Trophies in the garage

I've got a great wife, she likes having taxidermy in the house. My problem is a lack of skills filling those walls with the caliber of critters I see so often on here. She seems to enjoy the critters, fish and birds that I do have on the wall. So far none have to stay in the garage.
 
I was given the stairwell in our new house, which is actually more than I was expecting. However, I impressed her so much with the new mantle that I built a few weeks ago, the wall space immediately above it is now reserved for an elk should I ever shoot a worthy bull. With the exception of a few sheds, everything else is in the garage.

That's what I got is the stairwell. Got a good muledeer shoulder mount. I'm just waiting to finish the basement then it's all mine I'll have 5 euros deer shoulder and bear rug once it's done
 
I started euro'ing everything early due to budget considerations and the look simply grew on me. My lovely bride likes em & we have them in every prominent location in the house but she also wants me to get a bull shoulder'd someday.If I ever take one like Dinkshooter kills every year I might consider the full monty shoulder.

Exactly this - except for every prominent local & the dink piece.
Euros go down in the man cave - some in the garage early rag horns and bone collection / sheds in boneyard = behind the shed!
 
I just don't have the room to really put stuff up like I would like. Euro mounts are my friend these day for wall space. I got flack for selling some of my mounts a few years back but when you have shoulder mounts sitting on the basement floor I guess they didn't mean that much to me anymore anyway. I traded my Caribou mount for a kayak. The flying turkey and some deer heads hit craigslist. I wish I had a 4 car garage and I would do something on one wall but a 2.5 car is just enough for my tools,bikes, ATV, and boat. The basement is half bar room and is not with tall ceilings. Maybe I will retire to a place with a better place for the heads and horns but until then the meat and memories trump displays.
 
My wife isn't a big fan of most "dead animals" as she calls them but she does seem to like duck mounts. We have a walkout basement where my mounts reside. It is the most logical spot though with the fireplace and pool table down there. I'm trying to get one of everything down there. Currently I'm working with one turkey fan, one euro whitetail, one duck, and soon to be one pronghorn. I have already "volunteered" to replace the whitetail if I am lucky enough to get a larger one. The rest are in the garage.
 
Some on the wall... Some in the garage, and the sheep skulls are currently at the taxidermist along with a couple other mounts... Pretty much have stuff scattered all over the house. About a dozen eruros,8-9 shoulder mounts, a couple 3 bear hides/rugs. A few bone piles here and there. I need a much bigger house. I have lots of things I'd like to mount but really don't have room. As the sheep multiply, the euros get moved to storage.
 

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Mrs. Fin, "In your family, that might be art. In my family those are dead animals. Get 'em out of here."

Unless it is something her son shoots. Then, it will hang proudly on the wall. (His two mounted animals.)
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If I shoot it, it has to be sneaked in the house when she is gone. :eek: The south wall inside my shop; the Boneyard.
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Hahaha. This just ain't right for all you have to overcome physically. We should start an OYOA petition to present to the wife.
 
I've got 8 shoulder mounts of various critters jam-packed in the living room. Just 8-foot ceilings. Euros and antlers are in the garage.

Next house will have to be big enough that I get my own room. Either that, or if we stay in the current one it will be getting an addition once it's paid off.

Ohhhhhhhh that's a stretch with 8' ceilings. And the wife OKs this?
 
I'm shopping now for an empty nester size house but with a good place for my best trophy, a moose. 4 shoulder mounted elk I'm not enthusiastic about. But I just got to have a spot for this guy.
 

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I have eight whitetail shoulder mounts on the wall. One whitetail shoulder mount and three antelope shoulder mounts on the way. Just haven't had time to mount them yet. As a taxidermist my stuff us usually put on back burner. Have you ever heard the saying " plumbers have leaky faucets"? Also have a lifesize black bear, two full strut Turkey, several waterfowl. I also have a 12' antique boat in living room. It is a 1930's era Penn Yan Cartopper. It's a wooden boat with a canvas leaning up in my 15' cathedral ceiling. The boat has a old Motgomery Ward Sea King motor leaning up in it. Also several, antique wooden duck decoys, waders, life jacket, grandpa's old Winchester 16 gauge pump.
 
We have dead animals all over the house. The wife wouldn't have it any other way. She knows each one is a memory.
 
We either need a bigger house, or Kaitum's new place is going to become my overflow.

My offer still stands. Only caveat is if you reclaim something from the wall, you have to replace it with something at least as large. 28 years of hunting and I've yet to put a critter on the wall, so clearly that large space isn't getting filled by me.
 
I have cooled my jets on mounts of all sorts and sold most of the horn laying around.What happens to all this chit when you kick?:D
 
I have one of every species of big game I've killed in the great room. My wife doesn't care what I hang in the house but I think the best one of each is adequate. All the rest are hanging in the attic...
 
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