Need help with broken Kudu euro

[Chago]

Hey guys. So got my delivery today from my trip last year in Limpopo. I was not thrilled when opening the box. I did all euros and a few cool things with my giraffe. But they clearly over cooked everything. All the bones are so brittle even if I squeeze ever so slightly it crumbles. Of 6 euros, all need repair work. Luckily for 5 of them I can totally get out the super glue and spend a little time fixing them. My giraffe rug came out great.

But one of my kudu euros face is literally broken in half. And I know it's not shipping. Because the actual plastic wrap went around the two broken pieces individually then around both keeping them together. I highly doubt in shipping they seperated and re wrapped themselves separately. Anyhow I'll get in touch with this taxidermist tomorrow. But wanted to see if anyone had any ideas here. Because the skull cap and jaw are seperate. There is now no way to mount it. It needs the jaw to hold it straight onto the wall. Unless someone else has another idea of how to mount this ? Skull caps I'm not sure look right for kudu like they do on white tail? Any way I can re attach this with glue. But then mount it where it won't put too much stress on the glue joint ???

Much appreciated. Thanks

 

[BLJC30]

Only thing that I can think of would be to glue it back together and put it on a plaque. Run a screw in both pieces.
If you don’t mind me asking, what taxidermist did you use over there?

 

[meigsbucks]

A taxidermist might be able to obtain another euro and sub your horns.
There are a couple other options.
At SCI 2020, there was a company that had lighted acrylic skulls with real horns. Looked kind of cool.
Have these horns made into wall sconces and go back to Africa and shoot a bigger one.

 

[shootist~]

Ditto on requesting the name of the taxidermist. Someone to avoid, obviously.
The owe you big-time.

 

[R.M.C.]

Dang, that's no good! Who did the work if you don't mind my asking?

 

[375Fox]

If you can’t come up with a solution you like for euro mount, the horns make really nice corner posts. I’ve had a lot of trophies come back over boiled from dip and pack. I think you unfortunately need to have an official euro mount done there to guarantee it comes back in good condition, not just dip and pack skulls.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

Hey guys. So got my delivery today from my trip last year in Limpopo. I was not thrilled when opening the box. I did all euros and a few cool things with my giraffe. But they clearly over cooked everything. All the bones are so brittle even if I squeeze ever so slightly it crumbles. Of 6 euros, all need repair work. Luckily for 5 of them I can totally get out the super glue and spend a little time fixing them. My giraffe rug came out great.

But one of my kudu euros face is literally broken in half. And I know it's not shipping. Because the actual plastic wrap went around the two broken pieces individually then around both keeping them together. I highly doubt in shipping they seperated and re wrapped themselves separately. Anyhow I'll get in touch with this taxidermist tomorrow. But wanted to see if anyone had any ideas here. Because the skull cap and jaw are seperate. There is now no way to mount it. It needs the jaw to hold it straight onto the wall. Unless someone else has another idea of how to mount this ? Skull caps I'm not sure look right for kudu like they do on white tail? Any way I can re attach this with glue. But then mount it where it won't put too much stress on the glue joint ???

Much appreciated. Thanks

View attachment 496604

I had something similar occur with a deer skull. I used a two part epoxy to put it back together. Just keep the glue away from the visible part of the fracture. I haven't had any other problems with it, and it's been many years. Even survived two house moves.

BTW, if worse comes to worse, a kudu horn mount can look very nice, but it shouldn't have to come to that. It isn't right, and I'm sorry for your disappointment.

So what company did that to your hard earned trophies? Other hunters should know who to avoid.

 

[Aaron N]

Maybe you can also ask your outfitter if he has a spare skull laying around? I can’t see why they wouldn’t. Maybe he can get one to the taxidermist, and the taxidermist can do the rest.

Involving the outfitter may speed up the process

 

[JimP]

I would just go to a local taxidermist and talk to them to see what it'll take to fix it for what you want to do with it.

I know that for North American game animals you can purchase a plastic skull that looks quite real. You then just attach the horns to it.

 

[dchum]

At least for the kudu you could put each horn on either side of you TV. Maybe even get them glossed up and or placed on stands.

What I think I will do if I take a kill a kudu this summer.
Really a bummer that some places can even get a simple Euro done right.

Doesn’t take away the hunt and it is still a beautiful set of horns to mount

 

[curtism1234]

I think I would save the hassle & time of trying to get a replacement direct from Africa. There will be plenty of donor skulls here in the States on eBay and used taxidermy stores for a few hundred bucks if you shop around.

Or order the fake kudu skull and see what it looks like for less than $150. You can return it. Or have it painted with the south african flag, kudu silhouette at sunrise, etc.

I do like the idea of displaying the horns horizontally like samurai swords

 

[Carson]

I posted recently about some taxidermy and shipping issues myself. My kudu skull wasn't as bad as yours, but I was able to fix it up with some Elmer's glue. I agree with someone above that you could maybe screw both pieces of the skull in separately to the plaque on top of each other.

 

[NTX]

Your skull can probably be fixed with epoxy but I would personal use a replica skull like this https://www.mckenziesp.com/mobile/EM127-P16627.aspx

 

[BRICKBURN]

That skull looks like it was left in boiling water for a week to become that fragile.
Damn....

 

[Hunt anything]

I would like to know who the taxidermist was as well. He had to know the fragility of the skulls. So my question would be what kind of a person would ship something that they had to know would fall apart? It would have been simple for them to get a replacement in country and just tell the truth about what happened.

 

[Tim Blackwell]

Reproduction skull from McKenzie

 

[Houston375HH]

Similar issue with a kudu I had done in Namibia. It - along with multiple other mounts - were garbage. I took the horns to my 'go-to taxidermy' and they sourced a real kudu skull and matched everything perfectly. I wasn't too excited about the synthetic skull, but that was my back-up option if required.

 

[Firebird]

Glueing it together (super glue gel is what I use) and then having it “dipped” will hide a lot of damage. Also mounting the skull with some habitat can hide a lot of breakage and can be done as a wall mount. These are just quick examples I found on the web, there are more and better examples out there-sorry for your disappointment on your crate-that should be a Christmas morning type day

 

[Foxi]

normaly no problem for a taxidermy
when nothing helps,use synthetic skulls for red deer.
USD 70.- round

 

[Chago]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I messaged the Taxidermist this morning. I think I will give them a chance to correct it before I name them publicly. But yes you are all right, these were allllll over boiled. I have a giraffe skull thats like 1" thick and even it is crumbling at the slightest touch. I am going to clear coat all of these myself. I know it helps harden it all when I have done it on deer and elk in the past.

As per the kudu in question. Yes there is no repairing it. Half of the face is not even here. It clearly broke in Africa. I can tell because he wrapped the two parts separate, then wrapped the two wraps together holding it together from the outside like its one. So when I cut the first plastic I had two pieces, then cut the second plastic and saw a upper and a lower. There are no broken pieces in the wrapping. So its missing eye sockets, nostril etc.

I will look at the replicas for sure. Thanks