Mount criteria

[Grizzlyadam]

What do you mount? Does a buck have to meet a certain criteria for you to get a shoulder mount done vs European mount, or just skull plate on a plaque?

I know it will vary for everyone, we all have our own different personal reasons and goals for what caliber of buck we will choose to shoot and what then we will do with it. There is no cookie cutter answer. For me personally in the area I hunt a mature buck will usually be something in the 120-140 range, so those are the ones I will bring to the taxi man. I have had a smaller 115 inch buck mounted once but it was a special buck, the first one I ever actually targeted and killed. Often the memory of the hunt is bigger than the actual mount, lol.

All my smaller ones these days I just boil them down for euro mounts. And smaller ones yet I don't shoot in the first place like I would have in the past.

So what do you mount? What does it take for your buck to get brought to the taxi man, and why?

[VaBowKill5]

I’m kind of with you if they’re in that 130+ range they’re hard for me not to mount but in recent years I’ve killed several that 5 years ago I would have mounted in a heart beat but opted to do a european mount. I love a shoulder mount but I also really like being able to pick them up and really look them over.

[stash59]

Don't have alot of wall space or cash. So my next mount would have to be enormously big.

[elk yinzer]

I don't know that I'll ever get another shoulder mount again. I have three of 110-130 class bucks which are good bucks for PA, and I don't even have the space for them. Two of them are in storage and one that is special to me is in our family room. I always said anything bigger was a candidate, but I euro mounted my best buck to date last year. 150+ I might consider it more strongly if I like the buck and the cape.

My personal opinion, it's the house that factors as much as anything. Does it have a dedicated trophy room? My house doesn't have a real suitable trophy room. I don't intend to move anytime soon. I have my man cave/shop in the basement, and I don't really want a bunch of mounts taking up room down there. If I had a trophy room with big catherdral ceilings, heck yeah, I'd mount them all. My personal opinion, your typical 300ish square foot room with 8 or 9 foot ceilings looks trashy with a bunch of mounts floor to ceiling, but that's just me and how I feel about the fung shuey of it all. Whatever tickles your pickle in that regard.

Something I like about doing a Euro mount, is being able to pick up the rack and just holding it and inspecting it, ya know. With shoulder mounts, losing that tactile experience is a downside to me.

Euro vs. skull plate again it just depends. Mass and dark racks are the two traits that really catch my eye so I might Euro a buck that scores 100" and not a spindly white 125". I have it on my to-do list to kill a spike because I think it would make a cool looking Euro mount, but I have to do it out of state because they aren't legal here.

[Dewey]

I think 140” or better. Gonna have to be something pretty special now to get a shoulder mount. My wall space is pretty limited and have enough deer, bear and fish mounts already so been doing more euro mounts recently to take up less space.

[DaveT1963]

after years of running a taxidermy business, i doubt I'll mount another of my bucks. Truth is I never really had time to get to mounting most of my bucks - now I just soon do a euro

[austin1990]

All depends on the deer. I've got 2 mounted that are 140+. The 7 point I killed this year I've got capped out and in the freezer to mount. He probably won't score 120 but hes the widest and tallest framed deer I've ever killed and it'd be extremely hard to kill a 7 point any bigger. Also I had more time in scouting him than any other and knowing where he bedded and used the area allowed me to kill him. All my other deer I've had euro mounted and a couple of them are in the 120-130 range

[blackwidow]

If it's a mature buck I'll get it mounted. That's the only buck I will shoot off of the private that I hunt anyways. If I shot a smaller buck during the late season on public I'd do a euro on it.

[mipubbucks24]

Don't have alot of wall space or cash. So my next mount would have to be enormously big.

Same here, it would have to be something really big to shoulder mount, also I like European mounts so that makes it easy on me.

[kripp53]

The wife doesn't like the furry mounts. So it would have to be one big buck to get mounted for me (150+). I have euro mounted every other buck I have shot (100ish"-130ish"). Nice thing about euro mounts is you can DIY for free and save that money for an out of state hunt

I knew a guy who has shot absolute monsters (170 and up) not to mention numerous elk and doesn't have a single mount. He said his wife told him he could hunt anytime he wanted as long as no dead animals came into the house...he thought that was a good deal!

[muddy]

Has to be bigger than what's already currently hanging. Low 160s for bow and upper 170s for gun.

[treeroot]

I don't have the house for mounts. So I only have one. The rest are all euro mounts. 95% of the time if it's good enough to shoot it's getting euro mounted. Local lady charges $100 so it's pretty reasonable.

[<DK>]

My father-in-law mounts every buck hes killed and I have to say it really adds a ton of character to his trophy room having smaller deer in it. Most of us couldnt ever afford that much in taxi bills, im sure he traded work for alot of them.

Mounting a small one just brings so much appreciation to it.. I have a 120" buck I euro mounted at home but I regret not shoulder mounting him bc of how pretty of a deer he was. Just a great colored coat and nice face. My first doe was the same way and regret all the time not mounting her. I love doe mounts in trophy rooms, people actually look at them as much as a big one when its nice.

For me I try not to mount anything less than 125"

[thwack16]

Right now I don't really have the place for mounts though I will likely have a "man cave" in the next decade or so. Only one mount sits in the house as "there isn't really a room for mounts". Though our fireplace is slap full of sheds, my wife's doing and not my own.

I have three shoulder mounts; first big buck as a kid, first gross >125" bow buck, and first & only P&Y. I have 3 Euro mounts of gun deer between 120 & 130. Skull cap of my first buck.

140" gross is probably my mount criteria with a gun or bow. Any P&Y is likely to get shoulder mounted. Other than that, Euro though I'm not against just a skull cap mount, especially for an out of state buck or one in a CWD zone.

[<DK>]

Ample wall space but lack the animals seem to have done this backwards than everyone else