Shoulder vs European

[mbarnes2050]

Funny I just posted this question to the Sunday Q&A.

We have 10 shoulder mount whitetails right now with another on the way. I haven’t done one since I killed a 165 in 2016. Had a really cool 8 point with kickers that I should have probably done but I did a Euro instead.

I like mounts a lot I just don’t have a good spot for them right now. We should have a lake house or a farm cabin in the near future.

I have a mule deer shoulder, 29” walleye, bear and a turkey my younger son shot last spring. That maybe my favorite. It was over 30 lbs, 12.75” beard and 1-5/8 spurs. Those aren’t cheap but it’s pretty bad ass.

Beautiful gobbler!

 

[Andrew Wilson]

As much taxidermy as possible, I want my house to look like some kind of weird Victorian-era study full of curiosities. So, shoulder or even full mount everything.

 

[niacrtwi]

This is a great thread.

I shoulder mounted my first kill, almost like a right of passage. Given my age, I’m pretty sure that pre-dated the combustion engine.

Since then, I’m biased to euro mounts for space and simplicity. That said, I fall prey to great takes and awesome animals, such as the shoulder Cape Kudu on the wall, and a Greater Southern on the way, paired with a Nyala. The “slams” where you have to delineate by color also compelled me to do shoulders for Springbok, and similarly that then leads down the slippery path of unique takes, so add to the list of shoulder mounts a Golden Wilderbeast, and a Black Impala. Deer and elk and everything else from Africa has been euro. So in essence, I’m all over the fucking map, with wall space shrinking, euros and shoulders, not to mention flat skins, stacking up like cord wood. Is there an intervention service for this?

But here is the question, or scenario, to contemplate: @Tony Caggiano sets you up with a Narwal hunt, and at the moment you un-alive that bastard, your African taxidermist calls to confirm how you want to set up the Baboon you shot a few weeks earlier. Meanwhile, your walls are full and the narrative at home is you are out of control, and it’s trending to a problem. What do you do (select all that apply):

(A) you have them make the Narwal horn (it’s actually a tooth) in to a gentleman’s cane

(B) you have them euro the entire baboon skeleton, pinned at the joints, with one hand holding the severed head of said baboon, the other flipping off the audience

(C) you do a simple baboon skull with orange LED lights in the eye sockets and use it in the window at Halloween

(D) you make boots for you and your besties out of Narwal skin, which upon reflection would pair well with the gentleman’s cane

(E) you have them shoulder mount the Narwal coming out of the floor as if it’s rising from the sea, with the option of a wet floor pond, of course with bubbling jets and froth and a filtering set up behind the scenes, and then you have them place the baboon in full body mount, being skewered by the Narwal horn (did I mention this is actually a tooth?), with the Baboon depicted in absolute agony, fake blood at the point of penetration, and of course the Baboon flipping off the audience

(F) none of the above (this selection requires an alternative option being provided)

These are the first world problems that perplex mankind….what say you?

If I get to the point where I've taken enough baboons, C is definitely a serious option to consider.

In full disclosure, the narrative at home on taxidermy is "we are out of control and it's already problem" but that hasn't stopped the inflows to our taxidermist.

My baboon philosophy is that they should always be mounted full size in some action pose. I have a yellow baboon that I took last year in Zambia that is going to be mounted riding the hyena that I took on the same trip. I haven't decided what the baboon would be holding (spear, gun, flag etc) but now I'm thinking a Narwal tooth/horn like javelin would be a good look.

When is that Narwal hunt scheduled?

In all seriousness regarding the shoulder vs Euro mount space question, I've been doing more pedestals lately to use floor vs wall space and as someone else said, group like species together. Attached, a couple in process pedestals at our taxidermist.