You know how some people have walls full of deer heads and turkey fans? Yeah, well that wouldn’t be me.
It’s not that I haven’t been hunting, it’s mostly just because I haven’t had that kind of luck. Besides the fact that taxidermy is really expen$ive.
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t keep hunt souvenirs. I do. It’s just that mine are a little more subdued and take up less space than a wall full of heads with glass eyes.
My “Trophy Shelf” from my short hunting career consists mainly of mementoes rather than mounts, and tales rather than tails. I do have a few tail feathers from my first pheasants though. They sit on little picture tripods from the craft store. I also have a decorative jar filled with duck feathers, a spent shell, and my out-of-state license for my first duck hunt.
I also kept the flattened recovered bullet, the spent brass, and my Texas license in a bottle from my first hog and doe hunt last year. Additionally, I have random turkey feathers that I’ve picked up on my strolls through the family property. These are all artfully (or not) arranged on the bookshelves in my living room. I keep my treasures on my bookcases near the TV so I can admire them at my leisure and remember my times afield. Maybe that’s too “girly”. But I AM a girl, so whatever.
Of course these mementoes don’t scream out for attention and questions like racks and heads and fans do. My guests have to pay a little more attention to know what they are looking at. But I guess that speaks in their favor if that means that guests are looking at my books to being with. My trophy shelf is really more for “me” than anybody else anyway.
From my perspective the best ”trophy” I can have is a trove of memories and a fed tummy. If it’s true that you are what you eat, then I am a product of the various game animals that I have consumed over the years. What better “trophies” to have than a healthy well-fed self, a stocked freezer, and fond memories?
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
