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A good day in the field...

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Being in the field comes with its own set of perks and I thought I would share one of them with you all. While negotiating with the son-in-law of a landowner recently, the SIL mentioned that he did a good bit of hunting and that I was welcome to stop by his place sometime to check out his mounts. The following week found me in the field on a slow, rainy Friday afternoon, so I figured it would be as good a time as any to see his mounts and to make friends with a guy who I felt would be a great ally. (Turns out, he has been more than helpful on some other projects, so it was three hours well spent talking deer hunting!)

The second I stepped in to his house, I knew I had to get the camera out of the Jeep and snap some pics for you guys. He was nice enough to let me take pictures and give me the story behind most of the mounts. He mounted all of these by himself, despite not being a professional taxidermy. The pictures may not do them justice, but these mounts are award winning IMO. He does a few mounts on the side for friends, but respectfully declined my offer to do my turkey! LOL!!!

The first thing you notice when you walk through the door is the sheer magnitude of the moose mount! He showed me the pictures from the hunt and you talk about some amazing scenery! A friend of his went along with him on the 10 mile float trip down an Alaskan river to chase moose and he killed this monster on the first day! The antelope was taken in Wyoming after a 12 hour sit in 90 degree temps waiting for one to come to a watering hole. Both are bow kills…



The elk seen in the background was killed in Montana, literally in the middle of nowhere! They spent a day hiking in to their base camp, then another day chasing this elk before killing it miles from the closest town. He shot it at 6PM, and then sent one of the guys back to the closest town to meet up with a friend of theirs who had a boat. By 7 that night, they were working on quartering up the elk, while a couple of other guys went back to base camp to pack up. They finished cutting up the elk at 6AM the following morning, took an hour nap, and then hiked five hours to a lake that was 70 some miles long. An hour after showing up at the lake, their friend showed up with his boat, they loaded up, and motored 17 miles back up the lake to get out of where they were!!!



I feel in love with the mount on the left the second I laid eyes on it. He had three years worth of pictures of this deer and killed it during the early season in Ohio this past year. The deer to the right is his best WV kill. For a guy who just does taxidermy for himself, the Ohio mount is exceptional work IMO…



The cream of the crop was the bobcat mount! He killed this last winter and wanted to mount it, but didn’t know how to go about it. He told me that he had sworn off mounting birds, but that his wife told this is how she wanted the mount done. It is sitting on a custom made storage unit and the taxidermy is top notch. The sheds are off another giant Ohio buck he killed years ago, but the picture I took did not turn out. He found the ram skull while on another hunt. Overall, this was simply a masterpiece…



As you can see, the life of a landman can be a tough one!!!
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
That is a lot of great looking mounts right there. Looks like he has some time wrapped up in hunting as well as preserving his memories of the hunts. AWESOME !!!
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,060
223
Ohio
Very cool! It's amazing that this guy did all of his own taxidermy work. It's one thing to be good at mounting a particular species, but to mount that many different animals and do such a great job is simply incredible. Thanks for sharing, man.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,856
260
SW Ohio
Very cool! It's amazing that this guy did all of his own taxidermy work. It's one thing to be good at mounting a particular species, but to mount that many different animals and do such a great job is simply incredible. Thanks for sharing, man.
I concur bigtime! The bobcat mount is the shit! Definitely my fave! Thanks for sharing Jesse!