Alternative Ways to Memorialize Your Hunt Trophies Besides Mounts

As hunters, we have a long heritage of memorializing our hunting traditions across the globe. Nearly every civilization has celebrated successful hunts and given thanks to the animals that fed them. While not every trophy is a huge antlered beast worthy of a modern shoulder mount for the wall, there are more ways to celebrate the spoils of our successful efforts.

From hides and feathers to antlers, horns, and tusks, there are many ways to utilize the inedible portions of our game and pass on the legacy of each hunt in a tangible memory. Looking at taxidermy and other forms of artwork created from these portions has a way of transporting us back to the moment of truth no matter how much time has passed.

Knife Handles

On a recent hunt in Africa, my PH Dave Edcumbe and I found a large 6” piece of warthog tusk in the bush that was likely broken off during a fight with another warthog, and I immediately saw a custom knife with a tusk handle or “scales” in my future. Many primitive hunters utilized bone and antler as handles to hold knapped stone blades, so it's only fitting to have at least one or two hand-made custom knives with scales from your own game parts.

With the recent surge in custom bladesmiths across the US, there is likely a small shop within driving distance of your home to help build the blade of your dreams. For my blade, I chose Siembida Custom Knives to grind me a beautiful hunting blade with Warthog tusk scales to be my everyday pocket knife.

Evan Siembida hand cuts and grinds each blade and makes some beautiful yet fully functional blades designed specifically for hunting. Evan is easy to work with on projects and helps you choose the perfect knife best suited for your needs. He delivered a beautiful knife that is shaving sharp with the warthog handle that will be passed down to my kids for generations to come.

Tanned Hides

Tanning the hides of your hair or furbearing game is another great way to preserve a hunt with countless usages. Hanging hides on the wall, over stair railings, banisters, and furniture looks great and adds a rustic feel to any room.

Tanned furs can vary in sizes and colors drastically and really make the man cave come to life by simply hanging a couple lifesize skinned furs to the wall. My office is adorned with furs I have trapped and shot over the decades and has built quite the conversation piece when company arrives.

Commercially tanned hides and furs from your local taxidermist are the easiest way to get these trophies preserved, but home tan kits are a fun way to DIY the process and make it your own. Coupled with YouTube videos, it is easy to tan your own buckskin for moccasins or tan a fox pelt to hang on the lamppost with minimal cost and a few hours of your weekend.

Feathers

For bird hunters, plucking feathers from your game can be used for decoration in many ways. Wild turkey, goose, duck, grouse and pheasant provide excellent feathers for one of my favorite hobbies, fly tying. Taking a bird on the wing with a properly led shot and then turning the feathers into a fly used to fool a wary trout is just an incredible full-circle experience.

Tying my own flies has been a passion of mine for decades, and utilizing feathers from birds I have taken on hunts takes the personal enjoyment to the next level. Even if you're not a fly tyer yourself, finding a custom fly tyer like Bagz Bugz of Montana willing to tie flies from your feathers is pretty easy with a few Google searches and sometimes on Instagram scrolling through #flytyer or #flytying.

Deer and elk hair are both widely used in many common fly patterns and can make another great use of your trophies for spun deer hair heads in poppers and streamers or the ever popular Elk Hair Caddis dry fly. For the female hunters, recent trends in feathered earrings would make great use of pheasant, duck, and turkey feathers if fashion is your game.

Antler Chandeliers and Lamps

After a few years of successful hunts, you will likely gather a pile of shed antlers you found while out hunting coupled with skull-caped deer and elk that just don't make the cut for a European skull or shoulder mount. Aside from making great dog chews and having a monetary value, antler lamps and chandeliers make some of the most unique lighting for your home or office.

Making your own lamp and chandelier is quite easy and can be done with the help of a long drill bit and some basic wiring skills acquired from YouTube videos. I made an antler lamp years ago from some whitetail deer shed antlers I found while hunting that has lasted over 15 years despite my kids best attempts to break it on several occasions.

Chandeliers require a larger supply of antlers but can be made to fit any room in a variety of unique styles depending on the amount of antlers you have on hand. Once again, YouTube saves the day for DIY projects covering Antlers if you're the adventurous type wanting to build a custom light source for your home.

It's no surprise tags and hunt opportunities are getting far and few between every year across the country. We should be treating each draw tag as a gift and its opportunity as an unknown certainty of ever repeating itself. Putting in as much effort to scout and maximize your efforts in filling the tag should be your top priority, and after the hunt as well, memorializing the hunt for years to come.

Many of the project ideas listed above can be learned by watching a few videos on the internet and take less time than you would think. These make for a great experience with kids teaching the value of the animals we take and as responsible hunters, utilizing every part of the animal we can. Take the time to make a long-lasting art form to share with friends and family by using the inedible portions of your game.

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