Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Is taxidermy worth it

Depends for me.

I'll never have a whitetail mounted - unless it's big enough to get me on the cover of a magazine or something.

Otherwise I just have the antlers lopped off, maybe flock the bone or plaster it and hang it over the sink in the shack.

I would like to have some nice tanned furs, if I ever get some that are really nice.

Mounted wise - only thing I think I'd have done is a bobcat or some particularly nice ducks.

Bucks over the sink

To me, I think the extra few dollars you spend on taxidermy is worth it. I'm only 29 years, and I hope that someday when I'm not able to hunt as much as I do now (which I still don't think is enough!), I'm able to sit in a pretty nice trophy room and look at them all and remember the hunts over and over again. Plus, I don't like many normal "decorations"? I'm not sure if that's the right word I'm looking for, but I look at a room with some taxidermy in it, and it has soul. If I'm somewhere that has a deer or elk or bear mounted in it, I ask about it, the hunt, etc. I look at a vase, painting, or whatever else is hung on a wall and...I could care less. It looks like I might be in the minority in this group, but when I can afford it, I'm getting my animals mounted. Granted, I'm not going to get every small game animal or doe, or little buck shoulder mounted, but every buck has been mounted or the antlers are on a plaque for a European mount, and I don't see that changing any time soon!

Cowboysforlife34: I quit having shoulder mounts of my trophies done by taxidermists MANY years ago - THEY simply priced themselves out of my business!
My wife did surprise me and had a pedestal head shoulder mount made for me of a 6x6 Bull Elk I killed here in Montana about 5 years ago - I scolded her for that but it is impressive.
Over these last MANY years I have had many demastid beetle European style skulls of Whitetails, Mule Deer and Antelope done - I can afford and think these works are worthwhile.
I doubt I will ever again in my lifetime have another shoulder mount done (I have had dozens done in the past!).
Taxidermists (head/shoulder mounts) are simply NOT worth what they are charging anymore!
I wish them well but they will have to do well without me.
European skull mounts and top quality pictures will fill my needs completely from here on out.
For instance I killed a trophy 12 point (6x6!) Whitetail Buck this week and sold the cape off of this 5 1/2 year old trophy and am having beetles clean the skull and the skull will go on an oak desk pedestal.
The taxidermist I took it to tried and tried to have me shoulder mount it - I refused.
Once I get the skull done I might tell him why?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I feel much the same way.

I only have three actual taxidermyed specimens. A full body grey fox and two deer shoulder mounts. I do somewhat regret the fox and highly doubt I'll ever have another small critter done. I like it well enough but I do look at it sometimes and wish I had that $400 back instead. If I was rolling in money it would be different but as it is, small/bird/fur bearing animals don't seem all that worth it to me. YMMV

My first shoulder mount was a free range Axis buck that showed up out of the blue and that I also killed with my Glock 20. He's nothing special, not being very large but I'll probably never get a free opportunity to kill another, especially not with a handgun.

My second was a melanistic (black) white tail buck that also happens to be my largest rack to date. That's the one I know I'll never regret.

Nearly everything else has been done european style or mounted on a plaque. I figure the big and special ones will come in time and they'll go on the wall but until then, I'll just decorate with bone.

I like 'em.

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For me some make the cut





This one did not

Some not only make the cut but are in a class by way above the cut!!!!!



Oh my!!!!

This advice as to the pictures of scenery, camp, and hunting friends, as well as the journal is great advice.

I've seen too many older mounts that weren't aging well and wall space is an issue here. The only mount I'll ever have will be a mountain goat, the hair is more impressive than the horns and I love goats. If I ever get a Himalayan Snowcock I'd mount it.

Not worth it to me as much now as it did when I was in my 20's. I was fortunate to live in AK for about ten years and don't regret some of the animals I had done there, as I doubt I'll ever get another opportunity like that again. I do plaque mounts of every buck I shoot and put in the garage. They are good memory keepers, but like others have said, wish I had more photos. Still searching for that truly great whitetail though, when it happens, I'll get a shoulder mount done, then be done; unless lightning strikes and I get to go sheep hunting again

I am at a point now that I will only shoulder mount an exceptional sample of a species. Got to best what I've already stuffed.
With the exception of a full body mt. Lion. I am working on that now. It will keep my girls out of my home office, especially when I am not there.

I never much cared for mounts I saw in my friends'/relations' homes for years and years. So I never gave much thought or effort to getting anything mounted. I shot a good number of decent heads but never felt any urge to hang any dead animals on my walls.

Until I saw some really good taxidermy, that is, mounts that look like they're alive. That's when I realized that 1) good taxidermy can be amazingly beautiful art, and 2) truly good taxidermy is pretty expensive. Worth it? That's up to you.

Yup. Mount the snowcock for sure.

I like to look at really good taxidermy and like to hear folks tell the story of their hunt. That said, I've never had one mounted and doubt I ever will. I do keep the horns but have really never wanted the head on a wall. Not sure why...

I have done everything; journals, photograph albums and taxidermy. Each has it's benefit. I have always been a hunter first, trophies second. I also admire the look of a nice mount. All that I have shot are not trophies, but they certainly are memories...

Agree! And that day is getting closer, for sure.
My home is getting kinda filled up with mounted heads, hides, European mounts, and a few full-body mounts, all of which hold memories of great hunting experiences.

Some folks hang pictures on their walls, or buy bronzes, or dinnerware collections, etc. For me and my wife, it has been a combination of all of the above. There is simply no better conversation starter with like-minded folks than a few spectacular mounts in the house!

Do! They look awesome. My pard in ID has two mounted in a glass case. Wicked cool critters.

I love taxidermy for being able to relive the moments. I have a few from my past that I wish I'd have mounted. I'm trying not to replicate those regrets...

I really enjoy seeing nice taxidermy work, but have never spent the money for it until recently. I've wanted a shoulder mount of a mature mule deer for as long as I've been hunting and shot this one last year. Though I don't consider it particularily large, I took it with a BPCR and cast bullet (something else I've wanted to do for years) and spent the better part of a day trying to get close enough for the shot. It has more meaning to me than any critter I've shot, including several mature bull elk. It very well might be the only shoulder mount I ever have done, though there will be more European mounts which I think I prefer...

I had my first Mulie mounted by a friend who just happens to be a nationally recognized award winning taxidermist. Most people probably wouldn't have had a forkie horn mounted, even if he is 27" wide. But it was an awesome and very memorable hunt with 3 generations of uncles, cousins, and Grandad. It turned out spectacular, looks just like a live deer growing out of Mom an Dad's living room wall.

I busted my butt plowing, working cattle, hauling hay, and fixing fence at 15 years old to be able to pay for it and wouldn't trade it for anything. Every time I'm home for a visit I have to sit in front of the fireplace and relive that snowy morning on the mountain, skipping school for days on end to get an education on the hunter's hill with the guys. Can't wait to move it into my own house and tell and retell the story to my little boy on winter nights.

Other than that one I've done a bunch of euros, a pile of skull caps, and the Mrs and I have a growing pile of tanned furbearing critters hanging from pegs around the place. Heck we even still save pheasant tails, and tail fans from grouse and turkeys from timw to time. I love animal parts as home decor.
Next up will be a mountain goat hunt and if I'm successful I have money set aside to have a full rug done with taxidermied head and hooves. Not too many of those around but I know some folks with a couple and they are awesome to my eyes.

I would have to shoot something really exceptional to get it mounted. I do a lot of trapping and most of what I catch gets tanned. I like having piles of fur all over, the chicks dig it when they are under a pile of super soft critters.