Eland Project

We have posted on these problems in the past.  This is another trophy mounted in Africa.  This eland represents craftsmanship at its poorest.  This was to be a pedestal mount.  When it showed up from Africa, there was no base for it to set on.  It only had a rusty old metal plate with screws that they must have found beside the road.  The backing is black felt.  It was glued to the back and looked like a child had done it.

Here are large pin holes in the skin that added to the poor quality of the mount.  We find more and more problems as we move forward.

Here is the felt being removed.  The white lines are hot glue used to hold the felt in place.  This is why the cost of getting trophies mounted in Africa seems to be less expensive.  The truth is, the craftsmanship is very poor.  There is nothing cheap about it.  When the daily rate and trophy fees are considered,  this is not a bargain.

Here we are removing the skin on the back.  Notice it was sewn down the middle and then felt glued over that.  We will now reshape the back for a more desirable look.

This form material was the worst foam we have ever seen.  It was very soft in spots and other spots where rotten and old.

Notice here eye set was not even considered.  Nothing about this mount is correct. 

Around the eyes it was just painted black.  There was no artistic imagination used in the detailing of this trophy Eland.  Body color was wrong and it was just a mess.

Here the back has been remodeled and a nice piece of creme colored buckskin added to cover the back.  We also added a rope braid for some texture. Then the Eland was completely painted to take out all the dark spots in the skin that were showing from the poor tanning this skin had gone though.  Adding some habitat helped to hide those lager pin holes we had tried to cover.

 

Here the Eland was placed on a cabinet that the client had made by a local cabinet shop..  The cabinet was not top quality either.  By this time the client had spent more money at this point than he would have if he had the mounts done in the states. There is no deal in Africa.  The mounts done in Africa are mounted by the local staff.  These are the same local people used for other labor jobs.  The trophies are not mounted by professionals.  Do some homework before making the mistake thinking that there is money being saved.

The finished Eland looks much better.  It is far from being good.