How many inches to justify a shoulder mount for you?

[roosiebull]

what about the easier to obtain and lesser desired Atlantic walrus.

Before this thread I didn’t even realize guided walrus hunting was a thing. Looks like it might be kind of fun to be to be honest ….

euro

only shoulder mounting a pacific! i'm sure it would be fun... different type of hunting. i certainly wouldn't turn down a walrus hunt... there are lots of other hunts i would do with the money, but i agree, it would be fun

 

[Laramie]

The room you have should dictate if you mount or not imo. You either have the space for an elk shoulder or you don't. I built a large man cave with 14' ceilings so I would have room for my mounts. I really like them. That said, I only have one elk shoulder mount. He is just over 350". I have seen mounts of 300" bulls that looked great and mounts of bills bigger than mine that looked terrible... Mainly because of the space where they hang.

I am also in the camp that the animal should have some meaning to deserve a mount. I'm all likelihood, you will know when you harvest. If I'm doubt, do a euro.

 

[nphunter]

350” or a super awesome 330+ bull.

 

[7Bartman]

About this big

5.5 and 7.5 years old. Both P&Y, but just barely. I don't care one bit as the memory trumps the inches for me. I doubt I'll ever get another shoulder mount no matter how big. I don't regret doing it. The only thing I don't like is not being able to touch them. It sounds weird, but my tactile senses enjoy touching the antlers.

I've posted this before, but some of you might enjoy if you haven't seen it. More than a notion to get one on the wall.

 

[-bowfreak-]

I had no plans of ever mounting an elk. It was going to be a euro for me. Then I killed a bull with my bow, my first, that grossed in the mid 340s. Not only was it a great bull for me, the call in was like a Primos video. The interaction with the bull, my shot, the recovery, the packout and hanging with friends makes it off the charts on the memory scale for me.

The chances of me killing a bigger bull in my lifetime is extremely low. I forked over the cash to have it mounted. I don't have tons of experience but a true 300" bull with with archery gear and DIY on public land is a great animal. Especially for guys traveling cross country.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[wannakillabigbull]

To me the magical number was 300" assuming the hunt was memorable. I'd always wanted to "kill a big bull" and ended up mounting my first big one, well, big to me anyway. Solo on a leftover tag, this dog had his day. Terrible pictures but the bull had really cool character and I knew he'd make a good mount with his gorgeous winter cape.

I was living in an apartment at the time but planning to buy a house. I made a deal with the wife that we'd buy a house with a spot for him, as long as she was allowed to lightly decorate him during the holidays. Marriage is all about compromise!

 

[5MilesBack]

I made a deal with the wife that we'd buy a house with a spot for him, as long as she was allowed to lightly decorate him during the holidays. Marriage is all about compromise!

I just looked at one of my bulls.......the same kind of Christmas hat is still on him from last year. My daughter generally wraps the Christmas lights that go around the stairwell railing around his rack as well. Another bull is wearing a cowboy hat right now. That's OK.......they seem to enjoy them too.

 

[AntlerFever]

To me the magical number was 300" assuming the hunt was memorable. I'd always wanted to "kill a big bull" and ended up mounting my first big one, well, big to me anyway. Solo on a leftover tag, this dog had his day. Terrible pictures but the bull had really cool character and I knew he'd make a good mount with his gorgeous winter cape.

I was living in an apartment at the time but planning to buy a house. I made a deal with the wife that we'd buy a house with a spot for him, as long as she was allowed to lightly decorate him during the holidays. Marriage is all about compromise!

that is a great looking bull. Love the back tines , great character.

any idea what this guy would score. They seem so hard to estimate in pictures.

 

[wind gypsy]

Probably 380"+ which will never happen. Unless/until I get a shop or man cave built, I have nowhere to put an elk shoulder mount.

I didn't give the wife the opportunity to have input on my sheep mount so I defer a bit to her wishes about our house not being a taxidermy showroom for other animals.

 

[gelton]

I have a lodge-style home with 25 ft ceilings and a large stone fireplace going all the way to the top. About the only thing that would work there is a shoulder-mounted elk or moose and since I don't moose hunt, or see a moose hunt in my immediate future, it's been reserved for a wall hanger of an elk.

I have whitetails mounted but even the biggest would look tiny there.

My wife reminds me every time I go out about what a great place that would be for a nice elk.

 

[AntlerFever]

Here’s another one for y’all ….

Shoot or not shoot
Shoulder mount or euro mount (if not one of the ones above that only does euros)

For me this is a shoot and shoulder.
I referenced this bull earlier which was killed by someone in camp while I was on a mule deer hunt. Was very surprised to hear that the bull had been passed on numerous times by guided hunters over the last few years. Heavy 7 on one side with several palmated tines.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

that is a great looking bull. Love the back tines , great character.

any idea what this guy would score. They seem so hard to estimate in pictures.

My taxidermist taped him at 314"; I've never scored him myself to verify, though. Scores are great but they certainly don't tell the whole story, which is why tying whether you'd mount him to a score is tough. Character/uniqueness count for a lot in my book, like the bull in the post above.

 

[PNW bow hunter]

Not many have killed a 300 inch bull, no matter what weapon they hunt with.

Unless your spending some big $ on your guided hunt and/or drew a great tag, I highly doubt you have really good odds of targeting bulls in the 350 class.

For reference a bull needs to be 260 inches to make it in the Pope and Young record book

A mule deer needs to be 145 inches to make Pope and Young record book.

That would probably give you an idea of what a representative of the species is.
330,340,350 and up are big and rare. Not saying they don’t get killed each year, but remember there are tens of thousands of people elk hunting across the west each year.

 

[AntlerFever]

My taxidermist taped him at 314"; I've never scored him myself to verify, though. Scores are great but they certainly don't tell the whole story, which is why tying whether you'd mount him to a score is tough. Character/uniqueness count for a lot in my book, like the bull in the post above.

yeah i would mount that bad boy if you told me he was 275 all day long . Kind of why I started this thread , to get an idea of what is what. I’ve killed enough whitetails to know what is going to shrink on the ground, and wall and look underwhelming compared to how it looks on the hoof. Still doesn’t mean mounting is a no go if the story/experience is right but over the years I have learned that there are certain characteristics of whitetail than make them shrink compared to how they looked through a scope, or sometimes even grow once you are standing over them. I have absolutely no reference on elk and this first hunt I will go on but absolutely not be my last.

 

[TradArcher]

I live in a tiny cabin that visitors have named "the hobbit house" so no shoulder mounts of anything for me unless I could build an addition for them!

I prefer euro mounts anyway so it works out. If I had an elk shoulder mount I wouldn't be able to sit in most of my living room.

 

[Moserkr]

No one said it yet so…. My buddy got into hunting later in life ~30. Shot his first archery elk (and archery animal) last year and it was a spike. Got it shoulder mounted and Ive got to say it looks pretty good. Dont see many of those. Money, wife, n space werent a problem either so it will be displayed on his growing trophy wall in the living room.

 

[Haro450]

Anything bigger than the mounts I have now. The ones I have now are the 280. One being a bull I killed when I was 14 and the other my first archery 6x6. A non-typical might also get mounted.

 

[TBossHSauce]

That's a high-quality problem brother!

We must be married to the same woman. Not complaining at all though. She will let me do a horn-on-panel but no skulls. My compromise are the big predators, bears, lions, etc. Those get rugs/mounts and I get to keep the skull.

 

[GringoBling]

A solid 320 5x5 or even 6x6 is a damn nice elk. Very Very few hunters actually kill bulls much over 300". I think that is where I would draw the line.

Well I must be the odd man out here...I just got all 3 deer I shot last year mounted and 1 from the year before. I have a bunch Euros and am going to do more of those. Plus I have a bunch of other mounts and my wife's. We have 25ish mounts in our house from full body Tahr to ducks. 12 are shoulder mounts. Add on another 8 or 9 euros.

I agree 100%. I depends on where you hunt, but for me in Southwest Colorado, a 300 bull is big. I have two shoulder mounts, one is about 310 and the other one is 325. I have three more smaller euros. Shoulder mounts are huge and take up lots of space and the spread is quite impressive. From top to bottom, they are about 6 feet tall.

For all the guys saying they wouldn’t shoulder anything unless it was above 340, there just aren’t that many bulls that size taken.

 

[truehaun]

I diy euro mounted my first buck, just a small 3 point. I finally drew LE Utah elk tag. Planning on doing a euro again unless it’s over 320 or so I’d start to consider shoulder. 380+ I would definitely shoulder mount it.