Home Designs to Maximize space for Elk, Caribou, Moose mounts

ndbuck09

WKR
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
607
Location
Boise, ID
My wife and I are very likely going to be purchasing property and building here in the next year or so. With that said, a large factor in wanting to build is to create a great room/living room that can hold our mounts and future mounts. It seems to us that so many of the -2000 sq foot home designs out there, even with vaulted ceilings don't really allow for more than 2-3 elk mounts. Right now we have 2 shoulder elk, a shoulder whitetail, a shoulder ram and a shoulder caribou coming this spring. We also have 2 euro elk mounts with one coming this winter as well but those obviously can fit a lot of places. Lord willing, we will be adding to these throughout the years so we're trying to make sure we're future proofed sort of.

I know I will be making sure plywood is spanning the studs for hanging flexibility but I'm curious if anyone here has pics of their great rooms with mounts or experience with designing your build to accommodate large mounts?
 

Mt Al

WKR
Joined
Dec 16, 2017
Messages
1,214
Location
Montana
I'm an expert in how not to design and build a home that can accommodate mounts. It's a rare skill.

IMHO, home owner designed rooms and architecture rarely look good and often look horrid. Get a pro!

Back to my rare skill set: 10' walls, 12x12 pitch roofs and a room design that keeps the furniture in the middle (vs against the walls) is what I've seen in nice looking homes. Pedestal mounts work to save height also. I wish there was a contest for houses that didn't work for mounts, I'd nominate mine!
 

SWOHTR

WKR
Joined
Aug 1, 2016
Messages
1,438
Location
Briney foam
Agree with getting an architect. Dictate to them what you want and let them design.

The other option is to shoot smaller animals...but what’s the fun in that?!


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gbflyer

WKR
Joined
Feb 20, 2017
Messages
1,577
Get an architect to come up with a concept, do not let an architect draw the building plans unless a bonafide engineer with building experience checks them. Nothing will get a contractor eye roll faster than building on an architect’s plans.
 
Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
7,390
Location
Chugiak, Alaska
Our home wasn’t designed with mounts in mind, but I think that our great room does display them pretty well. We also have a grizzly rug (on the wall opposite the goat rug), in the entryway that has 20’ ceilings as well. This panoramic is a bit distorted but you get the idea. High ceilings are a must IMO.
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Wapiti66

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Aug 30, 2013
Messages
155
You can also plan on putting the mounts in a shop with high ceilings, and avoid building the high extra space it takes to mount large game in a house. Although, great rooms like AK Troutbum has sure look like a good place to hang out.
 

ceng

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
Messages
275
I’m an engineer who does house plans but not there. Anyways what I wanted to say was adding height is good. Build mockups of the roof pitch put your mounts on them to check heights before setting a “room height”. Another thing that I’ve seen be done effectively is a “game room” made specifically for your mounts. Yes it’s a whole extra room, but it gives you space for full body mounts and keeping the mounts low enough people can actually see them up close and enjoy the detail. In 2k feet you may not want to lose the extra room, but it’s kind of a cool idea. That being said you would still probably keep a couple large mounts in the great room.
 

bigmoose

WKR
Joined
Apr 29, 2012
Messages
575
Location
Yerington Nv.
I agree with ceng that the mounts should be low. The higher they are on the wall, the smaller they'll look and much of the fine detail of the mounts can not be seen. I try to keep my mounts just high enough to walk under and I also put furniture under them to further protect them from getting bumped. Another thing I try to do is to hang them so that their eyes are the same level. Most of my mounts are mule deer and this works out well.

I had a taxidermist tell me that a big bull elk will take up 7 1/2 feet of wall space. I would think a 16 foot ceiling would do it for height. ceng's idea of building a mock up should let you know how high or low you could go.

This is the view from my recliner. I know the ceilings are not very high. We had the last house built with 16-20 foot ceilings and I still kept the mounts about this height.
 

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Joined
Apr 22, 2012
Messages
7,390
Location
Chugiak, Alaska
I agree with ceng that the mounts should be low. The higher they are on the wall, the smaller they'll look and much of the fine detail of the mounts can not be seen. I try to keep my mounts just high enough to walk under and I also put furniture under them to further protect them from getting bumped. Another thing I try to do is to hang them so that their eyes are the same level. Most of my mounts are mule deer and this works out well.

I had a taxidermist tell me that a big bull elk will take up 7 1/2 feet of wall space. I would think a 16 foot ceiling would do it for height. ceng's idea of building a mock up should let you know how high or low you could go.

This is the view from my recliner. I know the ceilings are not very high. We had the last house built with 16-20 foot ceilings and I still kept the mounts about this height.

I also agree with this, regarding high ceilings/high mounts. We were fortunate in that the layout of our home is such that we can visualize the mounts up close from upstairs.
Those are some nice looking muley‘s by the way.



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ceng

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Mar 29, 2013
Messages
275
No doubt that balcony gives some great perspectives to enjoy the different mounts from.
 
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