, and have it on a full sneak so you can see the bosses, low on the wall you can do a semi-sneak. The pedestal is the only way to go if you want to show off the bosses and all the detail the buffs have but most do not have the floor space.. Skull mounts are good too but not detail on them .. Good luck and happy hunting....:dance:

Tom, I'm using Dan Galetti Taxidermy here in KC for my plains game. He does a very, very nice job. Also done a lot of African animals and full body mounts at that. I saw a full body eland that he did and it turned out wonderful.

Oh, according to his current price list, he's getting $1,250 for a shoulder mount on buff.

Oak22, can you post some picrures of cape buffalo mounts that you have done, I sure would be interested in seeing what you are saying... it's hard for me to imagine. Plus how much floor space does a pedestal mount take up? I saw an absolutely amazing pedestal mount a few years back that was a real show stopper... maybe someday:daydreaming:

I will put some up on my site if I can find the right card - I have a guy that dose that for me but I have a pedestal to do soon that is part of an order taken in Zim last year so I will take a pic of it hopefully before I crate it up and put it up on my site---it's been awhile since I uploaded new pic's on that-not enough time in a day. For now just go to google images and type it in.. Size of them can be about 46'' x 42''x the normal height of 45'' at the nose, but you can go bigger or smaller and it can be build out of anything you want and the same for the habitat...Have fun. :happywave:

Shallom - I'll be hunting Charisa in Zim. The hunt will be in late August/early september. I can't wait!!

Heeler - Do you have Dan's website? I'll give you a ring and talk about him.

Tom;

Lots of good info posted so far on this thread. One thing I'd add is that planning the pose or more accurately "considering all your options" before your hunt is very important. Once an animal is on the ground you need to be able to decide on the pose and the best skinning or caping options before a knife is put into service.

Many pedestal mounts require considerable additional cape length. And finishing the back of a pedestal mount with the same skin without a seam requires that it is not split down the center beyond the shoulder. Conversely if you only want a shoulder mount you can save quite a bit of money not shipping and tanning additional hide.

Display options and the type of space each requires is also very important. If you have 8' ceilings and go with an alert or head high mount the brisket will be at 4' when a decent bull's head touches the ceiling. If you go with head down you can get the overall mount higher of the floor but the nose will protrude into the room 5' or more which is problematic in a narrow room.

To some degree pedestal mounts and some other poses can incorporate additional turn to compact the overall space requirement and still show off the huge mass which is what a buffalo is all about. A 90% turn pedestal mount requires an approx. 4 x 4 x 4 space and can be put on a pedestal high enough to put a lot of that mass above head bumping height.

Pedestal mounts also bring much more of 3rd dimension to a game room and mount and can provide valuable storage space.

Shoulder Mount? $1250 - $1800.00

Pedestal? $1800.00 - $2500.00

base for pedestal ? That will depend on style and type of wood but, ball park $700.00+

Euro skull Mount? $250.00 - ?

Any suggestions? How high are your ceilings?

I would say if they are 8' then do a pedestal , 10' or higher then shoulder mount.

I'm posting a photo of a head down/sneak pose. This pose is great for high hanging mounts so your not looking at the bottom of the mount.