Limited Space

[oahufish]

Headed to South Africa for the first time here in a few weeks. I live in Hawaii where most homes are on the smaller side, so my space is limited. It's hard just looking at pics of various mounts just how much room they consume. I'm considering bringing back just one shoulder mount, and a few Euro mounts. Leaning towards Gemsbok instead of Kudu for the shoulder mount, since I'm guessing they are a bit smaller. How far does a shoulder mount protrude from the wall, does a quarter turn bring it in closer and a wall pedestal even more so? If turned, should it face towards the main entrance area or away?
Below is the space I have to work with for a larger mount, and possible a Euro Mount. Would appreciate any ideas from those with limited space.

Aloha

 

[CD24]

Short answer, they are big. The quarter turn doesn't save you much. Thats a cape kudu on the right and is only 43 inches. Kudu stands out 32 inches and the gemsbok is 28.

 

[375Fox]

A gemsbok mount with a hard left or hard right turn looks really good and won’t come out off wall as far.

 

[Hunt anything]

Wall pedestal seems your best bet, but on the wall you showed a kudu wall pedestal facing right and the gemsbok facing left sort of looking at one another would look outstanding. My 2 cents, but I’m a taxidermy addict.

 

[Justbryan]

That is a lot more space than it looks. Floor pedestals will help. You can get a couple big plains game and many medium and small plains game. I have a small wall like this that has 10 shoulder mounts of plains game on it with a Kudu in the center, Blue Wildebeest on one side and a Nayla on the other. It also has a bush buck, 2 impala, etc. Some animals can be mounted on your other wall also.

A big Kudu does take up a lot of space but warthogs, duikers, steenbok, reedbuck, impala, bush pig, zebra or giraffe rug, and hartebeest all take up much less room. Waterbuck, Kudu, Cape Buffalo, Gemsbuck, Sable, and Roan all take up a lot of space.

So decide on a combination that works for you.

My option, when I got home was to mount them a couple at a time till I filled the space. Made pillows our of hides and euro mounted the skulls.

 

[Firebird]

If you have opportunity, stop and talk to a taxidermist-have then show you some “sneak” poses that would work great in that space. You can go online to McKenzie taxidermy supply and find lots of forms and ideas-they may not all fit your animal but it gives you some suggestions.
I suggest you mount the kudu and gemsbok as well as several smaller ones and do some European mounts as well. Nothing says “Africa” quite like a zebra skin!

 

[Nyati]

All euro-mounts for me !

 

[Tundra Tiger]

It's all perspective: I wish I had your walls.

I have two shoulder mounts in the works, and several Euros. My solution is I'm planning on an addition to the house this summer. Seriously.

 

[Hunt anything]

This is 3 pictures of a wall very similar to yours.Opposite walls on a closed in garage.

 

[Bivy]

A triple stack pedestal is a great space saver and can accommodate medium-size antelope as well. The customization adds quite a bit to the price, but you only need to buy one pedestal base.

Wall pedestals save some space and I like the more natural, fluid pose. Red hartebeest and wildebeest make excellent low profile wall pedestals.

Kudu and eland are just large animals. A kudu bull is comparable to a bull elk; my kudu wall pedestal sticks out ~38”. Horn clearance coupled with a natural poses limits ability to tighten those to the wall.

Based on my experience, all African game are larger than I anticipated. Kudu are huge, warthogs are bigger, mountain zebra are gigantic…etc. etc.

Here’s a blue wildebeest wall pedestal and waterbuck alert shoulder.

 

[Buffalo1]

I too live in a smaller size dwelling, so space is precious. Here are some photos of two walls in a room that illustrates how much can be displayed in limited space. Sorry I don't know how to rotate photos, but you get the picture. The picture above the TV is a photo I had put to canvas finish.

 

[rookhawk]

In my opinion, shoulder mounts take up too much room. What I recommend is you invest ONCE in a pedestal mount and have the taxidermist notified you intend to add to the pedestal in the future. He will create invisible fittings so you can add more heads to the pedestal later on. You might have an Gemsbok pedestal to start, adding a kudu, eland, bushbuck, or other to it later in a grouping.

For gemsbok, they are so damned tall a pedestal is really the only way to go if you have low ceilings.

A three-mount pedestal of Kudu-Bushbuck-Sitatunga looks very nice, as does an eland/kudu/bushbuck. It occupies one very large corner of a room and allows the tallest mounts to sit lowest in the arrangement.

 

[Charlie P]

No matter how much space you have, you eventually run out. BUT NOT YET

 

[VertigoBE]

No matter how much space you have, you eventually run out. BUT NOT YET

Looking very tidy @Charlie P !
Love that moose rack too

 

[oahufish]

Short answer, they are big. The quarter turn doesn't save you much. Thats a cape kudu on the right and is only 43 inches. Kudu stands out 32 inches and the gemsbok is 28. View attachment 459247

Thanks for the great pic, your room looks very similar to mine. I'm leaning towards just going with a Gemsbok wall pedestal mount with a hard turn and a Kudu Euro Mount and possibly an Impala wall pedestal.

 

[CD24]

If I had it to do again I would probably save the money on taxidermy and go with photos. They are a pain to move and they are very expensive. I could have done a plains game hunt for the cost of the taxidermy.

 

[oahufish]

A lot of folks are telling me that as well.
But on a first and maybe only hunt, it just wouldn’t feel right to not bring something back. Think I’d have regrets later if I didn’t!
Kids can always deal with them when I’m gone

 

[oahufish]

I too live in a smaller size dwelling, so space is precious. Here are some photos of two walls in a room that illustrates how much can be displayed in limited space. Sorry I don't know how to rotate photos, but you get the picture. The picture above the TV is a photo I had put to canvas finish.

View attachment 459650View attachment 459651

I like that a lot!

 

[curtism1234]

Honestly I think there is room for a gemsbok and kudu mount and then do an impala euro. If only 1, then gemsbok bc imo a kudu euro looks better than a gems euro.

 

[Hunt anything]

I have often thought of going the video, journal and photo only route. I do all of these things plus taxidermy. The way I look at it how often would I look at them, for me I watch the videos maybe twice a year, look at my photos once a month or so and read my journal once a year however I look at my trophies daily, even if I just pass through my trophy room the memories come flooding back. I am by no means wealthy and really have to pinch pennies to go to Africa every 3 or 4 years. This works for me, it’s neither right nor wrong but it’s just me.