Euro mounts- Am I smoking the devils lettuce?

[friendswoodmatt]

I like euros — I like the simplicity of it - I like that I dont need to deal with their hide or hair getting dust and cobwebs in it. But this’d past weekend— my neighbors came over and we’d were looking at the whitetail I have taken on this ranch (all euros) and all four of them said— a 161 needs to be shoulder mounted on a low fence ranch in the hill country- thats a trophy— kill another buck with a good cape and make it happen. ‘’I was floored” I love my euros— I dont like waiting 1-2 years for a mount to come home —and I guess I am probabaly leery of when my Dad passed — he had many mounts and they were a PITA to deal with in fact— I didnt deal with them— I had no money and no space to deal with them then and he didnt leave me any to help with CHORE.
Euros mounts in my oppinion as much easier to deal with , smaller, take less space, still offer the memories of the hunt. I dont care about scores— I hunt what I like. Am I alone ? Do I do an animal a disservice if I dont shoulder or pedestal mount it? On the upcoming hunt— I will shoulder the kudus, the buff may be shoulder maybe pedestal and the the sable will def be a pedestal — the eland will be euro, warthog - euro, zebra-skin and others will be euro— nyala— undecided — bush buck as well — impala— euro — gemsbok euro — i will have the skins tanned and the meat will be used— Am I missing something — do you feel like one animal is deserving of a shoulder over another? Plains game mostly — I guess I hold the big 5/6 in different regard. But that being said — I’d euro a buffalo if I liked the plaque or the buff was a second or other reasons ... — I surely would— others outside of Leopard— I have no interest in— I think cats deserve a full body — they are special— but I dont want any of them currently . Am I out of my mind? Sorry about run on sentences and punctuation — I are an Aggie.

 

[Bsto270]

I generally agree. I have debated if I would ever take a gemsbok I would have to think hard about whether I did a euro or shoulder. I have had some cool ideas on a springbok slam with euros and flat skins used in display. I've even seen an amazing giraffe euro displayed on a few of the vertebrae

 

[Tra3]

I prefer euro mounts too. My wife doesn’t care for horns/antlers in the house (she is ok with hides/rugs). I oblige her and just put euro’s in the garage. I have one shoulder mount of a 17” springbok. It is in a closet because I can’t figure out where to put it.
I think we each should do what makes us happy with our trophies. There isn’t a “wrong” choice so long as the animal is not wasted. Every time I pull into or out of the garage I see a wall of memories of hunts. Frequently, in the evening, I look over the euro’s before going inside the house It is a calming, happy moment and puts me in a good mood when I walk in the door from work.

 

[Aaron.F]

I agree, I just like the simplicity of them. In most houses shoulder mounts look out of place.

 

[crs]

+1 on the Euro style mounts. Most of mine are Euros and I even did a few of the Whitetail bucks myself.
6x6 elk, all African trophies except Bush buck, etc. I quit shooting deer bucks when I had two 5 gallon cans of antlers. Hell, I mostly hunt exotics for the last several years because of too many deer antlers.
Besides, big exotics have more meat and cost less to hunt and shoot than deer busks. Still shoot a few does for meat tho.

 

[Ridgewalker]

You shouldn't care what others do or think you should do. Its your life not theirs.
My only buff to date is a euro. I like it! I dont have the space for a giant buffalo shoulder.
My second gemsbok is a euro. I don't like my shoulder mounted one. It sticks a long way off the wall with nothing but a brown shoulder...boring! The beauty to me in a gemsbok is the face and horns. Their “socks” are neat, but if you left the front legs on to show them off, they would be HUGE! I have seen just face and horns mounted and that is neat in my opinion.
Sable, again a handsome face and the rest all black. But just to make room for their massive curved horns, you really need the shoulder. They do have a nice mane as well.
Everybody is different. You do what you think is right for you. That’s what most always works best IMO.

 

[WebleyGreene455]

The closest I have to any kind of mount is a bull skull on a wall, but I've kinda resolved myself to do Euro mounts for practicality and because it just fits with my personal aesthetic, though like a couple of you I'd have to really think hard about if I wanted a shoulder mount for one or two animals.

Way I figure it, if I have to move house at some point, a shoulder mount is gonna be a pain and a half to take with me, it's gonna take extra care to keep pretty and nice, it's probably gonna be pretty expensive and if you don't get it just right, you might have all manner of regrets and second thoughts and extra expenses to fix the problem. Seems like a Euro mount would negate most of that issue, and if you keep the skin and have the photos, you can still show off what it looked like before. As for the aesthetics? I love the way German castles and Schloesser look with rack after rack of antlers and skulls all over the walls, and how some of the British manors did the same during Victoria & Albert's time. Plus, if you have a big cat or a hyena or a baboon, you can show off their teeth quite nicely.

If you want to do Euros, don't let nobody tell you different. It's your mount, not theirs!

 

[Thumper Mcgee]

The thing I like with euro's as well as rugs is if your low on space you have more options

 

[Stephen Ausband]

I got a euro mount on my first buffalo, along with some shoulder mounts of plains game. I thought the euro mount looked fine, was easy to find a place for, didn't take up too much room. On the second hunt, I decided I wanted shoulder mounts of the buff and of the kudu. Unnh! The trophies from both hunts, along with a couple of whitetail deer, are in my little hunting cabin in the hills of Virginia. (I live on the coast of NC, and they didn't seem to belong in a beach house.) The problem is, shoulder mounts, especially on things like kudu and buffalo, take up a LOT of room. Walking under the buffalo mount on the way out of the living room is sort of like walking under a Volkswagon mounted on the wall. If it ever fell at the wrong time, it really would be "black death."I enclose a photo of the mount, and another of the mount as it was getting ready to be lifted out of my truck. It was then that I knew I had problems. Short answer: I'm liking euro mounts more and more, and I'll probably never have another shoulder mount done. Might just go with no mounts at all, just photos, in fact.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

Your mounts, your choice. I have both. Depends on my mood and available space and what I already have. Don't really need 3 gemsbok shoulder mounts, but a euro mount of a non-typical is a nice addition to a shoulder mount of a typical.

 

[Scott CWO]

My wife hunts a bit and married an outfitter so she likes well-done taxidermy. We designed our house with a great room on the main floor with 22' ceilings so you can probably guess my answer. I would never do a euro mount on a nyala. That's blasphemy! Nyala are one of the top four most beautiful antelope IMHO. I did mine full body but a shoulder mount would be better than euro. Perhaps I've changed your mind but if not, of course I respect your decisions for your house.

Years ago I had an elk client that killed a big beautiful black-antlered bull with ivory antler tips on the last day of a wet and rainy muzzleloader season. We had been after that bull for several days and finally got him. After pictures, I started to cape the bull. My client stopped me and said not to cape it because his wife only ALLOWED one mount in the house - his first white-tailed deer and it was over the fireplace. So I stopped and asked him a simple question, "So, does your wife pay the mortgage by herself or?" He was taken aback for a moment but I could see the wheels turning in his head. Without answering and after hesitating for a few moments, he loudly blurted out, "You're right! Cape the SOB!" About a year later, he sent me a picture of himself standing under the shoulder mount of that bull and yes, it was inside the house. His wife even took the picture!

 

[mikecatt13]

I prefer shoulder mounts, especially for African animals with different coloration and markings on their hides. Some, like a nyala when I get a chance at one, nothing but a full body will suffice for me...at least for one of them as if I'm lucky enough to make multiple trips I'll likely take several since they're among my favorite. Along the same lines if I get to make multiple trips, god willing, I will have some euro mounts, but my first and biggest of each species will always be shoulder. I say that, but all but a couple of my whitetail are shoulder mounts lol

But as long as you're deciding what you do with them for the right reasons and it's your way to enjoy the memories and cherish the animals than it's your preference only that matters and no one else has to understand it

 

[outwestidaho]

It's all different strokes and like what you like, who cares what anyone else thinks of things in your home.
That being said I can't stand euros. I don't like the ugly white bone . I do like some euros that arnt as white that have the cracks in the skull highlighted. Skulls get dirty and cobbwebbed also and are harder to clean if you want them white.
I like the mounts because it brings back the whole memory of the beast and what it's was to me. I also have a plan for when I pass. I gave my daughter strick orders to take what she wanted , give , donate and to do what she wanted. The mounts mean a lot to me, but not anyone else so i told her to pile them up and burn them and have a drink in my name Ashes to ashes dust to dust. She told me I was nuts. Probably am. I'll be gone so I won't care. Lol !

 

[mdwest]

Ive got a fair number of shoulder mounts and pedestal mounts around the house.. but I've got an equal, if not greater number of euro mounts..

I think it all depends on the animal, the location its placed, your overarching decor, and your personal taste..

For the most part I prefer euros.. I like their look.. I like that they dont take up nearly as much space.. and I like their low maintenance compared to shoulder mounts..

 

[Firebird]

Euros need to be cleaned same as mounts-they grey and yellow with dirt and time.
I do a lot of pedestal mounts because I have low ceilings. I’m often surprised at the people that come and stare at the mounts and comment that they had no idea how big or how beautiful or whatever. I do have some euros, especially animals I have multiples of or common stuff. Cats and bears can be euros AND mounts. You can only afford what you can afford but a house full of skulls begs for some texture and color, artistry and life! One last thought-cats are truly special, but what animal you have killed wasn’t special? My suggestion is to do some of each, euros and mounts-and yes a leopard should be life sized! It’s your house and your money, you can only do what you can do-right?

 

[mark-hunter]

@friendswoodmatt
You are not insane.
It is only that hidden european hunter is speaking from you.
Shoulder mounts are nice to see, but european hunting tradition, embodied in CIC scoring system are striclty speaking about euro scull mounts.

As per CIC scoring system, each scull must be weighted by scale, in grams, plus other measurements from horns or antlers.
Only based on such measuremnts a CIC trophy certificate will be issued.
Then, in following years or decades the same trophy can be verified again, for example, for the purpose of some hunting exibition.

If you cut a piece of scull with horn bases, attach it to plastic maneqeine and wrap it in the skin, it can not be measured or verified by CIC score later. (trophy destroyed?)
From European tradition standpoint, shoulder mounts and taxidermy are more considered as fashion, (extreme european traditionalists even say "kitch", snobish, or distasteful), cheap decoration of country hunting lodges, or museum exibits, or similar.

Personally, I am divided.
I like to see the shoulder mount, and also I like the value and simplicity of euro scull mounts (which I clean and make by myself).

From Africa (two safaris) I took 50% of each tipe (shuolder mounts and scull mounts, and it was hard to decide for me - which animal to make to which type of mount.
A piece of me wanted each type, for each animal..
For my euro collection of trophies, my Roe bucks, boar tusks, etc I do scull cleaning, bleaching, and mounting by myselff, but in the same time, I have several phaesants, grouse, quail, hare and fox as taxidermy .

I am not a top-trophy hunter, I am not personally interested in top CIC points.
Africa is exotic, Why not then to make shoulder mounts?

But in the same time, I am traditional and conservative European hunter, I appreciate as well, european system of trophy scull mounts.

So, nothing wrong in your way of thinking, just do as it pleases you!

And, good hunting!

PS -Later edit:
I am booked and signed contract for safari no 3. I plan to hunt eland and waterbuck, plus some culling. Trophies I planned: eland as euro scull mount (due to size of shoulder mount, and I will have to save some space at home), and water buck will be made as shoulder mount because it is really really impresive, so waterbuck will be shoulder mounted. And again, I am at 50% for each type.

 

[Nyati]

Full body, pedestals, shoulder, are really nice, but also expensive, require careful maintenance, and lots of space.

I live in an apartment, and there is no way I can display my 54 trophies, unless as euro-mounts.

 

[chonk34]

I think the markings and coat of an animal are just as important as the horns/antlers/tusks, so I would be inclined to do shoulder mounts on at least one representative of a species. For additional animals of a given species I am not opposed to euro mounts, though. It is certainly a cheaper option that takes up less wall space per head.

 

[R.M.C.]

Generally agree and I have a ton of euro mounts but for me, some stuff just has to be mounted. If I'm successful next year hunting bush pig in rsa I'm definitely getting a shoulder mount because the skull is going to look a lot like all the other wild boar skulls I have all over the house. Same with blue wildebeest. In my area the skull would be easily mistaken for a cow skull. For me personally, I enjoy tanned hides and shoulder mounts a lot.

 

[Bullthrower338]

I knew an old man in Arizona that lived in a double wide trailer, he had so many mounts in there from his 15 African hunts that you had to navigate through on a game trail, we talked to each other over the top of a hippo skull on a low table between the two recliners. I asked him once if he had ever been married and he just passed his hand around the room with a smile. His gun room was full of fine rifles and custom single actions and Colt SAAs. Another solid indication of a single life. Now I know there are some exceptions to this rule but I have not lucked out in this department and will probably die playing catch up on my buddy!
But to the point of the OP, what ever you like to look at is right. I have a mix, but I love nice shoulder mounts and pedestals. I guess whatever gives you personally the best memories of the hunt and that animal are the best ways to respect them.