Mounts or Pictures

Just curious what you prefer more, mounts or pictures. I use to want a mount of pretty much every species. I'm glad I never went all the way down that road. Now I really prefer pictures over mounts. The pictures tell more about the hunt, your buddies, the dogs, the conditions of the hunt, the landscape. Everyone's phone takes such good pics these days, you can get them blown up and framed. Plus there is nothing worse than poor bird taxidermy ans there is alot of that out there. I really like to make custom photo books through shutterfly with all the pictures I take throughout the season. Its a great way to reminisce of the season and not just one bird.

What do you like?

I don't have a mount yet, but I really feel like I will be getting some once my dog starts retrieving.
I'm really big on mounts meaning something, so if I get a mount it's going to have a story.

I do have a canvas print too, and I do like them. I also like to have everyone sign the picture so future generations have names to see.

They are both very different things...

To me a mount is more about showcasing the specific bird, deer, predator, etc. That is why I typically only like to mount very nice specimens.

I personally never really looked at mounts as a way to remember a certain hunt. Pictures do a much better job at that.

I guess if I had to choose to only have one vs the other it would be photos.

I used to want a mount of every duck and goose species out there. Now I just like certain species, and I will go out of my way to make sure I get quality mounts.

Its too expensive to mount them. I'd rather spend that kind of money for another trip to Nebraska, Kansas or wherever the next adventure may take me.,

Pics only for me

There is no comparison really. You need pics for every hunt, otherwise the hunt will be forgotten. You obviously cannot do mounts for every hunt. But it is cool to have a mount for every species of duck you hunt, and extra cool if the mount has a story, all mine do. My mounts:

* Mallard Drake - My first limit of ducks, really nice hanging mount of greenhead cupped up and coming in hard.
* Wood Duck Drake - My first wood duck to shoot, and when I got check by GW he said "you need to get that mounted". And first mount.
* GWT Drake - My son's first duck
* Pintail Drake - Nice sprig, my son fell asleep in his layout blind and my shot woke him up.
* Hooded Merganser Drake - Not much of a story anyone here cares about, but mount looks cool and I sure was not going to eat it.

Mount pics I just snapped them…

I take pictures of every hunt. That said I have two bucket list mounts; a cinny, BW, and GW drakes mounted together in a hanging deadmount fashion. I also want a mandarin and wood duck drake mounted together. The mandarin and cinny are the hang ups.

Im not much of a mount guy. I’ve got 1 mallard done. It was a double banded mallard I shot. I’d mount more but I’m cheap. Wish I had more pictures of when I was young and mad at them. We chased em hard for a while. Can’t get any of my old hunting buddies up to go anymore.

I had a blue goose and a hooded merganser mount from the 1980s. They got rough looking over the years and migrated from the living room to home office to workshop to closet over time as they deteriorated. The goose went in the trash a couple years ago and the merganser finally last month. Both had special stories to go with them. Unfortunately I have no pictures from either hunt.

I've had a pair of widgeons mounted, a GW teal and one Mallard.

The GW was a terrible mount. I had bought it at a charity auction for almost nothing. And the quality was reflective of that.

My widgeons were decent, but got destroyed in moving.

My mallard I paid a ton for and he's nice. It was a solo hunt, just me and my dog in Alabama. Shot 9 times, killed 6 birds and was home before 8:00 Still one of my favorite hunts. And I still miss that dog.

I take pictures of the mounts...or mounts of the pictures, I don't remember which. I have a pintail and the only other one I would mount would be a canvasback...if I ever see another one. Ate the first one. It was good.

I have just one professional mount. My first solo hunt. Surprised I bagged anything. Managed 3 or 4 ducks that morning. Had the canvasback mounted. Only one I'd seen to that point.

Wife is okay with the one, but said she'd prefer no more to find their way into the house, so that's probably going to be the determining factor. Might change it out one day when she isn't looking and see if she notices.