It will be late fall until I get my first bear back, but I want to know how you guys are displaying your bear rugs. Pics! Thanks!

No rugs here, just tanned. The one my son killed last fall is draped over a rocking chair. We have others hanging by the nose on the wall.

They take up a fair bit of wall space. You also get the skull to put on a bookshelf or whatever.



Guy

I thought it looked great on the floor, but that just wasn't going to work, so it ended up on the wall in my gun-tinkering, handloading, fly-tying room. That's a mighty fine place for it as I spend a lot of time there and enjoy seeing the bear.

Thanks!. I am thinking about putting the head facing down at an angle. How did you attach it to the wall?

Nice bear. What did it weigh?

Attached via about a gazillion (give or take) tiny upholstery tacks into the sheetrock, all around the edges. I put them through the felt backer, and for the most part they're covered up by the hair. It took more around the head, since it's heavy and wanted to fall free from the wall.

Thanks! Bear is a few inches over 6' in length, skull was 18+ inches. I don't remember how big. Good for the area, here in Washington. Weight? Dunno, two of us grunted a bit when we lifted and pulled him out of the brush! I'd guess something over 300/325 pounds. Not sure.

My son got one that looked almost identical, only a few inches smaller, about 16 hours before I got mine. Same ridge, within a couple of hundred yards of where we found this one. He shot his in the afternoon, I got mine the next morning. Then a friend got another within minutes of me shooting mine! All spot and stalk hunting. It was pretty amazing. Bears were all over the doggone hillside, going after the berries.

Guy

Black, Brown and Griz...

Heres one...basic side to side..



Another..



and a mini-stack....

I like the stack ingwe

You guys that have em on the wall- nail them or do it some other way? Thanks for the great pics. Those are nice!

Mine at attached to the wall, with head down at an angle. I also did mouth closed....don't like the mouth open at all.

I nailed mine up with sharp roofing nails, not tacks, and drove them into the sheetrock through the hide and under the hair so they don't show...

I sew a small ring to the underside of the felt at the head and all four feet. Just put a sheetrock screw in the wall and hang it however you want to.

Tell the taxidermist you want to hang it. They will attach rings to the backing felt. I have my bear rugs done without felt. I like them that way. If you did that, they would have to attach the rings to the hide.

Thanks guys. Great info.

I wisht I could post pictures but you ought to think about doing it the way I did. I wore mine. I had the taxidermist fellow kind of scoop out the head so I could wear it as a hat. Look out between the teeth, don't you know. Now it wasn't quite big enoungh to close in front so I got three big brass chains and hooks to go across there. I left the paws and claws on and wear them on top of my hands. Makes it real handy and you can really load a plate when you go through a buffet line wearing that bear coat. Then too, if you wear it a lot more people can see and admire it than if you hide it in your house. They just look and look at you coming down the street or sitting in church or somewhere.

Bahahahahah. I use my mother-in-law at the buffet line.

This. I had mine do the same thing. This enabled me to hang it on the wall by simply using nails and the attached rings. The felt protects the wall and makes it easier to slide and maneuver around the wall.

I always have the taxidermist use double felt, two different colors that compliment each other and the skin. Then, I just use heavy duty staples hidden under the first layer of felt. I usually hang mine at about a 45 degree angle w/the head up.

One other characteristic I like is to have the ears mounted back vs. up. This is not a real great picture as I have this bear in my small office (think closet)!



Bob

The funny thing about all these bear rugs, mine included, is that they look like "Rocky the Flying Bear" !

A set of goggles would complete the look...

i'm telling y'all.....a Superman mount from the ceiling is da chit!

Ironbender,

How about riding a motorcycle?




Bob

vaulted ceiling

On the wall, angled down so the kids can look into his choppers!

My God Ed! That bear looks like he is fixing to eat the whole durn family !

Another option to the rug is a half mount that did not cost me substantially more and used much less wall space.

I love these types of threads. Nice pictures fellows.

I was thinking the same. Perhaps a cape would be a good prop.
All great looking rugs and good pics especially those who threw in the rifle that took them. Do share what you shot them with.

Ingwe; you need more wall space. You've shot entirely too much game for one man.

Is that gray, very nice I like that alot GuyM!

Anybody tacked one to exposed rafters in a vaulted cabin ceiling?

On the floor in front of the gas fired, fake fireplace!





ya!


GWB

Lol...he likes it!

Had mine like that, got tired of sweeping up hair and seeing it thin.

I hang mine off the wall, using a staple gun. Like you would use to hang a target. I always use double back felt, shoot the staple between the felt. It hides, easy on the wall and mount.
I think, I use 3/8" staples.

Nice bear GW
Before I hung one of my last bears, it was on the floor for a while. When my daughters friends would come over, they all wanted to lay on it. It was like a magnet. Collage girls need to feel that bear.

So far, mine is still on the bear.

Holy throwback. I started this thread back in 2013. Since I posted this, between me and my 2 kids we have killed 8 bears.

I have a black bear that is 6'6" from nose to tail. I hung it nose to the ceiling. One night , my house burned half to the ground. The nose burned off and I found it in the insulation on the ground. So, it's still there and I glued the nose back on with some glue. Insurance gave me $3,600 for it but I kept it. Noone would want to buy it so it is kind of worthless . The hair is singed too but it is one of my prized possessions.

Sorry to hear about the fire.

I just hung my black bear from 2 seasons ago. Had a hard time finding a wall to put it on. It measured 8'x8' with a 24" skull. I did the upholstery tack method and my taxidermist sewed a d ring under the mouth so it would hold the head and used about 75 thumbtacks around the felt in the sheet rock. Looks good so far.

Score: 23 10/16
Year: 1975
Location: Sanpete County, Utah
Hunter: Found and "picked up"
The current world record for black bear—a 23 10/16-inch skull picked up in Sanpete County, Utah—has stood since 1975, but a Pennsylvania bear shot in 2011 missed the record by only 1/16 of an inch. "The purpose of the Boone and Crockett records is to gauge conservation success and failures," Spring points out, "and this is one of the categories I am most excited about for the message of solid wildlife conservation it portrays." States are adding bear seasons and bears are showing up in old ranges where they've been AWOL for decades, and the results are evident in the Boone and Crockett entries. More than half of the top 10 black bears have been taken since 2011.

Mine is on the floor, the dogs love it!

I like it hung angled, head down so you can see the mouth. I used about a dozen 1 1/2" finishing nails to hold mine. A rug on the floor looks nice, but people walking on it will ruin it. I put mine in a stairway because I need the wall space in rooms for other critters.