Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Blonde Brown Bear Rug or Mount?

The same question that has been posted before by others. If someone can tell me how to attach pics will be happy to do that as well. It keeps saying that the attachment is to large. Any how...

The dilemma rug about 3K/full body 10K. OK not a small chunk either way but obviously a full body is more than 3X a rug. However, I probably won't ever go brown bear hunting ever again, just because I have always tried to eat what I kill as opposed to trophy hunt and there are plenty of other critters to go after.

Have room for a rug on a high wall but could make room for a full body mount. Wife would be happier with the rug high up because she is also a eat what you kill kind of girl and really was not thrilled with me going bear hunting in the first place. Then again, probably never go after a bear again.

It was late on our last night of a 10 day hunt before I ever got my eyes on one, this one, I would have sworn it wasn't going to happen but it did at the last minute and once we skinned it it was pitch black dark. No idea on weight or size but I believe it was/is a respectable bear but not a B&C bear. Love the color and the hide is unbelievably soft.

What sayeth the heard?

I would much prefer a rug personally, just my taste.

When I lived in Alaska every year I would shoot a bear and take it to be tanned. Pick it up from the tannery and inquire with a taxidermist about getting a rug made. Get a price and decide I could fly out for another possibly bigger bear for that kind of money and end up saving the rug money for the next air taxi. I have a huge box full of tanned bear hides and a couple hanging from pegs on the wall but still no rug. 🤷🏼‍♂️

I have a rug on my wall and am very happy with it. Don't know what I'd do with a mount, but I'm a poor guy in a little house, so take it for what it's worth.

Rug all the way for me personally.

A mount takes up a lot of space even in a big room. A couple of friends have full body mount browns and they tend to dominate the room even though the room they are in are large.
Then there is also the possibility that your vision of the mount and the taxidermist vision is not the same and you end up with a 10K mount that you are looking at everyday and don't like . The hide on a wall for me.

drover

Rugs for me too, and not just with bears.
I am having a boar griz rugged right now and have two other hides tanned, just hanging on the wall. Rugs are cheaper, easier to clean, easier to put up in a closet somewhere if need be, etc. I like looking at full mounts in Cabelas and Scheels, but they just aren't for me.

That said, it sounds like you're trying to talk yourself into a full body mount and if so, you'll always regret not doing so.

Figured out how to attach the pics.

Cant see the sides or pits but I would say rug 100%. Thats a beautiful bear .

SSS

No doubt in my mind, rug

Assuming I am successful next year on brown bear I will do a half body mount similar to this though with closed mouth.

Beautiful bear. I'm a rug guy, too. Wall space is easier to give up than floor area, and if you're married, even that can be a fight. One black bear, one brown bear, and a moose rack was all I could manage. All the other antlers went outside. That left lots of room for native, Russian, American, and religious art and knick knacks. At least she dusts it all...........

I got tired of tripping over bear rugs and watching kids try to pull the claws. When my nieces dog tried to piss on it, I gave up and shipped to another niece that wanted one.

My advice FWIW: Get the hide tanned first and inspect as tanneries can and do screw up. Hang it by the nose on a wall where it takes little room, looks nice and cost is minimal.
Hang a black bear beside it and then a nice wolf hide etc and use the saved $$$$ for another hunt.

Another vote for a rug

You ever try having sex on a full-body-mount bear?

I'm with you on shoot and eat. 55 years up here, with little desire to shoot a brown/griz, so I never have, nor has one forced the issue enough. I'd rather watch them- just not too close! There's been a few of those.

If I saw one like yours, tho, that "little" might get bigger. Beautiful bear! Or a silver-tip.

Similarly, I've shot a few blacks for meat. There are two, maybe 3, I'd take for hide color alone- a deep auburn, or a glacier. And eat them.

Congratulations .

You ever try having sex on a full-body-mount bear?

LOL

Ditto

What Vern said or.....sell the hide. You have lots of pictures. Money for another hunt, for something you can eat.

Good looking bear. I'd go for a rug too. Even a 400 pound black bear takes a lot of floor space

Money certainly isn't everything. If it was a once in a lifetime for me and I wanted to look at it everyday for the rest of my life I would have the mount done. If it isn't a big deal with you and your memories have a rug done and go hut another one.

OOPS just saw the pictures. Life size for me. You can make more money but you can't buy the experience that bear brought you.

Congrats. Damn Nice Bear. Really can't go wrong either way. Go with your gut.

Seems some have lost the fact that some posters are not Alaskan citizens and are likely doing a once in a lifetime trip. They will not be tripping over rugs I suspect.

Beautiful color phase. I think I would go with a rug

p.s. The rug on my wall is from a black bear that was eating apples in abandoned orchards on NY State Forest. Non-hunters volunteered that the bone-in hindquarter steaks were among the best they'd ever eaten.

That is one beautiful bear!!! Think I would rug it myself. Congrats!!

I don’t think rugs do a bear (or wolf or lion) justice. So if I really wanted the best option for enjoying the trophy it’d be a full mount. But that is only if I was willing to pay big money for someone who was REALLY good at mounting predators.

"The cook likes to not reveal what's for supper so that the praises after will be louder."

No suggestions on what you should do with it. You probably know the answer already. I do however want to say that this is a beautiful bear and (rightfully so) you should be proud to have been successful in such a fashion! What firearm was used sir?

Beautiful bear. Congrats!

If I got a 10 footer I'd do a full standing mount (it could replace our Christmas Tree). My almost 9 footer turned into a nice rug.

That's a pretty impressive 10' cat there.

Thanks. That's Archer my 24 lb Maine Coon Cat

That’s a beautiful bear!

Rug or full body mount would look great either way. I’d really hate dropping 10k on the full body mount, but dang that would look so cool. Once in a lifetime hunt and bear.

Mounts in front of windows are destroyed by UV very quickly.

If it was a once in a lifetime, and If I had the room and the money to spare, I'd go full mount.

That is a beautiful bear.

Don't know where you live, but I have a full mount Grizzly and a bighorn sheep. Didn't pay half that much for either.

50+ years ago I shot my first black bear and (lacking $ and space) I had him mounted as a rug. A couple of years ago I shot my first Brown bear and I had him full mounted. There is absolutely no comparison between the two. I would definately go with a full mount!

Used my 338 Win Mag. So far one Elk, One Moose and One Bear with it.

I am going to make a final determination once it reaches the tanner. However, looking at locations to place rug v. mount I believe a rug is the better option for me, not to mention the cost savings.

We have kids and dogs, if I hang it high on the wall where I DO have a place to put it it should be out of harms way for the most part.

A mount would be cool but I just can't find a location where it would be safe from claws, spills and other issues.

If it were a 9 or 10 ft'er I might have gone the other direction but I believe it won't come close to that measure. We didn't get to measure him do to the time of day I got him and I will see what the tanner says, but I feel like he was a good representative size bear for Unit 9B of Alaska but not a giant.

He's going to make a beautiful wall rug and should be preserved for my grandkids when that time comes.

Any how, thanks to all who gave valuable insight!

Hope you left evidence. Or maybe that's not what the reg means when it says leave evidence of sex on the hide?

I shot my once in a lifetime Grizzly (skull was 27 9/16 and an honest 9 1/2 footer) back in 99. I did a life size mount standing on a half life sized Caribou. It's an impressive mount an IMHO doesn't take up as much space as a rug.

Bear skins are harder to hang than most realize...

Congrats! A bear like that deserves a life size standing mount!

I'm not sure what I would do if I ever shot one. That I could keep. LOL.

FWIW a BIG brown bear life-size is really impressive you have the room. Cost of the mount isn't an issue if you are hunting brown bears.

I think it would be nice either way. Lots of variables on your end that we can't know. Room for mount. Wife. Kids. Opinions. Etc... Basically I would do what I wanted and not let others sway. But some of the comments about tripping, Room etc...once in a lifetime and so on are good info to think about

A standing mount like the one immediately above would show off the blonde pelt better than a mount with it standing on its hind legs. Tough decision but it’s nice to have that decision to make.…😁

Get a rug made from the hide and have the skull cleaned. Those two items will be a good representation of the bear you shot.

Underrated comment. I don't have anything funny to add, but it made me laugh.

I would do a rug. Can see the whole bear that way.

Beautiful bear! I don’t know what a full mount runs but I think it would be worth it to have that big carnivore mounted in your man cave since you aren’t going to do it again.

That's only legit if the bear in question was taken while it was wearing a blue dress.

Congratulations on a successful hunt and beautiful bear. I would pick the middle option, a shoulder mount.

All this pic needs is a cigar in the bear's mouth. Look at that smile!