Shoulder Mount or Rug?

How should I mount my wood bison?

  • Shoulder Mount

    Votes: 33 52.4%

  • Flat Skin and Skull Mount

    Votes: 21 33.3%

  • Full Body (I just wanna see the results)

    Votes: 9 14.3%
  • Total voters
    63
BigUglyMan

BigUglyMan

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So the word is that I can "Count on" a quota tag for Wood Bison again this year. This will likely be the last season that I live in this part of the NWT and if I get the tag at a decent time (not 3 days before the end of the season like last year) I should be able to get myself a nice bull. But this raises the question...should I do a shoulder mount or a flat skin and a separate skull mount? I love my taxidermy but a bull wood bison would occupy a ton of wall space and I already have a cape buffalo to contend with (and I am still bouncing around in Government Housing so my trophies are all fostered out to good homes in the interim). So should I bite the bullet and shoulder mount the big beastie or should I flatten him and have a nice bison hide on the man-room floor and a whopping skull sitting in the corner?

Thoughts?
 
I'm in the same boat (at the moment my housing is also decided by my employer). I have a friend with a taxidermy shop and send everything to him. He has a walk in freezer and prepares all my capes / hides, then gets them wet tanned before freezing them and they will keep for years. It was him who said "why pay for a mount to age in someone else's house?"

Another friend has a beetle colony and does the skulls so that I can still display my animals until I can buy or build my permanent residence and decide what forms to go with. At the moment I have four animals waiting and one more send to him.

As for your predicament, if it were my bison I'd be tempted to go with the skull and rug, or get the cape wet tanned and store it in the event that I ended up with enough wall space to hang a mount.
 
It's a tough choice but I say Front Of Vehicle Hood Mount.

After seeing that big Bison Head in the Wainwright JR Ranks Club I always thought of "borrowing" it and mounting it on the trimvane of my 48C callsign during the Merrit Cup comptitions we were attending.

CS45
 
Well the tag is confirmed and I pick it up tomorrow morning. planning to get out on a hunt with a couple of buddies on Sunday. Hurry up and vote before I have one lying on the ground!
 
bison hide, I have one, they are nice.

Around here it would be a bit early for a good one, but I see you are further north. I shot mine in early November, it was a cold fall that year.
 
If my calculations are correct theres about 4 walls for every floor. Considering that not all walls are appropriate for mounts and few floors are perfect for rugs, you still are going to run out of floors before walls. Ergo, hang it on the wall.
 
A shoulder mount will cost $1,350 to $1,650 depending on which taxi you use. A flattened rug will cost you at least $1,000, unless you can tan it yourself. Having the skull done by a taxi will cost around $200. So cost wise there is little difference between the two.

The mount will take no more wall space than an elk and will get everyone's attention! On the otherhand...as the Dude would say, that bison rug would really pull a room together.

Longterm, the mount will hold up best as it won't be handled and stepped on.
 
While huge, I've always thought that a bison shoulder mount looks awesome. I can understand why you'd be reluctant if space was a concern though!
 
Flat skin and skull mount as you can lay that on the floor in front of a fireplace or hang it on a wall in an office. ;)

Otokiak
Rankin Inlet, NU
CANADA
 
I like the flat skin and skull route too ... especially since you already have a big
cape buffalo to contend with. A Bison shoulder mount is very bulky, even on a
big fireplace with a tall ceiling. Besides, the upper part of the skull/horns harkens
back to the old images of the desolate plains ... kinda neat.

Good luck on your hunt and enjoy those tenderloins. If your up for it, the tongue
is damn good too !
 
I've seen lots of bison just "head" mounted, with no shoulder. Even that is insanely large. But then you have a hide, too. Frankly, I'd rather have a skull mount and a nice (and useful) bison hide than a gigantic shoulder mount that is really just a pain in the butt unless you live in a big lodge style 4000 sq ft house.
 
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