I am unschooled and unsophisticated in the art of taxidermy. I thought all heads were mounted on decorative wooden plaques, but now I see this is not the case when I look around at examples of head mounts. Some heads are mounted on a wood plaque and others are not.

Is there any reason why some heads are mounted on a plaque and others are not? Do heads look better mounted on a wooden plaque and people are just saving some money by passing up the plaque option? How do you decide to mount the head on a plaque or not?

My question is not purely academic. I called the taxidermist recently and was told that my son's pronghorn antelope cape, along with the capes of all their customers, had been received (presumably from the tanners) Friday January 7. We have never discussed a plaque for this mount, but I'm guessing that the default mount would omit the plaque and that I would have to pay extra for the plaque. I want to make an explicit decision -- and a decision based on an informed judgment -- about whether to mount the pronghorn head on a dark wooden plaque or not. I figure there is still time to request the wooden plaque at this time if I decide this is the way to go.

So what is the story on wooden plaques and head mounts?

It really just a matter of preference. Some people like them, some don't. Ask your taxidermist if he has some examples to look at, and decide if you feel it's worth the extra cost.

A plaque is not needed on todays forms,but if you want one,it can and could be added later. The old time forms were hollow and had no way to hang them on the wall.So a plaque was needed to do so.Todays forms contain a 3/4 inch plywood backer,inside,to hang it up.It's not hard to add a plaque, but they are not cheap!

My son prefers the wooden shield background for the mount. The extra cost was approximately $60 for a walnut sheild for a pronghorn head. We are also having a brass memorial plate put on the mount, cost presumably extra. This is as my son wants it. I'm not sure what my preference would have been if I was making the decisions on my own mount, but confess leaning to the wooden shield background. Maybe this is just because I have seen so many old-time deer heads mounted this way. Certainly a lot of heads these days are not mounted on wooden backgrounds such as this. I suppose some people think adding an extra 15% to the cost of the mount is not worth it.

hey Alsatian, you got a pic of that antelope? if you do post it