Trophies?

[Caeden4]

Curious what everyone saves, or does not save, from each successful turkey hunt.  Fan? Beard? Cape? Full mount? Just memories or photos? I did the beard in the shell I shot this springs tom with, and had planned to mount the fan but since half of it was so tiny (regrowing) I'm saving the mount for my next one. Saw some "feather art" ideas on YouTube though and trying that out for this bird. It's turning out alright and my wife is actually okay with me hanging it in the house lol but way too much work for me though, so it'll be a one time thing. 

[Caeden4]

[mowin]

I used to save the beard and hooks, but haven't in a long time.  A picture and my memories are all that I need. Plus, what would I do with 150+ sets of spurs or beards? 

I'm the same with antlers. I have my first 8pt mounted, but that's it. I've cut up far bigger racks for dog chews, which is what happens to most antlers I'm lucky enough to grab onto. 

[Caeden4]

11 minutes ago, mowin said:

I used to save the beard and hooks, but haven't in a long time.  A picture and my memories are all that I need. Plus, what would I do with 150+ sets of spurs or beards? 

I'm the same with antlers. I have my first 8pt mounted, but that's it. I've cut up far bigger racks for dog chews, which is what happens to most antlers I'm lucky enough to grab onto. 

A guy down the road from me has two full rooms of just taxidermy from all of his hunts. I guess if you have the money and the space, and no protests from other family members to you using it that way, why not lol 

[mowin]

1 minute ago, Caeden4 said:

A guy down the road from me has two full rooms of just taxidermy from all of his hunts. I guess if you have the money and the space, and no protests from other family members to you using it that way, why not lol 

There's definitely no right or wrong answer. I like looking at others trophy room, I find it fascinating, and some are very creative in how they are laid out.  It's just not something I would do or want. 

[Caeden4]

37 minutes ago, mowin said:

There's definitely no right or wrong answer. I like looking at others trophy room, I find it fascinating, and some are very creative in how they are laid out.  It's just not something I would do or want. 

Oh, absolutely. Everyone is pretty unique in that regard, which is why I'm interested to hear everyone's preferences and how they may have changed over the years or even vary by the bird, the hunt, or how it was taken (gun vs bow), etc.

[Caeden4]

1 hour ago, Caeden4 said:

 

Finished product. Was short on feathers and had to improvise with some wing weathers I had saved for other reasons. 😂  Clearly I should not quit my day job haha oh well. 

[Buckmaster7600]

I saved the beard and spurs for a while but unlike a set of antlers every beard and spur is very similar. And what would I do with over 100 beards and a couple hundred spurs. I still take the beard off the bird for proof that it was a bearded turkey because I breast them out in the woods and never carry a whole turkey out. 

[Mattypotpie8s]

1 hour ago, Caeden4 said:

Finished product. Was short on feathers and had to improvise with some wing weathers I had saved for other reasons. 😂  Clearly I should not quit my day job haha oh well. 

I think that’s pretty darn cool!

[Mattypotpie8s]

You can save wing bones to make calls too.

[Lawdwaz]

I’ve kept most beards and spurs over the years.   I did three tail mounts, one has a special meaning.    
 

I did one life size mount that hangs in my butcher shack now.   
 

 

[2BuckBizCT]

Never really got into turkey hunting, but this looks cool. Or swap out the shell for broadhead or arrow somehow if with bow 

 

[Buckmaster7600]

14 minutes ago, 2BuckBizCT said:

Never really got into turkey hunting, but this looks cool. Or swap out the shell for broadhead or arrow somehow if with bow 

 

I did something very similar to this to the first bird I killed at my camp. I think turkeys are ugly so I wouldn’t have it in my house but it’s alright for camp.

[Caeden4]

16 minutes ago, 2BuckBizCT said:

Never really got into turkey hunting, but this looks cool. Or swap out the shell for broadhead or arrow somehow if with bow 

 

I agree I think it looks pretty cool and I had wanted to do something along those lines with this bird but half a fan wasn't going to work haha  

[2BuckBizCT]

3 minutes ago, Buckmaster7600 said:

I did something very similar to this to the first bird I killed at my camp. I think turkeys are ugly so I wouldn’t have it in my house but it’s alright for camp.

Uglier than this?