As a hunter, perhaps the most fulfilling thing about your sport is being able to show off your trophies. Knowing that you had the skill, prowess and abilities to take down a game animal is a thrilling prospect, and the trophy embodies all of these facets and memories in a way that will serve as a source of pride for you until the day you die.
A trophy can be something as simple as a picture, but for serious hunters, the best trophy is the taxidermy hide of the animal you bested. As a result, many hunters have trophy rooms that showcase their many victories, with animals preserved as a tribute to the hunt! And while these trophies may be inherently beautiful and awe-inspiring, having a trophy room designed around them makes showing them off even more rewarding!
Designing your ideal trophy room falls on a few main factors. Keep the following in mind as you start to think about what atmosphere might best be reflected in your trophy room:
- Mount type: Do you want your trophy room to have a natural feel or a display-style layout? Specimens are animals that are mounted to look exactly like they do in the wild; trophies are designed to display the animal as a hunting prize. Depending on how you want the animals in your room to be displayed, it can set the tone for the entire atmosphere.
- Animal presence: Are you a deer hunter exclusively? Big game hunter who takes frequent safari trips? Avid angler with years of big catches on your wall? Knowing what kind of animals are best displayed in your trophy room can have a big impact on how it’s viewed. For example, if you’re a fisherman, you’re not going to mount every catch you have on the wall: instead, you’re going to mount the most important to you, so you have a story to tell! Likewise, if you’re a big game hunter, you probably aren’t going to have deer trophies standing alongside antelope or lions!
- Mount placement: When showing off your trophies, it’s important not to fall into the trap of cluttering your trophy room. Having mounts on one wall and no others, for example, can really throw off the proportions of the room! Or, if you’re displaying all different types of animals, it might not be best to clump them together—space things out for a more appealing aesthetic.
- Treat them well: Remember that your trophies are trophies! Your huge 18-point buck wall mount isn’t a hat rack; your fully stuffed jaguar isn’t a footrest; and your monolithic big mouth bass shouldn’t be mounted next to your Big Mouth Billy Bass clock! Remember the prestige that went into hunting these animals and honor it in your trophy room.
Whether your trophy room is your man cave, your home office or your den, it needs to reflect your status as a hunter, an outdoorsman or a naturalist. Give some thought to the tips above when it comes to planning out your perfect trophy room!