Water Buffalo from Down Under pedestal mount

[Ku-winda]

Got a call from Matt Otten (Otten Brothers Taxidermy, Pipe Creek, Texas) earlier in the week, indicating he had finished my water buffalo, along with oldest son Cameron's, as well. Consequently, I stopped by yesterday to check them out and thought both turned out fantastic and wanted to share. I had told Matt I wanted people to be able to fully appreciate the size of these animals, so we did mine on a pedestal mount. He has a source in Utah for aged Utah Juniper that for all intents and purposes is as dense as ironwood and we used that for the pedestal. I asked him to get the biggest one he could find for mine and he indicated the base alone weighs somewhere in that 300-350 pound range, so won't be moving it around once I get it settled. He did Cameron's as a typical wall mount and that looks great as well. Definitely brings back fond memories looking at them! Also including pics on the hoof for a before and after look - as, you can see Cameron's bull had beautiful jet black hair, while mine was a bit older and follically challenged to boot (a bit like me). We still have three European mounts as well and I will share those when complete. Anyway, I hope our Aussie brothers approve and comments are welcome as always.

Craig's bull on the ground

Pedestal mount

Cameron's bull on the ground

Wall mount

 

[CamoManJ]

Super nice mounts on some very nice Bulls.
Congrats.
The quality of the taxidermy work really shines,

 

[BRICKBURN]

Very nice mount. I hope you have a large space to put that in.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

You need to look for another housekeeper! I'm sure you could find a couple hundred Venzuelan gals who would fight for the job right about now.

 

[Fatback]

Those are tremendous bulls. Looks like your taxidermist did top notch work. Appreciate you taking the time to share the pictures with us.

 

[Ku-winda]

Those are tremendous bulls. Looks like your taxidermist did top notch work. All record you taking the time to share the pictures with us.

Thank you @CamoManJ and @Fatback , it was an amazing experience in the NT on Aboriginal lands and the number and quality of buffalo we saw was off the charts. I will pass along your comments to Matt, as he will be pleased to hear them. He's been doing all of my work for over ten years and I can recommend him without reservation.

 

[Mekaniks]

Excellent! Thats a great mount

 

[Nyati]

Looks great, congrats !

 

[SWS1]

Superb. Wonderful looking mounts.
I'm guessing you hunted with Simon Kyle-Little?
I hunted September 2023 and had a blast.

 

[Ku-winda]

Superb. Wonderful looking mounts.
I'm guessing you hunted with Simon Kyle-Little?
I hunted September 2023 and had a blast.

Thank you very much. We did indeed with SKL - looks like we were there right there before you, first eight days in August. One hell of a place! Please do share pics.

 

[archer36]

WOW, the pedestal mount is fantastic. I was going to do a pedestal mount for my Eland but realized my room was too small for it.

 

[chashardy]

Great bulls! Congratulations. The mounts are beautiful.

 

[Green Chile]

Very nice and I particularly like the pedestal mount. I wonder if you could put that pedestal on wheels? Any idea what it weighs all told?

 

[375Fox]

Really impressive taxidermy. I’ll bet his Cape buffalo are equally impressive.

 

[Green Chile]

I had to look up Pipe Creek, TX...68 people?? Pretty little town.

 

[wesheltonj]

Craig, nice to see the finished product.

 

[AustinL]

I haven’t been in there shop but hear nothing but good things about there work and by looking at those two rightfully so.

Awesome bulls, that’s a dream trip for me

 

[Frederik]

Stunning taxidermy and love that pedestal.

 

[SWS1]

Thank you very much. We did indeed with SKL - looks like we were there right there before you, first eight days in August. One hell of a place! Please do share pics.

I really enjoyed my hunt with him and couldn’t have asked for a better first big game experience. I’m still waiting for mine to be mounted.. the skin is in the pickle at the moment.

 

[Tim Blackwell]

Very nice bulls and mounts, congrats!
I'm a taxidermist here in Australia, and those are some of the nicest buff mounts I've seen outside our shores. You've every right to be happy!

Cheers
Tim