How much do trophies shrink?

Looks perfect!
 
Yes nice repair job!!!
 
Thanks guys. I didn't mean to pirate the thread though :)
 
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
Hello Gerrit,

Horns may shrink up to 5% so the shrinkage in this case is very odd.

In the case of Rhino, they can shrink up to 20%.

Regards
 
Hello Gerrit,

Horns may shrink up to 5% so the shrinkage in this case is very odd.

In the case of Rhino, they can shrink up to 20%.

Regards
5% seems right for my kudu.
My PH said it was little over 50" and now it measures 48".
Almost exactly 5%.
My taxidermist said the horns would shrink but not how much.
I shot a very nice roebuck some years ago that I thought was
medal.I have a some just under medal before and this one was
much bigger,but when it dried for 5 month it was smaller than
the old ones.:(
 
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.

View attachment 33886 View attachment 33887

Very impressive repair job!

Skull or euro mounts are one area where taxidermists the world over seem to really screw up on though. I've heard multiple stories of how bad some skulls that come out of Africa are- skulls that where boiled to the point that they are brittle, flaky, and falling apart or skulls that where bleached with chlorine bleach instead of hydrogen peroxide and as a result are disintegrating. And a greasy skull from Africa is almost a given. Many of these same issues face a lot of skull mounts done by north American taxidermists to.

But the most surprising thing is that skull cleaning is such an easy and cheap process. It doesn't require any specialized, costly or hard to get equipment. I mean maceration is basically putting a skull in a bucket of water and letting the flesh rot off. With beetles the meat just needs to be dried and put in the bug tank. Both of these methods are also the best ones to use- minimum shrinkage and risk of damage. Its advisable that they be prepped to cut down on smell but its not mandatory. Something else basically does all the work for you. With degreasing-the skull is just left in a degreaser and change the fluid as necessary- for example if degreasing with dishwashing detergent and water just change the water when its cloudy. Whitening or bleaching involves just letting the skull soak in hydrogen peroxide for about 12-24 hours (usually just overnight). I'm really shocked as to how so many "professionals" manage to screw it up....

On the subject of shrinkage though if you want to absolutely minimize shrinkage on say a predator skull (where trophy score is based on the length and width added together) its best to get them bug cleaned and then measured before degreasing is done. This may let you keep an extra 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch. But this is only relevant if the skull in question is right on the border of making book or not or is a world record.
 

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