Her Highness is Home

Very cool! I'm no waterfowler and don't recognize any but the most basic ducks and geese. What kind of bird is that?

Compared to other waterfowl I would say the emperor goose is not as colorful. With that said, I think they are one of the most beautiful birds someone can hunt. They are amazing birds! They are up at the top of my list for birds I would love to hunt one day! that mount is top notch and really displays the bird perfectly! Congrats!

They are just handsome, and pics don't quite seem to catch the slate blue of their feathers well. My only critique of the mount, as otherwise the taxi did a great job I think, is that the bill is too vivid. I might toy around with a way to mute that down a bit.

I'm not normally into taxidermy but that is a gorgeous bird. And as you hinted, I doubt the photos do it justice. Their feathers can be so tough to capture via photography, especially with indoor lighting.

backcountry said:

I'm not normally into taxidermy but that is a gorgeous bird. And as you hinted, I doubt the photos do it justice. Their feathers can be so tough to capture via photography, especially with indoor lighting.

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It is the first bird I've ever had mounted--and honestly the first bird I ever wanted to get a mount of starting in October 2020 when I messed up on getting one three separate times.

I did drop off a special ptarmigan from last September to get a dead mount of, as it was Ava's 1,000th wild upland bird. I regret not getting Ava's first wild bird done (sharptail at 14 weeks), and I almost did one of Karma's firsts last month (rock ptarmigan at 10 weeks) but Karma's birds were dropping feathers like crazy due to spring molting.

I'll probably get a drake harlequin done at some point as they are just stunning birds, and maybe if I find myself chasing some of the eiders I might find it in me to get some of them done up.

I can totally understand the ptarmigan mount. I can only imagine how tough it is lose a friend like Ava. We chose to euthanize one of our dogs in March and I had a love/hate relationship with him. Nonetheless I was torn up for a long while.

I hope the ptarmigan bastud turns out well to honor your lost friend, Johnnycake.

backcountry said:

I can totally understand the ptarmigan mount. I can only imagine how tough it is lose a friend like Ava. We chose to euthanize one of our dogs in March and I had a love/hate relationship with him. Nonetheless I was torn up for a long while.

I hope the ptarmigan bastud turns out well to honor your lost friend, Johnnycake.

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To be clear, Ava is very much still alive! She just turned 6, and I had to add her replacement to roster to start getting the 2023 model up to speed. Hopefully, Ava and I still have another +1,000 birds out there ready to be murdered and munched on.

Good gracious my memory is atrocious since my girls birth. . I'd blame it on my allergy induced headache today but that would be lie.

Are you going to shoot a drake Emporer to have a pair? Because that would be really awesome. Great mount.

caddis8 said:

Are you going to shoot a drake Emporer to have a pair? Because that would be really awesome. Great mount.

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Maybe next time I'm out there I'll try to smack a gander. I'm hoping instead Mamacake or one of the cupcakes goes out with me and shoots a gander (and then I'll shoot a gosling to complete the collection)

Beautiful bird!

johnnycake said:

Maybe next time I'm out there I'll try to smack a gander. I'm hoping instead Mamacake or one of the cupcakes goes out with me and shoots a gander (and then I'll shoot a gosling to complete the collection)

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Now you're talking. You should raid a nest while you're at it to have all stages.

I may or may not have experience eradicating the dens of certain vermin that are clearly varmints and therefore not illegal to eradicate the young.

Glad to be a junior club member. I have not reached senior status.