coues collection

[.270]

had the occasion to go to Ray Nienhaus' taxidermy yesterday. friend o' mine took the big 7x7 bull he shot last year to be mounted. this guy has one of the most incredible collections of mounted animals i've ever seen. probably has 100 b&c muleys and easterns. lotsa life sized bears, including a polar that is next to a lifesized bison, and guess which one is bigger? yeah, the white one. buncha african stuff. some truly huge pronghorns and probably one o' the best north American sheep collections i've ever seen. he also has the best bunch o' coues heads i've ever seen. must have 25 record heads mounted. i guess he don't let just anybody see his big collection, but just the ones he has in his little showroom are pretty incredible. if you're ever in the area of his place it would be worth it to see if he'd let ya in. Lark.

[cramerhunts]

Lark, where is his place?

[az4life]

Lark

 

From the sounds of it, are you sure you were not in a big Cabelas store?

 

Sounds impressive for sure. Did he shoot them all himself or maybe he buys the ones he likes from other hunters?

[.270]

he's up in north phx. just west of the 51. he's in the phone book. and yeah, he could stock a new cabelas with all they needed. and it's all just in a house! i've never seen a private collection even 10% as big. most of the stuff he has bought or traded for, but he has a buncha stuff he shot too. like a giraffe!?!? what the heck would ya wanna shoot a giraffe for? practice neck shots? he has some repro racks mounted too, that are pretty neat because you get a sense of how big they really are. has a repro of the "buck of justice". incredibly heavy muley from utah. i've seen a lot o' photos of that rack, but dang, it's bigger than i thought. he has really wild stuff, especially stuff from the southwest. huge muleys, coues, easterns, pronghorns, bears, lions, elk, etc. it was a very interesting tour fer sure. Lark.

[Red Rabbit]

Lark, sounds like a great place to be be invited into. There is a gentleman in Flag who has shot all of the North American big game animals with his 30-06 (a necked up .270). His trophy room is pretty impressive and I consider it a treat to see it. I was surprised how yellow the hair was on his polar bear.

 

Doug~RR

[KGAINES]

Doug nobody told that bear not to play in the yellow snow, maybe it was a reincarnated phoenix native.

[az4life]

Lark

Is that Ray at Bighorn taxidermy? I think they are just north fo the 51 and he had a huge collection when I was there for pictures a few years back. Don't recall the owner's name though.

[Shiras]

Here in Tulsa there is a guy names Jeff Neal which operates a hunting agency/brokering service. He invited me over to his house to discuss my '99NM bear hunt. As I walked in, he was booking Tom Sellick (spelling?) for a Russian brown bear hunt. He had an 8000+ sq. ft house( has moved since) and a 3200 sq ft game room. There were 300 and something heads, full mounts etc...As you walked in thru elephant tusks there was a feast for the eyes. The North American grand slam of sheep above your head as you walk in. Giraffe? indeed. A shoulder mount at that.lol. 2 life size african lions, 1 life size brown bear, 1 life size lesser kudu, 1 puma lifesize, 2 black bear lifesize, and the biggest mind blower of 'em all was a full sized rhino, (and it probably didn't weigh 75 lbs...I'm not positive, but I think it was the real skin and horns). Then the plethora of heads. And the exclusive "Asian sheep room" in which 4 trophy sheep donned his formal dining room. Unfreakingbelievable. He the guys who books all of "kawasaki's under wild skies"...i think it's called".

 

Just thought I'd share my jaw dropping experience, since I know my living room only dons 3 easterns in my humble 1325 sq ft abode.

 

-Shiras