Hey folks,
wanting to get an idea as to what I can do should I be successful in bringing a bear home from my upcoming trip to Stickflingers.
I don't have space for a rug, and my taxidermist moved to Kansas so I don't have a great option there.
Being in Iowa, I the taxidermists around here usually specialize in deer. Plus the last one I used did a horrible job (anybody in Iowa that has a taxidermist that does good work & is taking new clients, please let me know)!
I was thinking of doing a shoulder mount & then euro mount for the skull.
Just not sure how that would look
I have bears with a half mount, a rug, and with last years Stickflinger bear...I'm doing a deep shoulder mount and Euro. Some shoulder mounts look good; though I think most look bad (to me). We will see how this one turns out.
I really like the half mount, but the wife doesn't like bears very much and a half mount takes up a lot of space.
In regard to taxidermist, I had the first two done in Canada, but the excise taxes etc makes that very prohibitive now. I'm having a local taxidermist do the last bear...even though he has never mounted one before. I will take the chance on the evidence of how well he has done some of my other mounts.
Well will see how much I like his work (and the mount I selected) in a few months when I get it back.
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If you have room for a 1/2 mount I'd do that, they look nice. I did taxidermy for over 40 yrs so I have 2 lifesize one black and one cinnamon, a rug and 2 shoulder mounts in my house. You might ask yourself how many bears are you going to shoot and then decide.
Look the taxidermy over good on who evers going to do it bears must be hard to do I have 3 rugs a half mount and a bunch of tanned hides and Im not satisfied with any of them . I would look for a taxidermist in bear country you might look one up in Winipeg on you way home they usually they do a better job when bear as their main animal to mount .
Doing some checking around, some of the mounts cost more than the hunt :dunno:
Worst case I'll euro the skull. I'd really like a nice half mount, it's just way out of the budget unfortunately.
Hoping I can talk my wife into at least a shoulder mount!
Taxidermy...... especially REALLY GOOD taxidermy, has gone through the roof over the past 10-15 years it seems, like many things these days.
Quote from: LookMomNoSights on February 04, 2026, 05:45:47 PMTaxidermy...... especially REALLY GOOD taxidermy, has gone through the roof over the past 10-15 years it seems, like many things these days.
I agree. Believe it or not, in 2005 I paid only $1150 for this guy to get mounted... and yes, pedestal included.
That seems like a steal Terry seeing as though I paid $1050 for the last buck I had mounted 2 years ago (fantastic work though) ..... in the ball park of $1000 is the going rate around these parts for a quality shoulder mount whitetail.
I do realize it is a tedious task and true artistry AND, seems like there's not as many younger folks willing to learn the art and carry that torch, at least around local to me anyway.
I just did a skull mount with mine. The hide is in the freezer but I haven't done anything with it yet. Taxidermy has certainly gotten very expensive! I started mounting my own recently to cut back a bit on cost and wait times.
I paid almost $500 just to have the hide tanned on my grandsons bear he shot last spring . Its getting so the cost of the hunt and then taxidermy is too much.
I found a local guy that will tan the hide for a very reasonable amount, then I'm going to euro mount the skull.
Half bear on a pedestal would look amazing, but WAY out of my price range!
I have a shoulder mount and also have a few rugs and the skulls from them all.
What I have personally came to prefer is just having the hide soft tanned so that I can drape it over the back of chair, couch, or hang it in a corner off of a hanger so that it hangs from nose up near celing and on down to floor. can also lay them across foot of bed or across flat section of handrail on stairs etc.
Many more ways to display a nice hide in aesthetic ways when is only soft tanned and not rugged. A good bear, when rugged, takes up a huge area on the wall, they chew up real estate quickly.
I still euro all of my skulls and really enjoy those also.
A rugged hide looks real nice on a wall though too!!
Not my pic but this gives you an idea of how the soft tanned hides can look displayed.