Mounts---Why???

[Mallard_maniac]

I also love it when they ask for references to taxidermists who do great work cheap. Yeah, cuz I'm sure the clown asking works hard for less money than the going rate. Why wouldn't a top notch taxidermist do the same?!

There's a ton of truth to that..... I get it, we all want the most for our money but from what I've seen (both personally and on others taxidermy) there's virtually no bargains. The folks that do great work charge accordingly. I don't have facebook but I do have a lot of friends that hunt and without question they all think their neighbor, or cousin, or whatever does as good of job as "XYZ Taxidermist" at 1/3 of the price...... then you look at their work....

[Nershi]

I just bought a new house on a lake and I would like a replica of a nice musky to go in the living room that looks over the lake. That is, if I ever get one up to my standards which is not real likely.

I've never mounted something but if I did it would be for the memories and not so much for the specimen. I've killed or caught plenty of mount worthy critters but never really wanted to mount them. The one duck I was going to mount had to be thrown away because my dad forgot to put it in his freezer after I got it all wrapped up. It was a nice drake golden eye which I have shot lots of but it was taken on a hunt that I new would be my dogs last on Thanksgiving morning. She died about a month later. That dog was a champ. She had the coolest personality and was my best buddy. I think it would have been cool to have something to remind me of her besides pictures.

My dad had a set of 15 inch crappies mounted that we caught when I was a young buck and there is a great story and memories behind it. He keeps them in his home office and my mom bitches about the mounts all the time but my dad and I enjoy them. If a woman ever tricks me in to having a kid with her I think I'd do that for my kid.

I get a kick out of all the rookies who are mount happy. One day they will look back when/if they learn how to hunt and kick themselves for wasting the money. I met one of those guys recently through a buddy and he had every species he has shot mounted and most of them looked like garbage. And of course they all had fake bands on their legs.

[Drunk_Dynasty]

What I don't get is dudes who shoot pintails and such during spring snow to get them mounted. It's sad to see the whole "every body gets a trophy" youth soccer mentality has made its way into hunting.

[Quack]

My last mount was a pintail from California and the taxidermist said, "Its got a decent sprig but I have friends in Louisiana and could get you a longer one if you want."
Sigh. Yeah, I want Louisiana sprig implants on my "trip of a lifetime" bird from California. Dumb

[Mallard_maniac]

My last mount was a pintail from California and the taxidermist said, "Its got a decent sprig but I have friends in Louisiana and could get you a longer one if you want."
Sigh. Yeah, I want Louisiana sprig implants on my "trip of a lifetime" bird from California. Dumb

That very thing happened to my dad, a lifetime bird hunter.... He took a rooster in to a taxidermist with high credentials (unbeknownst to him at the time, this individual shipped all his birds out to another taxidermist). When he went to pick it up, it had a different, less impressive tail on it. The guy told him he screwed up so he substituted a tail from another bird... 75% of the reason he chose that bird to mount was (he claimed and he's not one to BS) it had a roughly 28" tail feather (obviously without pulling it out he couldn't take an "official" measurement). I never actually saw the bird until after he got it back, but certainly believe the impressive tail feather length coming from him. Nonetheless he voiced his displeasure, hunted the entire next fall and brought in a tail from a bird that year.... now he has a couple hundred $$ cobbled together piece of what I guess someone might call "art" with that type of memory hanging over it.

[Big Doe Hunter]

I have a few mounts that are all unique and have great stories with them (they are baller/high quality). I'm probably done with ducks and geese, but I'd like to get a pheasant and a 28 + inch walleye from the lake my cabin is on some day. Oh and a nice buck would be legit too.

[maplelakeduckslayer]

Considering the gf of 4 years has two mounts of her own in the living room, I don't catch any hell. All of our mounts are "firsts". My first turkey that was 25 lbs shot when I was 16. My first buck shot with a bow that was 6.5 years old. Gf's first deer she ever shot was an 8 pt, and first Goose she ever shot was a lesser, both hanging on the wall.

To me its more related to the story and circumstances surrounding the kill rather than size/trophy status. Cause neither of our deer are trophies in other people's eyes, but they mean a lot to us.

[Lars30]

I've been a big "To each their own" guy

Some people don't understand the mounting of a fish and say, "Why not just do replica?" I told them if I'm mounting a fish I want the real deal not just some piece of graphite on the wall. Then if we actually talk about it I'll tell them then why not let every deer walk by and just do a replica of that? The looks back I get there are pretty priceless.

As far as the spending goes, its the same sort of thing, I know people blow money on things I absolutely cringe at but they think its a great investment.

I got some mounts, nice birds and 2 banded birds, a fish, turkey and couple deer. Simple fond memories and the quality moved me to the mounts, plus I enjoy the outdoors and these are great reminders of that.

[StuStiltman]

I enjoy mounted ducks and fish in my house, I just happen to like them and I don't have a ol lady to bitch about them. I have 2 that i mounted just cause I wanted to, and at the time I had some spending money, a nice widgeon drake and a nice cackler. My other mounts are more sentimental. 1 is a dusty drake can I shot when I was 13 when I had a broken leg, my old man wrapped my cast in blankets and a garbage bag, helped my (even at 13) fat ass into the boat and took me hunting, I got the young of the year can and my dad insisted on mounting it, good memories and story. Also have a gray squirrel my dad shot as a kid, his friend at the time was practicing to be a taxidermist and stuffed it for free, its mounted in the style of a grizzly bear, standing with (as much as a squirrel can be made to look) a mean look on its face.