How much do trophies shrink?

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Good day all, would just like to hear from some of the AH members that have taken Impala trophies in SA. How much shrinkage did your trophies have? A client of mine handed in a 25 2/8 inch impala and now the trophy measure just over 23.:confused:

Is that the norm?

Looking forward to your input
 
l wouldn't think so gerrit
I didn't think permanent horn or hard antler actually shrunk
 
It wouldn't surprise me, I actually went through some of my collection before putting them in storage and they had shrunk between 1-2 inches in some instances.

I know my caribou antlers have strung a lot!!!
 
Great question.

Horn should not be shrinking that much.
It is already dead.

Antler on the other hand, depending when it was measured (green), can shrink a fair bit.


Sometimes I think the shrinkage is due to "generous" measuring on the ground in the field.
Going through all the ridges vs over top.

Less than exacting methods play a major part.
Watching some fellow students at PH school struggle with measuring proved this one to me.
No intent just not practiced.
It is also why many organizations require panels of measurers. Just to make certain.

Another one is simple error on the second or subsequent measurement.
Differing methods, etc. Not that Impala should be that different.
Bases are the worst for many horned species. (You only note a Rowland score here so it is not an issue)

Having measured thousands of North American trophies of all sorts and I have seen some very minor shrinkage in any horned animals during a subsequent measurement. Never inches, Never.
The base might shrink a little.


If it was for a world record it might matter, but usually it is only a few 1/8 ths of inches on large trophies.
Caribou usually move a fair bit.

I may take the dreaded tape measure along on this trip for interests sake and measure a herd or two of trophies and follow up with a measurement when they are dry at home. I'll let you know.
 
Good day all, would just like to hear from some of the AH members that have taken Impala trophies in SA. How much shrinkage did your trophies have? A client of mine handed in a 25 2/8 inch impala and now the trophy measure just over 23.:confused:

Is that the norm?
Gerrit there are a couple of things that determine shrinkage, was the the outer sheath what we would call horn completely finished as far as growth is concerned?

Horns that are not completely solid with secondary growth will often show allot of shrink, the softish base will dry out a nd cost you inches
Solid mature horn does not shrink as it is dried out....

There is no set inches that can be expected in los on soft horn... :)

You'll just have to shaia another one brother...... :)

My best always
 
Great question.Sometimes I think the shrinkage is due to "generous" measuring on the ground in the field.
Going through all the ridges vs over top.

Thanks Brick, the thing is the 25 is what the taxidermist measured it when we booked it in.



I may take the dreaded tape measure along on this trip for interests sake and measure a herd or two of trophies and follow up with a measurement when they are dry at home. I'll let you know.

Will be intresting, let us know as soon as it happens
Best regards
 
Hi Jaco

Thanks for the insight, i think that have been the case as it wasn't such an old ram. Was not sure how much shrinkage one could expect. I knew there would be shrinkage but when i was told about the amount i thought maybe the taxidermist, made a mistake in giving him the wrong trophy.

But it make sence what was told on here! So i will give this info through to him.

Thanks again

P.S as they say never to old to learn, thats why i love this forum:rock::whoo::first:
 
I thought you may be referring to 'ground shrinkage'....that amount by which the trophy shrinks when the PH has called it a 58" kudu before the shot and when you get to it, it has shrunk to a 52"!!!! :draught: Can be quite common that! :nailbiter:
 
That one puts you in a pickle:punch:LOL
No as you have seen this reffers to actual shrinkage. This would have been a nasty one if the ground shrinkage was over two inches on an Impala going from a very good trophy to not even making RW.:banghead:
Best Regards
 
Did you check the horns on the mount to pictures of the ram when he was shot.I would think the horn shape would look the same.Would not be the first time I heard of someone getting horns mixed up and then mounted on wrong animal..Hope it works out that seems to be alot of shrinage to me.
 
........ I knew there would be shrinkage but when i was told about the amount i thought maybe the taxidermist, made a mistake in giving him the wrong trophy.

............

I did get the wrong Gemsbok sent to me. That is always a possibility. It certainly led to some shrinkage in every dimension of the trophy that was sent. You can read about the positive resolution to that debacle here on AH.
Did not think of that one.
 
I killed a 57.75 inch kudu and after 5 years the horns are same length still. We also got sent the wrong blue wildabeest it was much larger than the one we killed and had a totaly different shape.
 
I did figure, but thought I'd drop the ground shrinkage in there too! :)

I've heard of trophies being swopped out at the taxidermists too! :( One guy in the US fired the front office staff there and then for allowing us - his supplier and client - to go into the back of his shop without an escort...tough on her..she was just trying to be helpful!
 
Can anyone tell how much frech horn shrink in procent until they are dry?
For exampel a Kudu?
Our taxidermist told us they will shrink some,but not how much,
and we should be aware of that and not think we got wrong trophies.
I checked the photos and it is the right horns,even if they looks smaller
than on the photos and i our minds.
 
Peter, I can only say that I have had a Kudu that has lost no lenght since the day I shot him until now, 8 years later. I have a few other species that are the same. Did you measure the horns before they went off to the taxidermist? Another thing to consider and it still happens to me is that in that perticular moment the trophy animal is shot, everyone is very excited and pumped up, the animal always seems bigger the longer you look at it. The other thing is that photos are taken by the PH to show the trophy to iys best advantage, sometimes a little trick photogarphy makes the trophy look much larger.
It is also not so uncommon for taxidermist to mix up horns,its happend to me once, I changed my taxidermist. My best advice is always take specific photos of the horns,cape or anything else that can ID your trophy. Another species that causes some ID issues is Zebra, the skin you hand in and the one you get back often seem to be 2 different animals. I have also come across a friends trophy were some of the horn at the base was removed by the taxidermist, I cannot tell you why, maybe to make it fit better.
 
The length should not change much, definitely not noticeably with anything but a measuring tape on them. Circumference depends a lot on how much they get boiled. A macerated (rotted) and cleaned set that is then bondoed back onto the core right away will show negligible shrinkage. One that has the hell boiled out of it first can shrink significantly, hell is apparently what makes up a large percentage of the circumference so you need it in there lol. The base circumference will be the most affected with the higher circumferences being affected much less.

As an example my Rocky Mountain Bighorn that was macerated shrunk only 1/8" on the base and nothing on the other quarters or the length, My Marco Polo which was boiled not once but twice then allowed to dry off the core for 5 months lost 1 1/8", it had shrunk so badly I had to grind not only a small amount of the outer layer of the core to get it back on but actually had to grind significantly into the porous core to get them back on. This is an extreme case.

Ether way if it does not look like yours it probably isn't. The shape will not change and they will not shrink so much as to be unrecognizable.
 
Peter, I can only say that I have had a Kudu that has lost no lenght since the day I shot him until now, 8 years later. I have a few other species that are the same. Did you measure the horns before they went off to the taxidermist? Another thing to consider and it still happens to me is that in that perticular moment the trophy animal is shot, everyone is very excited and pumped up, the animal always seems bigger the longer you look at it. The other thing is that photos are taken by the PH to show the trophy to iys best advantage, sometimes a little trick photogarphy makes the trophy look much larger.
It is also not so uncommon for taxidermist to mix up horns,its happend to me once, I changed my taxidermist. My best advice is always take specific photos of the horns,cape or anything else that can ID your trophy. Another species that causes some ID issues is Zebra, the skin you hand in and the one you get back often seem to be 2 different animals. I have also come across a friends trophy were some of the horn at the base was removed by the taxidermist, I cannot tell you why, maybe to make it fit better.
Could be like you say,the horns may be cut at the base.
They looks much lighter at the base and maby they cracked when dried.
Or else my PH just estimated the lenght.
I never saw any measure tape.
They looks good at my wall, so whatever.:)
 
I have also come across a friends trophy were some of the horn at the base was removed by the taxidermist, I cannot tell you why, maybe to make it fit better.
More likely the dip/pack may have removed the bases inadvertently by boiling all the hell out of them like this guy. (this is not as uncommon as it should be. A competent taxidermist can rebuild this, as I did here, but there is a possibility some may trim to match. this would be very unprofessional though. 1st picis as received, 2nd is ready to mount. If this was to be a skull mount the skull could have been masked off to prevent epoxy from staining it.

Bushbuck before 1.jpg
Bushbuck 1.jpg
 
I think the repair job looks excellent too.
 

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