I wanted to share what I thought was an interesting mount, with an equally interesting back-story.
My family is fortunate enough to have access to a cabin that belongs to a long-time family friend. It is located smack-dab in the middle of some of Colorado's finest hunting ground, and my boys and I have had multiple opportunities to harvest many fine animals from the private property, as well as the surrounding Natl. Forest over the past few decades.
A good friend of ours that also has access to this property, and is generally tasked with being the informal care-taker & all around maintenance man for the cabin was up checking on the condition of the property a few years ago when he spotted something unusual in the pond/water hole near the cabin.
Upon further investigation, he found the "mass" in the pond to be a very good sized 6x6 bull elk, apparently dead in the water. When he waded into the pond to examine the elk, he found about an 8" tine from a rival bull broken off and lodged in the dead elk's neck. While we are all aware that animals can be killed during the rut from the tremendous energy and thrashing that accompanies such epic battles, it is rare - for me, at least - to see the evidence of such brutal territorial skirmishes.
Best we can figure is that this elk, along with his more fortunate sparring partner, had been fighting somewhere nearby when he received this fatal wound. Our now mortally wounded elk then probably wandered into the watering hole to find some comfort and relief before finally perishing there.
This friend had told me the story about what he had found, and let me know that he was going to have the animal mounted and hung inside the cabin. The following photos show the finished product of that mount, along with a picture of him recovering the animal from the water with the broken tine sticking out of the elk's neck. My oldest boy and I had an opportunity to hunt this property last weekend, and I took these photos, as this was the first chance that I had to see the finished mount.
The fatally placed tine that was sticking out of our now-dead elk, is included on the top of the mount.
I found this fascinating, and figured I'd share it with you all.
My family is fortunate enough to have access to a cabin that belongs to a long-time family friend. It is located smack-dab in the middle of some of Colorado's finest hunting ground, and my boys and I have had multiple opportunities to harvest many fine animals from the private property, as well as the surrounding Natl. Forest over the past few decades.
A good friend of ours that also has access to this property, and is generally tasked with being the informal care-taker & all around maintenance man for the cabin was up checking on the condition of the property a few years ago when he spotted something unusual in the pond/water hole near the cabin.
Upon further investigation, he found the "mass" in the pond to be a very good sized 6x6 bull elk, apparently dead in the water. When he waded into the pond to examine the elk, he found about an 8" tine from a rival bull broken off and lodged in the dead elk's neck. While we are all aware that animals can be killed during the rut from the tremendous energy and thrashing that accompanies such epic battles, it is rare - for me, at least - to see the evidence of such brutal territorial skirmishes.
Best we can figure is that this elk, along with his more fortunate sparring partner, had been fighting somewhere nearby when he received this fatal wound. Our now mortally wounded elk then probably wandered into the watering hole to find some comfort and relief before finally perishing there.
This friend had told me the story about what he had found, and let me know that he was going to have the animal mounted and hung inside the cabin. The following photos show the finished product of that mount, along with a picture of him recovering the animal from the water with the broken tine sticking out of the elk's neck. My oldest boy and I had an opportunity to hunt this property last weekend, and I took these photos, as this was the first chance that I had to see the finished mount.
The fatally placed tine that was sticking out of our now-dead elk, is included on the top of the mount.
I found this fascinating, and figured I'd share it with you all.
