How many of you DON'T mount all your trophies?

[Hornedfrogbbq]

I know folka go on cull hunts amd i know some animals are not exportable. I have a good friend that is about to age out of going on safari, his walet and legs can't take it any more. He has gone on dozens of safari and NOT mounted his trophies. He gets his pics and then donatws the trophy. I assume someone mounta thwm and sells them? I am wondering how many of you no longer mount your quarry. It coat be coat reateicrions or more likely space restrictions.

 

[Russ16]

For North American game for me mounting is the exception. I have a bunch of antler sets including some pretty good ones.

Doing my first Africa trio next year and plan only euro mounts.

I’m much more interested in using the hides to make usable items. I’ve done that with a few deer and am hoping to do so with my buffalo.

 

[Dinsdale]

Occasionally some of the capes get used for replacements, theres no market for left behind trophies to be made into mounts. Flat skins go to tanneries in general.

I havent mounted anything last 4 trips. Although I appreciate what I did mount prior; they hold no value to anyone else, and I’d rather the costs be rolled into more experiences.

 

[Andrew62]

I’m to the age I’ve stopped getting animals mounted, in fact, just a couple of months ago I had 25 mounts and 10 guns sold at auction. I still have 60+ mounts that I’m keeping, wish I had done many more euro mounts when I was younger.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

I stopped mounting my trophies after I bagged my first Cape buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, lion & leopard. I only mounted my first hunts from each of these species. I would love to do a rhinoceros head mount though, if I ever manage to hunt one and export my trophy home.

 

[Hunt anything]

I’m much more selective on what I mount now, first couple of safaris I mounted all but a couple and had them as euros.

 

[Green Chile]

There are many that I have not mounted. I will probably do more euros of buffalo, red stag, etc. I've left bear hides behind but always take the skull.

 

[MacJenkins]

11 trips to Africa and I have mounted 3 trophies. Just not that into it.

 

[Green Chile]

11 trips to Africa and I have mounted 3 trophies. Just not that into it.

What were the 3 you mounted?

 

[Odinsraven]

One Euro mount of a Warthog - one of a springbok with gentic deformatiy - a couple of ostrich skins for my daughters to make mini skirts - some skulls for a local school - and that is about that ! Never much been into trophies and live in Iceland (small houses) so nowhere really to put them !

My most recent trip have a Mountain Zebra skin and skull coming - but that was a bit special - have culled / hunted 100's of plainsgame in South Africa over the years - just never appealed to me !

 

[Betterinthebush]

None of my North American game (deer, caribou, moose) except my mountain lion and bobber. I will have a mirror opposite done on my first leopard and same with a caracal. I am having my good kudu, excellent waterbuck, and blue wildebeest mounted, but, that’s kind of more my wife’s doing than mine. She’s the artist and is directing the taxidermy order at Dakota Taxidermy.

 

[skydiver386]

I stopped mounting my trophies after I bagged my first Cape buffalo, hippopotamus, elephant, lion & leopard. I only mounted my first hunts from each of these species. I would love to do a rhinoceros head mount though, if I ever manage to hunt one and export my trophy home.

I'm similar in my thought process.

If it's something I'll hunt annually, or multiple times, only the first, or an exceptional trophy goes to the Taxidermist.

Because I'm able to hunt Whitetail deer every year, and the limit in certain zones has been as many as 8, it would take an absolutely huge Buck for me to want to have it on the wall.

The Tiny Ten are an exception because they are easy to find room for.

 

[Hornedfrogbbq]

Occasionally some of the capes get used for replacements, theres no market for left behind trophies to be made into mounts. Flat skins go to tanneries in general.

I havent mounted anything last 4 trips. Although I appreciate what I did mount prior; they hold no value to anyone else, and I’d rather the costs be rolled into more experiences.

So what does become of the buffalo horns and skull or the kudu if the hunter decides not to take them or use them? I assumed (you know where that gets you) that someone could profit from the left behind trophies?

 

[Green Chile]

I have filled out paperwork to transfer ownership of hides/horns to the taxidermist so they could use a cape or whatever to fix another client's animal. I transferred a full lioness to the lodge so they could have a full mount lion. It wasn't exportable for me. Nothing really goes to waste. I know sometimes the staff converts horns into lamps, etc for furnishing the lodges and cabins.

 

[WAB]

Mostly euros. We only have 5 shoulder mounts of African game, and honestly, that’s probably two more than I would do if I had it to do over.

 

[kpoynter]

I ran out of space long ago….
I can’t even really stack the horns or euro mounts any more
Now shipping from Foreign lands has gotten absolutely crazy in comparison
I have a stack of like 15 Kudu and lots of skulls like Eland, Gemsbuck, wildebeest, impala (who knows how many Whitetail etc)
This Shi#@ adds up and stacks up…. I’ve just started leaving it all in Africa and I have Pictures and Memories
Anyone that has done more than a couple of safaris has to be very selective
Next year is Masailand …I’ll have to take some things down and out some of the specialty critters up (somewhere lol)

 

[MacJenkins]

What were the 3 you mounted?

Two Buff and a Grants Gazelle.

 

[DLSJR]

I used to mount most of what I shot, but don’t anymore. Now it’s just a special animal here and there. The rest are kept as skulls and horns, mostly not even euro mounted. When I hunted Cameroon, I shot 5 animals but the only one I’m mounting is the Lord Derby Eland. My last Tanzania hunt the only thing I’m mounting is the leopard, the others will just be skulls on the floor. My last hunt was in Zimbabwe and I only shot a non-trophy, non-export buffalo so the only thing I brought home was photos. I think there will be more of these hunts in my future.

 

[ftrovato]

Honestly, I never mounted, elk, caribou, deer, antelope, pigs, birds or fish before what I'm having done from my first safari in 2024.

Pictures have always been enough for me. And my wife uses the antlers as decorations around the house and in the Christmas tree. The dogs have always enjoyed to chew on the scrub antlers too.

But everything from Mozambique in 2024 is being done as European mounts.

 

[Rifleman97]

I’ve never mounted anything in my life, and I never plan to. It’s always been tacky to me, regardless of the “impressiveness” of the animal. I’ve literally given away the antlers from a 12 point (likely high scoring) buck because I just could not care less about them, and the person I gave them to used them to make a chandelier type thing for her husband’s cabin, along with some antlers they already had.

The only antlers in my whole life I’ve kept have been from my 17pt buck, and I still can’t bring myself to even hang them because I find that sort of thing just really ugly from an interior design perspective.

I plan on hunting plains game (my main ones I want to hunt are giraffe, eland, kudu, zebra, and some african game birds) in the next 5 years and I intend to bring 0 trophies home, the only thing I want is some tanned skins to make some things out of.

If I ever get the budget to go buffalo or elephant hunting, I will probably not mount or bring those home either. Just want the leather to make stuff out of and that’s it.