Euro mounts- Am I smoking the devils lettuce?

[mikecatt13]

And here we are two years later, with the trophies in queue at the taxidermist's shop and as I reconsider my previous thoughts. Contrary to my pre-hunt post, I probably won't have any euro mounts done from this trip. Unless I do something with the warthog skull, but then I would need to add some fake tusks, as the real ones will be on the warthog mount.

I am now planning to have the Gemsbok mounted on a shield similar to what PARA45 has done. I've used this particular taxidermist several times over the past ten years or so, and he always does a good job, but most of his workload consists of simple shoulder mounts or euros. He's never seen the shield mount and has no idea where to obtain one. Fortunately, a friend-of-a-friend is an accomplished woodworker who enjoys challenging projects. We've already sketched out some designs and will soon make a mock-up prior to cutting the actual shield. What we need now are some dimensions. For PARA45 and others who have these shield mounts, would you be so kind as to provide me with the height of the shield and the width at its widest point? Also, rough size of the Africa-outline base. Then we can play with the mock-up and determine the appropriate angle to balance the mount(s). Our current plan is to build-in two hard-points in order to allow for potential attachment of a second mount at some later date.

As mentioned in my hunt report, the Kudu was an old battle-scarred survivor with a split ear and has earned a pedestal mount. We're working on a crate pedestal (designed to look like something that came off the cargo ship) built out of wood salvaged from an old barn and loading chute.

Funny how plans change once the animal is in the salt!

And that's why its often worth, IMO, to have them skinned, salted and shipped. Skinning and salting costs nothing, the shipping is marginal because the horns are usually the large part. If you dont decide to use them, either the taxidermist can or pitch them. But once they're left in Africa, theres no going back

 

[Mtn_Infantry]

I've got a bunch of mounts at the taxidermist and have a bunch of Euros. Growing up, we never mounted anything and I don't think I did a Euro until I was in college. We'd just cut the antlers off and maybe do a skull cap mount. If someone told me I needed to mount something I'd have held out my hand and said "Ok write me a check for the taxidermy and the hunt but if I'm paying I'm doing what I want and like".

As for your mounts, do what you like. Depending upon how close you are with your taxidermist, you can always do a Euro then when the cape is tanned bring it back to him to mount.