Wall mount question

[Speedster]

I have a question that someone might be able to answer. Going on my first trip to Africa and trying to figure out room for mounts. My dilemma is I have only a 7 foot ceiling where I want my mounts. I have considered a pedestal for larger mounts (gemsbok and kudu for sure and possibly waterbuck). However, I was thinking of possibly mounting them low on the wall and then mounting an "array" of smaller antelope (impala, blesbok, even a wildebeest maybe) higher beside them. Trying to think outside the box and visualize if this would work. Any thoughts?

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

The 7 foot ceiling is going to be a challenge. If the horns are touching the ceiling, the bottom of a shoulder mounted kudu, gemsbok or waterbuck will be somewhere about 3 feet off of the floor or even lower. They also stick out from the wall about 3 to 4 feet. If your room is large, the wall with low mounts can end up look cool, but if it's a small room, coupled with low ceilings, it might be time to consider remodeling or moving (both of which puts a serious dent into the hunting budget). I just hung up an eland and it sticks out about 52 inches from the wall.

You have your trophies done as "wall pedestals" and try hanging them on the wall. If you don't like the look, build a few wood pedestals and place some of the trophies on the floor.

 

[Red Leg]

I had a similar problem in our home in Virginia where our low-ceiling basement was my "trophy room." I flanked the sofa with a pedestal mounted kudu and oryx. Guidance to the taxidermist was keep the horn tips below 6' 11". They looked very nice and, obviously, work very well in the taller trophy room here in Texas. With the exception of a leopard, everything else was a Euro mount, and they, fortunately, will work almost anywhere.

 

[Jaws]

On the up side, your trophies will appear larger

My vote would be for the pedestal mounts, I personally prefer those as it seems a bit more "modern" than the rather "traditional" wall mounts and can be shifted around if more trophies will be added in the room later.

 

[Ryan]

7 foot ceiling is a challenge. Here's an 8-foot ceiling with a wall pedestal kudu and some skull mounts to give you an idea how low things will go. The horn tips are only inches from the ceiling. The bottom of the chest is about 2 1/2 feet from the floor.

 

[Ryan]

Ok, things are being difficult uploading....

 

[gizmo]

The 7 foot ceiling is going to be a challenge. If the horns are touching the ceiling, the bottom of a shoulder mounted kudu, gemsbok or waterbuck will be somewhere about 3 feet off of the floor or even lower. They also stick out from the wall about 3 to 4 feet. If your room is large, the wall with low mounts can end up look cool, but if it's a small room, coupled with low ceilings, it might be time to consider remodeling or moving (both of which puts a serious dent into the hunting budget). I just hung up an eland and it sticks out about 52 inches from the wall.

You have your trophies done as "wall pedestals" and try hanging them on the wall. If you don't like the look, build a few wood pedestals and place some of the trophies on the floor.

Thank is pretty solid advice. Floor pedestal mounts is a good option but just make sure the base doesn’t get to high. Many of the store bought generic Taxidermy bases will put you up into the ceiling with a Kudu or another tall horned animal. A recent safari I did had a similar issue so I built shorter bases to combat this problem.

 

[Ridgewalker]

This is a 7’ ceiling. My opinion now is if you can’t mount a gemsbok with its front leg socks, the neck isn’t that attractive. I’m thinking of having this one reworked to only a face mount as close to the wall as possible. My basement cave is a small space.

 

[Ridgewalker]

My next one will probably be like this.

This is my small space waiting for Cape buffalo (euro), bushbuck, duiker, croc (skull), eland (euro), black wildebeest (face), sable (shoulder), etc to arrive in the spring.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@Ridgewalker: That's a 7 foot ceiling? It must be higher than that, look at the clearance above the Duke's hat. Maybe the cutout isn't to life-size scale. BTW, good looking room.

 

[wesheltonj]

10 foot ceiling

 

[Nyati]

Euro mounts will help.

 

[JimP]

When you are dealing with a low ceiling you just have to get creative.

Here are mine in a room that is still being redone with a 7' ceiling.

 

[jeff]

I did a pedestal on a kudu that had a turn and the head was tipped back so it could be higher in the room.

 

[buck wild]

Full sneak or semi sneak poses will also help with ceiling clearance

 

[Steven Pagel]

I would ask your taxidermist to get creative. I’m mounting my own Kudu but I purchased a wall pedastal form and then cut the angle in the back even more to keep it from sticking out of the wall so far. I would think they would be able to take a sneak form and turn it into a wall pedestal mount...that way you get the mount higher up and one that doesn’t stick out so far

 

[huntinlabs]

Thank is pretty solid advice. Floor pedestal mounts is a good option but just make sure the base doesn’t get to high. Many of the store bought generic Taxidermy bases will put you up into the ceiling with a Kudu or another tall horned animal. A recent safari I did had a similar issue so I built shorter bases to combat this problem.View attachment 256534View attachment 256535

how tall are those bases?

 

[huntinlabs]

Ok, things are being difficult uploading....View attachment 256475

How do you have your giraffe mounted?

 

[gizmo]

how tall are those bases?

I want to say both of those bases were around 28-30 inches. Thing is I build them by hand so I modify the sizes depending upon the clients needs. Also, it’s not like these are the only bases I can make. I designed two more yesterday that I will be building for clients in the near future that are completely different. Both bases will be something no one has ever seen before.

 

[Ryan]

How do you have your giraffe mounted?

About 5 feet of neck on a wide base. Which sort of answers some other questions here about a low base for pedestals. That base is only about a foot tall.