We had a house fire on May 1st. My 12 point buck was burnt up beyond repair in the fire.[:@] I'm trying to determine what it is worth for insurance purposes. It was scored at 1347/8 B&C gross. I don't know if I'll ever see another buck like this in my life. I wonder what the odds are for an average hunter to kill a good buck. Anybody got any ideas? I really am looking for some kind of documentation to give to the insurance company.

Sorry to hear about the fire. Hope everyone is alright. I would say your mount itself is worth $500, the emotional value would have to be closer to about $25,000.

I would like to be compensated for the emotional value at least $25,000 because you cannot replace the mount. Did the antlers get burned also? Can you re-cape it with another hide? By all means try and get all you can! My mounts are irreplaceable.

Sorry to hear about you fire. I hope all is well. Although the mount is more than likely priceless to you, you could probably say between $500 - $750 - Cost of mount and price of a rack of that caliber. I've seen racks sell for good $ on ebay...

I feel your pain, I lost my largest kill ever in a house fire in 82, no idea what it scored though. I would check out E-Bay for values as already suggested. The most important thing in a house fire is everyone got out okay! I pray that no one was hurt in the fire.

I appreciate everyone's sympathy, everyone got out ok and besides my mount[:@] we didn't lose anything that can't be replaced. I'll check ebay and see what they run for.

I'd suggest talking to a taxidemist that specializes in "recreations". I think you'll find replacement value to get a replica to be much more exspensive than the actual vaule of the mount. Insurance should cover "replacement cost".

HUNTnGA:

Alot of things go into determining the worth of a deer head when something like a house fire is involved. The company dosent simply repay you the price that you paid to get the deer mounted. I have a friend who lives in Florida, 2 years ago he hunted on a ranch down here in s. Texas and ended up shooting a 193" buck. His house burnt down about 1 year ago, and the insurance company repaid him for that deer mount. But they repaid him for everything that was involved in taking that deer and getting it back home.

The price of the hunt was $6,500, the traveling expense was $500, the lic. cost was $250, the taxidermy bill was another $450, and it cost $100 more to ship it back home. The insurance company added all of this up and gave him $7,800 for that deer head.

Now a 134" buck isint considered a "trophy buck", and you probably didnt travel to a big ranch and pay a big price for the hunt. But any expense that you paid to get the chance to shoot that buck, should be rembursed to you by the insurance company.


Dont look on Ebay, the mounts on there wont help you in determining the price of your deer mount.