What’s the plan for your taxidermy after you die?

[thinhorn_AK]

It's definitely not like selling dad's house or old pickup.

He already moved out of his house into a townhouse in the city, the old pickup is some sort of a Volvo. He’s really downsized over the past few years but he keeps buying guns. Some of them are great, surplus stuff, old weatherby rifles, marlins, etc. some of the other stuff is just things he bought on impulse like some semi auto savage 17hmr for example or a Taurus judge. Those are just things I’d probably sell or something.

 

[Scottf270]

Trust says to let those who may want a mount, to have it. Some of my bigger mounts are to be sold or donated to a game agency or even Cabela's or such. I'm sure some will get pitched.
My Kodiak bear , moose, and cougar mounts are too good to throw away. Hope to let others enjoy them after I'm gone.

 

[EastHumboldt]

I’ve never shot anything worth stuffing, but this one time at band camp…. Came back from a trip to South Dakota and one of my buddies said come on over and go to the taxidermist with me to drop off my rack. (Also not worth stuffing). Well we had a couple drinks and he talked me into getting this tiny dink 4 point I’d shot turned into a shoulder mount. Drunk taxidermist hiring, It’s like drunk dialing, you can’t take it back….

Anyway I had that little guy hung on my office wall for years. We called him Buckie LaDeere. Gave him away when I moved and all I have left are a few sets of antlers in the garage rafters. My son has a bar/ restaurant and I keep meaning to put ‘em on plaques so he can hang ‘em there, and brag to his friends and customers. “Yes… my dad shot that dink in the Rubies in 1992”

 

[Blockcaver]

Went thru this with taxidermy and firearms when we moved to British Columbia from the US 16 years ago. Decided which mounts, skulls, antlers, Euros and firearms we wanted and moved those. The rest got sold either as taxidermy (basically for the cost of the taxidermy) or dog chews....which was a bunch of antlers on skull plates. There was a decent market for it back in '09.

Firearms went to Cabelas, basically got 70% of what they thought they'd sell them for.

No real regrets slimming down the collection....well maybe with a couple shotguns, haha, but none with the taxidermy and antlers.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

The buck deer I'm holding in my avatar to the left is the biggest I have taken in my 70 years of hunting mule deer. It has a 31" spread and it is a skull mounted on a small plaque. I have a few mounts on the walls of our great room, but not getting any more. Anything else goes in the garage where most of them are now.

 

[RockAndSage]

Donate to the DCNR (pa park service ) and let the general public see good quality taxidermy up close. See what animal should look like and animals they might not ever get the chance to see in the wild.

That's a good idea to work out something with local fish & game, museums, school biology departments, sheriff's departments, etc, at least in the places where people appreciate them culturally.

 

[bullmtn]

Living alone with no kids, I have an onus to not be a burden to my family when I pass, I keep my guns/tool collection to only what I use frequently, my house is fairly sparse, and as for taxidermy between my subpar shooting and hunting skills, having high standards for shoulder mounts (185 mule deer, 170 white tail, and elk... well we don't talk about elk) and a small bank account my shoulder mounts are nonexistent. I have a collection of euro mounts that should be easily converts to dog bones. I figure as I age, I will skim down the collection to memorable mounts, especially during moves.

 

[Carr5vols]

Make your will very clear, like mine is. I shall be quartered, put in game bags, and backpacked into the wilderness to my favorite spots (or points as far away as I can find on a map in my dying days). My mounts must be returned to where they were harvested, regardless of land ownership changing.

My friends should try to die before me; this endeavor will build character in the next generation.

I actually like this idea for the mounts. Once I read this, I text my two hunting buddies and spoke to my boys about all of them doing this if I die before them. They all agreed and thought was a cool idea...

 

[displacedtexan]

Honestly, once im gone, I couldn't care less what anyone does with anything of mine. Im trying to pare down as we speak just so I dont have to deal with so much...

I have the same feeling, minus the paring down. Lol

But I don't accumulate lots of each thing. I've got a couple nice rifles rifles, couple of shotguns, couple of handguns, and an enormous tool collection. But it's the same, a couple nice examples of everything.

One of my best friends and primary hunting buddy is 15 years younger.

He's responsible for everything in my shop.

I don't care what happens to it, take what you want and give the rest to whoever will use it.

 

[Britt-dog]

They will be used as the fuel for my Funeral Pyre.

 

[wyosteve]

Fwiw, the last time I was in a nearby Cabelas, they had essentially no mounts except what was on their 'mountain'. Bass Pro must have eliminated them, so not sure that's a viable option for old mounts anymore.

 

[MonstroMuley]

Gunsmith's & Genealogy Learned Lesson: Inherited couple of Grandpa's Family Ranch Rifles ... old Marlin .45-70 1895 Govt. Lever Actions w/Octagon Barrel had alot of Family Hunting History behind them, one of the stocks burned from farm barn fire ... Discussion with several GunSmiths on Refurbishing firearms, They emphatically emphasized, "Don't Touch It!" "Keep As Is", preserve original ... real value to old firearms are the "Documented Family Stories" behind them (i.e. Big Bucks taken, where, when, which firearm, under what conditions ... the Humorous Stories!)

Same anology holds true with Family Taxidermy Mounts ... It's the "Documented Unique Stories" that makes them valuable to Family Members and Others ... "Preserve the History Behind the Hunt!"
"Willing" or "Gifting" associated firearm with taxidermy mounts and stories provides even further intrinsic sentimental value to Family Members ... I always include the notched tags too (if available) ...
The "Next Gen" will Thank You!

Documenting can be tedious and time consuming ... However, Genealogists lead the way on New AI "Scribe" Documentation Tools now available to compile and "frame-up" or "flesh out" those old stories and there are many easy tools now available to assist:

Free AI Tools to KICK START Writing Your Family History (The Rest is Up to YOU)

Discover the best AI Family History Writing tools to kickstart your project! Learn how AI Family History Writing aids brainstorming and structuring.

www.familyhistoryfanatics.com

One shouldn't trust AI in it's entirety "AI is the Assist, Not the Author" and "final proof reading required", but sure helps "kick start" the process faster & easier...

Just Think ... There are probably a Few Great Historical Lost Stories behind the Sagamore Hill "Teddy" Roosevelt Mounts...

 

[RockAndSage]

Gunsmith's & Genealogy Learned Lesson: Inherited couple of Grandpa's Family Ranch Rifles ... old Marlin .45-70 1895 Govt. Lever Actions w/Octagon Barrel had alot of Family Hunting History behind them, one of the stocks burned from farm barn fire ... Discussion with several GunSmiths on Refurbishing firearms, They emphatically emphasized, "Don't Touch It!" "Keep As Is", preserve original ... real value to old firearms are the "Documented Family Stories" behind them (i.e. Big Bucks taken, where, when, which firearm, under what conditions ... the Humorous Stories!)

Same anology holds true with Family Taxidermy Mounts ... It's the "Documented Unique Stories" that makes them valuable to Family Members and Others ... "Preserve the History Behind the Hunt!"
"Willing" or "Gifting" associated firearm with taxidermy mounts and stories provides even further intrinsic sentimental value to Family Members ... I always include the notched tags too (if available) ...
The "Next Gen" will Thank You!

Documenting can be tedious and time consuming ... However, Genealogists lead the way on New AI "Scribe" Documentation Tools now available to compile and "frame-up" or "flesh out" those old stories and there are many easy tools now available to assist:

Free AI Tools to KICK START Writing Your Family History (The Rest is Up to YOU)

Discover the best AI Family History Writing tools to kickstart your project! Learn how AI Family History Writing aids brainstorming and structuring.

www.familyhistoryfanatics.com

One shouldn't trust AI in it's entirety "AI is the Assist, Not the Author" and "final proof reading required", but sure helps "kick start" the process faster & easier...

Just Think ... There are probably a Few Great Historical Lost Stories behind the Sagamore Hill "Teddy" Roosevelt Mounts...

Good points. Taking the time two write a page or two of the story of the hunt that you can keep with each mount may make it more meaningful to future generations.

Especially as it gets harder and harder to get tags for some of these animals.

 

[roosiebull]

Most of us that have been hunting for a while have quite a few mounts/rugs/antlers etc. I was looking at my hunting room the other day and I thought to myself, what’s going to happen to all this stuff after I’m gone? Sure it means a lot to me but I’m not sure anyone else feels the same.

I see mounts for sale online and even on a big animal you almost can’t make back what you spent on the taxidermy bill. How many of Dad’s animals do your kids want to take? Dog chews? Sell them to a sporting goods store?

What’s your plan?

That won’t be up to me

 

[Marbles]

Kids play with the skins if I bother to tan them. My wife likes bugs, so she keeps beatles and we do our own skulls.

Otherwise I save the money for things that matter more.

My caribou skull is a plant trellis in the vegetable garden at the moment.

 

[HunterGatherer]

My plan is that by the time I die I will be a hunting legend and they’ll just turn my whole house into a museum and charge admission to look at my mounts