Trophies on the wall

[elkhunterCO]

My wife and I were having a discussion tonight about animal heads on the wall.
She says she can't understand why people do it, not at all in a negative way, just that to her it represents death.

I told her that in my eyes it represents "the hunt" for people and an admiration for the animals.

Having said that, I have never had a desire to mount any of my animals (even before marriage).
People that come around back of my place see antlers leanin against the trees including some nice 6x6 bulls and told me those racks should be hanging on the wall.

I am not in any way judging or condenscending anybody, as I like to see a nice set of horns in somebodies house.

Why or why don't you mount them?

 

[H&Hhunter]

For me it's about honoring the memory of the hunt.

 

[ChefJeff1]

I only have 2 European skull mounts. They do represent the hunt and not the kill for me. i like the European mounts cause the full hair head would get too dirty.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

No, thanks. A framed picture of me and the animal is enough.

 

[WestKentucky]

I'm kinda mixed on it. Properly done mounts which pu th the critter into a natural landscape or semblance thereof I greatly admire. They truly make the animal look alive again. Memorable deer like my nontyp and big 8 I have kept around European mount style. Other significant kills I display like my first turkey fan and my first revolver kill. I don't particularly care for most others and they get discarded. My first muzzleloader buck was in my aquarium after being chewed up by squirrels and dried out for a year or so.

 

[Davek1977]

Its about capturing the memory, and instant reminder of a successful hunt. Sometimes, there are years of stories behind an individual buck, and when harvested, those horns represent the bloood, sweat and tears that went into the hunt. Its a reminder of the days you fought through waist deep snow hoping to just catch a gimpse of him. Its a testament to those mountains climbed in order to put you in position for a shot. Seeing that rack might remind you of your last hunt with Dad or Grandpa, or might be that of your first deer. For me, seeing those horns takes me back to those final moments, admiring my trophy through the scope, before squeezing the trigger.....I've lived 37 years, and nothing else I've experienced can recreate that feeling. My mounts symbolize almost everything BUT "death" to me, personally. They rather, in fact, help me relive those moments in which I've felt the most alive.

 

[Art Eatman]

Similar motivation as sports teams, racers, anybody who's overcome some sort of challenge. Plaques, cups, rings, medals...

For me and my hunting, the buck is immortal as long as I'm alive. Memories of the hunt. That's why there's an antler mount above my computer monitor.

 

[Rembrandt]

Probably accumulated over 40 different mounted species that occupy multiple trophy rooms in our two homes. We don't think of them as "dead animals", rather they are memories of hunts and experiences we have done as a family. With three males that are avid hunters in the family, it doesn't seem out of place to have tastefully done taxidermy hung as a reminder of those times spent as a family.

Home decorators will tell you that decor, color, objects, and such, are a reflection of the individuals personality. A woman who collects and displays dishes or dolls will often decorate her home to reflect her tastes and interests. I respect that. By the same token women who share the home should also respect the interest of other family members who have different tastes.

The men in our family love the the outdoors more than the house, given a choice, we'd head for the great outdoors. When confined indoors, it's nice to keep nature close by to remind us of God's creations.

 

[Patocazador]

When I was a kid, I went to a large natural history museum. They had everything mounted: elephants, lions, moose, even a couple of narwhals. I was so impressed by the variety and beauty of the animals that I mounted almost everything when I got into hunting .. and could afford it.

 

[jrdolall]

I have four deer mounts, one a shoulder mount and the rest are Euro. Each signifies a particular hunt except for the shoulder which is my largest deer after 40 years or so of hunting. That is one mount every ten years. I have a ton of racks nailed to my shop out back that are pretty good.
I have more turkey fans than I care to count and all of them are in a box.
I have a flying squirrel that was mounted for a special person.
If hunting has been a major portion of your life and you have the available space then I say go for it. I like it better than a house that has 1,000 figurines of clowns or angels in it. I especially notice that married couples that have hunted together tend to mount more animals. I have been in a "dead room"( her name for it) where they had bison, yak, alligator, elephant, zebra and on and on. I thought it was cool because the 80 year old couple always argued about who killed the biggest one.

 

[MCgunner]

Anyone ever do that correspondence course from "North American School of Taxidermy"? I don't know if they're still around. Got into it when I was a kid, mounted a quail, took me 8 hours to skin the danged thing, LOL. It was interesting, I shoulda stuck with it, but I was an impatient little fart.

 

[red rick]

For me it's about the memory of the animal and the hunt . I write notes on the back of each mount , date , location , weight , people , weapon used and special events . I just got back my first Texas mount from my New Years deer , but I still like a head mount better if it is a nice deer , more personal looking .

 

[earlthegoat2]

This is why we do it.

I just posted about why I don't hunt anymore in another thread but I can definitively answer this one.

Sorry for the essay but this is just one answer to your question.

Times were really tough for me. I had graduated college a few years prior and in that meantime I was toured around the world by our rich uncle. I got injured and medicaled out. A few months went by and I was still unemployed through no lack of trying. It was the year leading up to the big economic fallout so it is no real surprise looking back on it. Got lucky and landed a low paying warehouse job with a long commute to work.

I had been living at home with the folks during this time on the family farm. I decided to buy a bow to hunt during the archery season. Luckily I had a stockpile of money I had saved while in service. I had just enough time after work to get 3 hours of hunting in for a few weeks before daylight savings time messed everything up. I was seeing deer on the back 40 more than I had ever had in the 15 years prior.

Being in the military had taught me patience and lessons on striking when the opportunity presented itself. So I waited when I usually would have shot a doe. I finally saw a larger buck. An eight point. I was ready and he came in range but he was surrounded by does and they were skittish so he moved on.

The following week I saw him again in the distance and again the next day. Daylight savings time came and I could only get out on weekends. I saw him again one morning but he was right behind my tree and never presented a shot.

I was no longer hunting for deer. I was hunting for one deer. I felt like Aheb going after the white whale. I was obsessed and constantly trying to predict his next move. I had never focused on one animal ever before and I felt like I was putting all my eggs into one basket. It felt right though.

I was anticipating the weekends so I could get out there and have another sighting of him. As the days of archery season waned I was no longer seeing him on a regular basis and I was dreading one of my neighbors had got him or that he had been hit by a car as the property butts up to Interstate highway.

Bow season ended and gun season was upon us. I sat in wait. Our property gets hunted quite vigorously by family members during the gun season so it was a toss up as to who was going to have a crack at him. I had not seen him since about 2/3 of the way through archery season but I did not give up.

Opening day came and went. My dad shot a 4 point and a doe with two quick shots at 7:30 that morning so his hunting season was done. Just the way he likes it. My uncle and two cousins each shot a doe that day too. I passed up several groups of deer among which were what I would consider to be a decent 6 point as well as some spikes.

The next day I was alone on the property. Since it was a weekday my cousins were in school and my uncle at work. I saw a few in the distance. The next day after that I called in sick to work so I could hunt the property alone for the morning. I decided to hunt from my dad's blind for whatever reason. Once again I only saw some deer off in the distance eating in the middle of the cut corn field.

Two other cousins were going to be coming in to hunt the evening. When they got in they radioed me to tell me they would be walking through the woods. It would be about 10 minutes before they got to where I was though. Only a few minutes after that I heard a distinctive crash very near and behind me. I knew it was a few deer. I readied my BPS 20 ga without even looking behind me. They hopped the fence my blind was sitting against with my back to it. It was a four point and a doe. They stopped 20 yds right in front of me. I placed the red dot of the Trijicon reflex sight on the vitals of the 4 point.

Now was when I decided I wanted to compromise. I wanted the 8 point but I also wanted a deer and this 4 point was right in front of me right now. Safety was off but my finger was off the trigger. I waited and listened. The two deer were looking back the way they came. I figured there must be more deer back there.

Then I heard a snort. Ive had does snort at me or my scent tons of times so this was nothing new however when the 4 point snorted back my heart started racing. The 4 point started moving off and I heard another animal approaching from behind. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a large shape with a decent jumble over his head jump the fence. I kept my gun straight at the other two deer and did not even move my head to take a look. He made a false charge at the 4 point and stopped next to and behind the doe. The four point ran off and there was my eight point. I sqeezed off the shot and he went right down.

That is why we have trophies on the wall. It might not be the biggest rack ever but it is mine and it is the largest deer I have ever seen while hunting and it is the largest that has been taken off that land.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Someone will always know more than you...unless your on the internet. Then everyone knows more than you.

Earl,

I love your sig line!!

 

[Jason_W]

This brings back memories.

I got into taxidermy a bit when I was a kid. i specialized in fish taxidermy and broke even on a few projects for a couple of guys in my town who caught large fish but couldn't afford to have them mounted by the pros in the area.

In high school, my 10th grade biology teacher would let you out of one 10 page bio paper a year if you took on a taxidermy project (welcome to rural Vermont in the 90s). I did a 15" rainbow trout my dad had caught late that summer and it turned out great thanks to my artist mom who did the paint job on it. The teacher was pretty impressed.

Fast forward to the next semester. I was set and ready to do that terms 10 page paper when my teacher pulled me aside for an offer I couldn't refuse. He managed to get his hands on a road kill bear cub and offered to let me out of the second paper if I agreed to do the taxidermy work on the cub. Being young and stupid, I accepted. About an hour into the project, I really regretted not just doing the paper. So much fat. So much fat. It was a real mess to say the least. The cub turned out ok, but not nearly as good as the trout. Repairing the damage done by the car that hit it proved a little beyond my abilities at the time.

Now, if I catch a large fish, I'd rather eat it or let it go. Taxidermy work is very expensive if you go to a pro and it's only slightly less expensive if you do it yourself. If I shoot a bird or rabbit, I'd much rather eat it than stuff it. I could see working the hides though and possibly making stuff out of bone and antler.

 

[short barrel]

I got in trouble here once for expressing my opinion of trophy hunters. I was wrong and deserved the warning. Everyone should do their own thing. However, since the question was posed by the OP, it's my opinion that mounting heads of harvested animals is about ego and nothing else. I've never been "proud" of something I killed. I certainly can't say I killed for simply the food, as I enjoyed each and every hunt. But to spend money on trying to recreate the life I took was never something I wanted, and I've never seen a trophy mount that impressed me, except for the majesty of the animal. The human being who killed it, IMO, accomplished nothing worth sharing by displaying the remains. It is a cave man thing.

I don't take or keep photos or remnants or killing. The parts I might keep are for eating or some other use, but never for pride. I reckon that sounds like preaching but I don't mean it in that sense. I'm all for folks doing whatever they like to legally and morally do. It's just not for me. I don't believe any person is special because of the energy and effort and success involved in killing. I think the are simply normal. Exceptional woodsmen, above average marksmen and traits that make one hunter more successful than another, are deserved qualities to be admired, but such ability and stamina are lessened by bragging, and mounting a dead creature's head is nothing less.

I think I might be in trouble again, but I hope the moderators will consider that the question was posed and I simply responded. I take nothing from a man's character who believes differently. I respect all legal and moral methods and accomplishments.

 

[Jason_W]

I got in trouble here once for expressing my opinion of trophy hunters. I was wrong and deserved the warning. Everyone should do their own thing. However, since the question was posed by the OP, it's my opinion that mounting heads of harvested animals is about ego and nothing else. I've never been "proud" of something I killed. I certainly can't say I killed for simply the food, as I enjoyed each and every hunt. But to spend money on trying to recreate the life I took was never something I wanted, and I've never seen a trophy mount that impressed me, except for the majesty of the animal. The human being who killed it, IMO, accomplished nothing worth sharing by displaying the remains. It is a cave man thing.

I don't take or keep photos or remnants or killing. The parts I might keep are for eating or some other use, but never for pride. I reckon that sounds like preaching but I don't mean it in that sense. I'm all for folks doing whatever they like to legally and morally do. It's just not for me. I don't believe any person is special because of the energy and effort and success involved in killing. I think the are simply normal. Exceptional woodsmen, above average marksmen and traits that make one hunter more successful than another, are deserved qualities to be admired, but such ability and stamina are lessened by bragging, and mounting a dead creature's head is nothing less.

I think I might be in trouble again, but I hope the moderators will consider that the question was posed and I simply responded. I take nothing from a man's character who believes differently. I respect all legal and moral methods and accomplishments.

If a person can afford it, I have no problem with them having a big game head mounted to commemorate a hunt, especially if there is something exceptional about the animal or the hunt that lead up to it.

For me, the dilemma come in with fish and small game where nothing can be eaten if you want to have it mounted. My love of food always wins out in those instances.

 

[urbaneruralite]

I do euro style to preserve the memory of the hunt. Kind of a tribute, I guess. I keep them indoors to preserve them as well. Sq. would chew them up kept elsewhere.

 

[DeepSouth]

I have 2 whitetail and one antelope. I enjoy showing them off, bragging about them, remembering the hunt and the excitement and I also enjoy them as decorations.

I enjoy going into other people's houses and admiring their trophys, I enjoy their stories and the passion/excitement when they tell me about the hunt as well as the seeing the beauty of some of the animals.

If I kill another animal that I believe to be a once in a lifetime kind of animal, I'll likely mount it to, especially if it's an extra memorable hunt with someone special.

Once again it's just different strokes for different folks.

 

[Art Eatman]

short barrel, it may be ego for some, but I guarantee you that most outdoors folks do some form of trophy thing for the memories.

My uncle, my father and I always cut off the front of the skull and nailed them to rafters in the garage. What we didn't do was take somebody out to the garage and brag, "Hey, look what I did!" In some fiftyy years of my hunting, only two sets of antlers ever made it into the house. The set above my computer monitor? I can still relate petty details from that day--after over fifteen years. Memories.

So don't be so childishly foolish as to think that ego applies to more than a few. It certainly doesn't fit the vast majority of hunters I have known in over a half-century of hunting.

 

[matrem]

If I think hard enough, (easier said than done for me lately) I can probably remember most of the great times spent with bow or gun in hand.

Those actual hides in a semblance of the form that day actually happened, bring some of the highlights back far more readily.

The meat from them was enjoyed and long gone, but the particular moment is well worth bringing back from time to time.

 

[MCgunner]

I'm sure glad to know I'm egotistic. I've never really been a trophy hunter, but I sure ain't passin' on a big boy if he comes along. I've had mounts made of a duck, a buck, and a javelina. The reason I did it is....I just like 'em. They dress up my living room and give it a nice Texas ambiance along with the .50 Hawken over the hearth and the antique wooden decoys that belonged to an Uncle. Yes, I do get memories of good times when I see 'em. But, I just think they're cool art. And, well I paid for 'em in cash American dollars.

Oh, yeah, same uncle, I have his old bamboo fishing rod and Shakespeare reel from about the late 1940s still rigged with a cork and old leader, hook, and sinker from his last fishing trip with it. That hangs over the windows on the back wall of the living room. It's all just decor.

 

[41 Mag]

I guess for me, having a specific deer mounted is just something that has always been done in our family. It was and has been in every kin of mines house as well as ours.

It isn't something we do to say, "hey lookie here I shot all this stuff" but more so as mentioned for the memories of the hunt and those who were there with us.

I hunt like mentioned above where I pick out one particular deer and hunt it through the season. I might get sidetracked along the way, but for the most part I usually see something one season and then try to follow it through the next summer and hunt it in the fall. When you pull the wool over the eyes of a mature buck on his own turf it is something to be proud of, but that isn't why I have mounted heads. I do so to honor the hunt and the memory of it.

In our area it isn't all that often you come across a nice 20" typical 8 point buck. To be honest I like the junky ones with stuff going everywhere but hey I know rare when I see it as well. So in some 40yrs worth of hunting, I have two 8's on the wall which are both in excess of 20" that came from low fenced free range property, which in E. Texas is saying something for the deer to survive to maturity, much less get that big. Both were some awesome hunts for awesome deer, and will be remembered as such.

I also have a little 10 point that is around 15" that I smarted off to my pop about when I was 18 and told him "If I get a 10 point buck this week, you can take me to town and get my hair cut however you want it". Man that was a mistake ...

My mom's aunt and uncle did the dates and time and gun and everything on the backs of the mounts and I have several of those up as well that were family hunts and memories of times had and shared. Those folks are all gone now as well as mom and pop, but I can look around and see the great times we had in the outdoors as a family when I was growing up. My grandkids ask about them and passing along the history and stories is always fun for us all.

 

[Panfisher]

I enjoy seeing well done mounts. I even have I think 3 actual mounts in my home. My son's first, my wife's best, and my craziest, professionally done skull mounts. Other than that it's because I am a tightwad, no way am I going to pay that much to have a deer head full mounted, I would rather spend the $ on more shooting and fishing stuff. And honestly the biggest most trophy worthy critters I have killed have not been the ones that truly stick in my mind. It might be the doe I spotted in her bedding spot and then spent 2 hours stalking her only to shoot right over her back, or the little button buck I killed with a ML that was so close he actually vanished inside the cloud of smoke, or, well you get the idea, true trophy all live on inside my memories.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I think the are simply normal. Exceptional woodsmen, above average marksmen and traits that make one hunter more successful than another, are deserved qualities to be admired, but such ability and stamina are lessened by bragging, and mounting a dead creature's head is nothing less.

A lot of folks consider it an insult to the animal not to honor it with some sort of memento. For me and lots of folks like me. Mounting a head or a skull has nothing to do with bragging.