.jpg)
My godfather in the 1930s or perhaps earlier, not sure. there was always the same group of friends hunting together, my father included. The meat was divided. It was also a culling of the male animals.
I have always found it odd to be photographed with a dead animal as trophy.
The hunting trophy
A hunting trophy is an item prepared from the body of a game animal killed by a hunter and kept as a souvenir of the successful hunting or fishing expedition.
Often, the heads or entire bodies are processed by a taxidermist, although sometimes other body parts such as teeth, tusks or horns are used as the trophies.
Such trophies are often displayed in the hunter's home in a "trophy room," sometimes called "game rooms" or "gun rooms," in which the hunter's weaponry is displayed as well
The hunting trophy
A hunting trophy is an item prepared from the body of a game animal killed by a hunter and kept as a souvenir of the successful hunting or fishing expedition.
Often, the heads or entire bodies are processed by a taxidermist, although sometimes other body parts such as teeth, tusks or horns are used as the trophies.
Such trophies are often displayed in the hunter's home in a "trophy room," sometimes called "game rooms" or "gun rooms," in which the hunter's weaponry is displayed as well
These, with many more were hanging in my father's gun room. At the back they were neatly inscribed where they came from. There were also mounted birds and squirrels. One was quite a big owl with open wings.
The chamois came from Splügen 09/09/1935
The one on the right came from Tschingel, Trins 1935.
My father had many beautiful guns. One was a small one with beautiful silver engravings. My father did not have sons so he taught me to shoot, I was only allowed to use the small rifle. Sunday mornings we would go out into the country site, I carried the target, a stick with a white cardboard with black rings.
Do not miss your next target and visit Sepia Saturday 173
www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com
The chamois came from Splügen 09/09/1935
The one on the right came from Tschingel, Trins 1935.
My father had many beautiful guns. One was a small one with beautiful silver engravings. My father did not have sons so he taught me to shoot, I was only allowed to use the small rifle. Sunday mornings we would go out into the country site, I carried the target, a stick with a white cardboard with black rings.
Do not miss your next target and visit Sepia Saturday 173
www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com
©Photos/text Ts
My husband's family are all BIG hunters and have loads of trophies on their walls. One brother-in-law always hangs a small photo of himself with his kill posed just like your godfather. I guess only another hunter can truly appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteNot many hunters in my family - although I am sure that is not true for past generations. Although it is against the law in our city now, we often fed the deer behind our house. Now, though, there are often coyotes living back there and we don't want to encourage the coyotes to get too close, so we had to give up our "family" of deer.
ReplyDeleteIn Africa, where I grew up, hunting was a pretty common pastime, but I never could, and still can't, get my head around participating.
ReplyDeleteMy family had no hunters, not any that I know of anyway.
ReplyDeleteSo no photos of guns or trophies. I did have an uncle who was into
archery, but I don't think he ever used it for hunting.
Nancy
I can understand having such an animal professionally stuffed and then displayed, they are, after all, beautiful creatures. But I would need convincing about displaying just the skull and horns.
ReplyDeleteAlan, They did at that time, I don't know if they still display in this way. Hunting in autumn is still big in Switzerland and the meat is very sought after as it is "natural" not farmed meat.
DeleteHello Titania,
ReplyDeleteMy father and brother both hunted when we lived in Wisconsin. It was how they provided meat for the family table. They never saved or mounted the antlers or any other body parts. I did see a deer head once though that my grandfather had apparently had mounted. It was a beautiful animal and I remember as a child wondering why it was on the plaque and why it looked so sad, in the eyes, I guess because they were glass. Children look at things like this so differently than an adult. Now of course I would not want to see them mounted, hanging on a wall. As far as photos go, there are some of my father with a deer, and once I remember seeing a deer hanging from our swing set; draining the blood I assume. It was a way of live for many then but now I think it more of a sport to hunt for many. Some of course just prefer to hunt for their families food.
Hi Carla, There were times when hunting provided meat for the table for the families. I remember my mother cooked the stews in red wine and juniper berries to sterilize for winter. It was always delicious when a glass was opened for a meal. Thank you for your memories.
ReplyDelete