Your shoulder mounts

[BWheels]

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.

Great Sable! Heading to Zimbabwe in august and hoping to get something similar. What caliber did you use?

 

[Flben]

Just got my archery buck from last year back

 

[Machingeaneer]

Just got my archery buck from last year back

Holy character on that guy. Great buck.

 

[Flben]

Whatever you do, make sure you find a good taxidermist…
I use Zimmermans Wildlife studio in Martinsburg Pa and they are the best that I have seen. They run $950 for a deer shoulder mount.
Remember you will be looking at that deer for the rest of your life, so find a good taxidermist.
Once you find a good one, ask for a Mckenzie catalog and look at different forms to see what you like.

I can’t stress this enough. Go with a reputable taxidermist. I have a blacktail from Oregon I went the cheap way out 16 years ago and it’s got a 2” gap on the hide on the back, the nose has cracked and overall it looks terrible

 

[buffybr]

Great Sable! Heading to Zimbabwe in august and hoping to get something similar. What caliber did you use?

Great Sable! Heading to Zimbabwe in august and hoping to get something similar. What caliber did you use?

I shot both of those Sables with my .300 Wby vanguard and my 168 gr Barnes TTSX handloads.

 

[Skibness92]

Semi sneak is a nice classic look! Full sneak can make for a sweet mount as well. Good luck with the decision.

 

[OXN939]

Thanks everyone for sharing. So between price and more importantly, wall space, I decided to go with a euro mount (which I do prefer) so I dont believe I'll regret this decision.
$150 for euro compared to $1045 & $1050 for a wall pedestal at the two top taxidermist near me.
I hope this thread stays active because I enjoy seeing others trophies. Thanks again

So what ended up being the call? Got my first shoulder mount in a while done last year- found a pretty good one on a chunk of Florida public I never would have dreamed would have a mature buck on it while trying to tag the first legal animal I saw for the freezer. My dude also has a prominent mane- between those two things, he was too unique not to get him mounted. Very happy with how he turned out, and it brings back a little piece of that hunt every time I see him. 5900 semi sneak.

 

[ShortMagFan]

Only 2 shoulder mounts here. But about 20 euro mounts

The shoulder mounts were done in 1994 - my first real trophy whitetail - and 2008 - my first trophy after several years of limited hunt opportunities due to work and young kids.

My two best bucks - 2013 and 2024 - are euro mounts and I wouldn’t have it any other way