took a trophy deer... what do you do with it

[NaturesRespect]

alrite lets say you took a deer scoring 190+ or it was just a great trophy size deer but you do not have the money to shoulder mount it. the only option is to antler mount it but its such a great trophy.... what would you do in this situation?

Is there a place that will shoulder mount the deer free? for cheap? what if you had trophy shoulder mounts you no longer want? will stores like cabelas and gander take em? will they mount the trophy for you if you let them keep the mount?

[buckhunter21]

Some taxidermist will have a contest every year that the bigest buck brought to them they will mount for free, but thats kind of a long shot. Cabelas would maybe take it but i personally would not want to give away a deer that big.

Your best option would probably be to cut the horns of and just do a plain antler mount and save up a little money here and there and when you finally have enough take it to a taxidermist and buy a different cape and then get a shoulder mount done. Personally if I had a close friend that shot an animal that big and didnt have the money to do the mount they wanted I would have a hard time telling them no if they asked to borrow the $400 or so it costs to do a shoulder mount.

[psepuncher]

had a friend with the DNR who told me just take the big antlers and do a european mount. then later if you harvest a smaller buck just switch out horns. I said well, what if we harvested 2 big ones, can we borrow your tag. He just laughed.

[Greybeard53]

If you cape the head out all the way, you can do an antler mount now and freeze the cape. If it's wrapped and frozen properly it can last for well over a year (sometimes several years).

That way, you'll have some time to set aside some cash, and you can still use the original cape.

Another option is to ask the taxidermist to have the cape tanned for you. This will cost $$$ but only a fraction of the head mount. If you tell the taxidermist what you're planning to do, he will most likely give a break on the cost of the shoulder mount since the hise is already tanned.

[mrklean]

i would find the money, ask a friend for a loan sell junk laying around the house something you can get a good mount done for a good price, i would never sell a trophy to a big box store yeah they might give you some good cash but then its gone

[Bear55]

i would find the money, ask a friend for a loan sell junk laying around the house something you can get a good mount done for a good price, i would never sell a trophy to a big box store yeah they might give you some good cash but then its gone

Same here, it might be a once in a lifetime buck, find the money you won't regret it. I also think you only need to come up with a down payment for a mount, then you usually have months to a year or so before the mount is done.

[mabr]

If I were in that situation and didnt forsee any chance of mounting it within a year I would do a European mount. Ive done several over the years and they look great and you can do it completly yourself. Lots of tips on the internet on how to do it.

Then as others have said,later down the road should you have the money to get a shoulder mount the Taxidermist will sell you a new hide

[Archerysniper]

Another option is to ask the taxidermist to have the cape tanned for you. This will cost $$$ but only a fraction of the head mount. If you tell the taxidermist what you're planning to do, he will most likely give a break on the cost of the shoulder mount since the hise is already tanned.

+1 for this option it will save you from having to buy a cape if the one in the freezer goes bad and you will have your original cape, I have done the freezer thing and now have my antlers and a diffrent cape it's not the same.