The herd grows

Big Fin

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For those who have been to my house, you would have to be blindfolded to not notice "The herd." Mrs. Fin's term for the fact that our upstairs looks like a herd of pronghorn. Add in a wall full of euro mounts, a couple other pronghorn shoulder mounts, and I suspect it would be correct to diagnose me with some or of affliction, or maybe worse.

Just got the 2014 Wyoming buck back from the taxidermist, yesterday. In order to be placed on one of these hand crafted black walnut pedestals, a buck needs to be rather special. This one gets the special treatment. He was officially scored over the winter and nets 85 2/8, grossing 86 5/8, which was aided by circumference measurements of almost 7".

Those are the same official gross and net scores of the NM buck to his right. And both are bigger than the NV buck you see in the foreground, which officially netted exactly 80". Had I even the slightest clue as to how one takes care of a pronghorn during the drying period, both the NV and NM bucks would probably retained at least 1.0-1.5" of mass. Stupid me.

I apologize for the debris pile on the floor. Those are boxes of DVDs that I need to get shipped for a promo we are doing in August. Mrs. Fin has been out of town for two weeks, so the dog and I are not quite as meticulous when it comes to house details.

When I look at the prongs, and how the hook adds a lot of length on this WY buck, I am still scratching my head as to why the three hunters on the road in front of me decided to pass on him after examining him from a couple hundred yards. Whatever the reasons, I'm thankful they did. Here is the link to how that story unfolded.

http://onyourownadventures.com/hunttalk/showthread.php?t=260577

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My only pronghorn tag this year is an archery tag in New Mexico. Given that, I am pretty sure I don't need to order any more the black walnut pedestals any time soon.
 
Those are three great bucks for sure! You need one more in the other corner so they have the living room surrounded!
 
I finally will be hunting buck antelope in Wy this year. I hope just to even see one in the same caliber of all three of these let alone harvest one. Those are all very well done. If I am fortunate enough to harvest a great goat I may be contacting you about a taxidermist! Congrats on your herd.

Now....about that fish on the wall???
 
That's a tremendous buck, Big Fin.

I won't criticize anyone for driving past a booner....I'm guessing I have done it in the past. After spending 2-3 days looking at hundreds of bucks, confidence in my judging ability generally goes out the window.
 
Very nice. I really like the pedestal mounts.

My only antelope hangs about 5.5' high on the wall, and a kid still managed to pull out a quarter-sized tuft of hair somehow. You're gonna have to fence that area off once Newberg grandbabies start crawling around the Fin household..
 
All three are beautiful mounts! I've never hunted them but plan to in a few years and can't wait! If I'm lucky enough to get a good representative buck, I'll be using your pictures as a reference for the taxidermist. I love the mounts and the bases, and it just so happens I have some walnut boards sawn from my grandpa's woods that are looking for a home. Thanks for posting the pics!
 
, I'll be using your pictures as a reference for the taxidermist. I love the mounts and the bases, and it just so happens I have some walnut boards sawn from my grandpa's woods that are looking for a home. Thanks for posting the pics!

Here are some other pics you can use for additional reference. The guy does some amazing work, if you can wait as long as it often takes to get a final product from him. I know some other Hunt Talkers who use him. The pics really don't do a good job of showing how striking they are, when mounted properly. My photography and lighting skills are the weak part of the equation.

And the pics do not come close to showing what an amazing piece of craftsmanship the pedestals are. The taxi assured me that the pedestal maker is still in business. I told him that if he hears he is going out of business, to let me know; I'll order a few more pedestals, just in case.

The NV buck the day it came home.
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The NM buck when he came to reside among the herd.
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Super! I need to be either be pickier about which pronghorns I shoot or less picky about which ones I mount, as I think they make beautiful mounts! Well done.
 
Nothing better than a good antelope mount. I hope to get one worthy of the wall this year.
 
You really don't take to heart the "once in a lifetime" rules when it comes to monster antelope Randy.

Great looking herd on some beautiful display pieces.
 
Hard to beat the beauty of a mature pronghorn buck ... unless it's 3 of them! Heard there's no cure for the disease yet ... ;)
 
Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

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