Hogger thanks for the help. I am in central PA. Hopefully you can help me with a company to use. And i am assuming that you make your crates completely enclosed? It does have detachable antlers.
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I built a crate just to haul customer mounts in my truck. I use a 3/4" piece of plywood for the base. Then I built a frame from 2x2's. I cover it with masonite (hardboard). Since all the antlers on my elk are attached, I just stick them out the back side of the crate. Once I get the crate over the animal I cover the back with more masonite and the area around the horns with cardboard.
I simply screw the form to the bottom plywood standing the elk nose up. Depending on what the carrier requires, and am guessing this crate would be fine for shipping as long as they did not stack on top of it. Masonite and 2x2's are cheap, the 3/4" plywood will ding you a bit.
I would keep every thing enclosed as much as possible. A crate built as strong as possible with 1x3's or 2x4's and a plywood base to attach the mount to and then enclosed with cardboard usually works pretty well. I've been driving truck a little longer than I have been doing taxidermy, going on 30 yrs. All trucking companies are the same in how they handle freight. What you need to find out is how many times it will be handled. That is usually where the damages happen. The thing to keep in mind is that the crate is bouncing around with the rest of what ever is in that truck and you don't want something falling into it to damage it or have antlers sticking out to damage something else. If a trucking company can give you a quote on a price with a time of arrival and let you know how many breakbulk terminals it will pass through then you can make your own decision as to who to try. An example would be something coming from the east may go to NY and then put on a truck going to maybe Chicago, then put on another truck going to maybe CA. So if it was handled right each time and loaded right each time it should arrive safely and if not, I think you get the idea. One other thing is to label it as clearly as possible.
With the back board on the ground (for large shoulder mounts) and nose in the air,
Start building a crate with a pallet base.Make it big enough to fit the entire mount inside. Build it with one side removable.Cut a board(this should be wider than the elk back board) big enough to fit in the bottom of the crate,screw it to the back of the mount like a panel first.Then place the mount in the crate and screw the board to the pallet. On some mounts with large antlers or horns you should put in a crossmember to support the horns or antlers.
This works well.
Don't be a tight A**,use wood for the whole thing.Better safe then sorry.
How much will you have saved when you have to remount it? Insurance? Yes,but the hunters trophy is still DAMAGED and if you remount,it is no longer his animal.