By Mark Fike
Many hunters appreciate having a tangible reminder of a day afield when they took a beautiful animal and put meat in their freezer. I have always wanted something different when I took a deer worthy of the wall. Don’t get me wrong, a full shoulder mount is nice if done right but something different that catches the eye was more my personality.
I actually prefer skull mounts to full mounts, so when I saw a product that used skull mounts to display a memory from the field, I was immediately interested. Skull Hooker ™ incorporates your skull mount, aka European mount, to a nice way to hang it on the wall, display it on a tabletop or even on a trophy tree.
Everyone has a wood plaque for their mounts. I love wood and enjoy woodworking. You can do a lot with wood and many do. A wood plaque or backing can be customized and made to look gorgeous.
However, when using Skull Hooker, the focus is on the mount or skull and not on the backing. Plus, and this is a big plus, the mounting system is so simple. If you are mounting on the wall, it is a few screws. If on a tabletop or trophy tree, just hang your skull or turkey fan. I like simple and these things are so simple, but they are stylish too.
The prong on the unit will allow you to swap out skulls in seconds and no drilled holes or screws are needed to hang your skull. You do have to screw the plate of the unit to the wall. There is a Skull Hooker that will handle pretty much any sized game to include deer and other medium-sized game and the larger one for any larger hooved animals to include elk, caribou and brown bear and others.
The coolest thing about this simple, yet cool-looking design is that your skull can swivel left or right or ride the center and you can change the pitch for the look you want by adjusting a screw. VERY easy to make it look just right and work on any wall, in any spot. Gone are the days when your shoulder mount had to be on a wall where it faced the correct way.
The brackets are brown or graphite black which are classy colors to fit any décor. We painted our room a southwest clay brown color and the Skull Hooker was perfect for it in brown. Black would have worked well too.
You can have your taxidermist clean up your next animal’s skull and save yourself a lot of money by only having that done and then buying the Skull Hooker, or you can do the work yourself. Getting your own skull mount made will take a little bit of time but will save you a bit more money and you will have the satisfaction of having done your own mount start to finish.
We will run an article on doing your own skulls before the hunting season is in full swing. Meanwhile, if you have a few European mounts lying around but want to change things up or you want to save a bit of wall space and save some money, consider the Skull Hooker. This product got my wife’s approval right away. Check out Skull Hooker at www.skullhooker.com