Trophies on the wall

[ZeroJunk]

If I kill something really nice I like to ride around and show it to everybody and brag about getting it. And, then I am going to have it mounted and brag about it some more.

 

[MCgunner]

Well, I like the few mounts I have and really don't give a crap about what PETA or anyone else thinks. If I bought 'em to show off, they're in the wrong place. We don't get many visitors out here.

 

[CraigC]

I have never particularly cared for whitetail shoulder mounts. I guess because everybody had them growing up. I prefer a nicely done Euro mount but I could see doing a shoulder mount pronghorn, bighorn ram, or any of the African plains game. I think a shoulder mount kudu is something to behold.

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 think a lot of people who don't hunt or understand hunting see it that way. They just can't see beyond the act of killing an animal, let alone understand that it's only a very small part of it.

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 don't agree at all and find that opinion to be at least as egotistical and pretentious as what you accuse others of. I take pictures and I keep trophies but I do neither for anybody but myself. Not for bragging or to feel superior. It is extremely rare for me to ever post pics of animals I've taken. Likewise, my trophies are in my man cave and that room is off limits to all but my closest friends and relatives. They are to honor the animal taken and to preserve the memories. Those memories are mine alone. Certainly not for something so cheap and petty as bragging or to stroke my ego. I'm sure 'some' do it for those reasons but I'm not one of them, nor do I know any.

 

[redneck]

My best buck to date was with my bow, on a 50 degree day during the last 10 minutes of legal light, with thunderclouds rolling in. Due to the angle the arrow hit him, he didn't leave a blood trail. I waited 45 minutes to climb down and about the time I found my arrow it started pouring down rain. I looked for a couple hrs until I was soaked and my flashlight batteries were weak. I didn't find him that night, or the next morning before work. I found him that afternoon, and by that point I could smell him before I saw him. I hated losing all that meat, and if I didn't at least preserve the skull and antlers I would feel like the whole thing was a waste and I shouldn't have shot him at all.

I have a wall in our barn that has iron rimmed wagon wheels hanging that probably date well back into the 1800's, and in between each wheel I have the skull of a buck. I think it looks great in the barn, and its a good way to preserve the memories of the hunt.

 

[jim in Anchorage]

I've been trying to shoot a wolverine for 20 years. I sure ain't gonna eat it I just want to mount one. Snarling at a second wolverine if I get lucky.

 

[ZeroJunk]

I think they should abolish any record of achievement for anything.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Zero,

Are you just trolling or do actually have something to say?

 

[ZeroJunk]

I suspect there are people who understand what I am getting at without writing a book.

 

[H&Hhunter]

Lets hang this one on the wall and be done with it...