Your shoulder mounts

[Bigfeet]

I agree with Robin Hood.....the Mckenzie 6900 series and the Mears forms are generally my go to forms as well. If I had to pick one of the two, I think Mears would get the nod, but that's just me.

If it's a big frame I may do ears forward but generally opt for ears slightly back. A semi sneak with a slight turn one way or another generally depending on a look I remember during the hunt. Wall pedestals are a good choice with a hard turn if there's some characteristic you're trying to show off such as heavy mass or abnormal points. Remember, some full uprights take up a lot of wall space height wise depending on how tall the rack is and the form you choose....and just my personal opinion "most" of the full upright mounts I've seen don't look natural nor do they look that great to me. However, that's just my opinion.

Mears forms are available through McKenzie and Mears. I've heard the McKenzie Mears are different compared to the Mears that come direct from Mears (hope that makes sense!). Do you have a preference for which Mears?

 

[Article 4]

Ill share one more, only because I have not seen a ton done this way....technically not a shoulder maybe - maybe it is just on a pedestal
Regal Kudu

 

[West.mass.hunter]

Thanks. I don’t know what form was used for it. I was just told a wall pedestal mount, but not specific like a form number.

Ok thanks. I'll look into it. Very nice pose

 

[buffybr]

I'm not a fan of Euro mounts. I think that most wild animals are beautiful, alive in the wild, and if I'm going to put that animal on my wall, I want my taxidermist to preserve the beauty of that animal. To me, a Euro mount is just the skull of a dead animal.

I have 80 taxidermied mounts in my house. Most are shoulder mounts, 16 are pedestal or wall pedestal mounts, I have 2 fish and 2 bird mounts, 2 half mounts, and 8 full body mounts varying in size from a Wolverine to a Musk ox, and a rug mount of my first black bear. Only 2 of my mounts are whitetails...my first 5x5 and a 5x7, both are shoulder mounts. I'm not married, and none of my mounts bother my Golden Retriever.

 

[West.mass.hunter]

I'm not a fan of Euro mounts. I think that most wild animals are beautiful, alive in the wild, and if I'm going to put that animal on my wall, I want my taxidermist to preserve the beauty of that animal. To me, a Euro mount is just the skull of a dead animal.

I have 80 taxidermied mounts in my house. Most are shoulder mounts, 16 are pedestal or wall pedestal mounts, I have 2 fish and 2 bird mounts, 2 half mounts, and 8 full body mounts varying in size from a Wolverine to a Musk ox, and a rug mount of my first black bear. Only 2 of my mounts are whitetails...my first 5x5 and a 5x7, both are shoulder mounts. I'm not married, and none of my mounts bother my Golden Retriever.

That's a hell of a collection. Taking a sable is easily my #1 dream hunt and you've got 2 that I can see. I'm envious

 

[buffybr]

That's a hell of a collection. Taking a sable is easily my #1 dream hunt and you've got 2 that I can see. I'm envious

Thanks, those 2 Sables in that pic are a Common Sable from South Africa and a Roosevelt Sable from Mozambique.

Before I shot those Sables, I was on another hunt in South Africa and while we were tracking a Bontebok that I had shot, he stopped under a tree where a Sable bull was standing. I joked to my PH that I hoped that I wouldn't miss the Bontebok and hit the Sable, and my PH replied "that would be a very expensive miss." I hit the Bontebok.

My first hunt in Mozambique was for a Leopard and a Sable. The Outfitter put me with a young PH as his first client. We were lucky and got my Leopard the second night and then concentrated on a Sable. At that time I thought that the female Sables were brown and that the males were black.

One day we spotted a lone black Sable in a field, and my PH said that he was a good one, so I shot it. When I walked up to it I immediately saw that it was a she, and I felt terrible. Again, I was very lucky as when we brought this cow Sable back to camp, the Outfitter said that he had an agreement with the local school to provide them with animals to feed the children, and that this Sable would go to the school and I would not be charged for it. That's when I learned that mature Sable cows could also be black.

I did not kill a bull Sable on that hunt, but we did see and I could not get a shot at what my PH said was a "monster" bull.

The next winter I kept thinking about that "monster" bull, so I called the Outfitter and asked if another client had killed him. He said no, so I booked a hunt for the first week of the next season. With the Outfitter's 690,000 acre consession, we never did see that "monster" bull again, but early in the hunt we were driving through an open area and the head tracker stopped the truck and said a young sable in a gin trap had crossed in front of us.

A gin trap in a homemade leg trap made out of vehicle leaf springs, much like the old grizzly bear traps of 100+ years ago. We followed the trail and found the young bull with his front leg in the trap. The trap had broken his lower front leg bone in half. My Outfitter/PH asked if I would shoot him and we then had excellent tasting young sable camp meat.

Later that week we were able to find this beautiful 41" bull that is in the picture that I posted earlier.

 

[Primal-Understanding]

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