Making a Ram Pedestal / Habitat Base

Pines_N_Tines · Jan 24, 2020

My son shot his big horn sheep ram on 11/01/2019.
Story here: https://www.monstermuleys.info/xf/threads/a-father-son-california-big-horn-sheep-experience.118875/
Above Camp Taxidermy out of Lehi, Utah does great work and has quick turn around times. We got my son's ram mount back on 01/13/2020. It is currently sitting on a low to the floor temporary base. We'll post it here when we finish the pedestal/habitat base.

Here's the progress so far.

We purchased a wood cutting permit for the area closest to where my son shot his ram and then went and cut some juniper logs for the pedestal. We chose Juniper as it is the predominant tree on the hill side where the ram was shot. We cut the logs and semi stripped them.

Cutting a 135° notch in a log on a table saw is not easy. A 135° notch will fit perfectly over the corner of an octagon. We made a slide jig to get the notch we needed.

Next we began making the pedestal base. The ram is very top heavy so the pedestal will need to be substantial to avoid the mount tipping over. We started by building up some 2x lumber on top of a plywood base.

We finished stripping and sanding the logs.

We began assembly of the octagon base.

We'll work on it some more this weekend and post progress.

darrack10 · Jan 24, 2020

Very cool

OutdoorWriter · Jan 25, 2020

Very neat, so far. ?

Pines_N_Tines · Jan 27, 2020

We'll we didn't get s far as I hoped but we made a little progress on saturday. We made the door and finished assembly of the octogon.

Next we temporarily fitted the corner trim. So we could make the the lip for the top.

Then we cut, stripped and sanded some trim pieces for the bottom. But didn't complete the band saw fitment cuts.

After we finish making the bottom trim pieces we'll move onto the top trim pieces. Then it'll be a whole lot of sanding and prep for stain/clear coat. I'm going to order a sheet of faux rock today to begin the habitat portion.

Pines_N_Tines · Feb 3, 2020

It's been slow going but i cut out the top trim quarter rounds. They're quite wet so they'll have to dry before fitment cuts.

Next I took off the corner posts and did a lot of sanding. Then we started staining.

We finish sanded and put the corner posts back on. You can see the quarter rounds needing a little more dry time before we can finish the pedestal and begin the habitat.

freaknasty · Feb 4, 2020

coming along nicely, try adding some old mans beard (moss) to some spots??? maybe a photo embedded somewhere in the panels??

SS! · Feb 4, 2020

Looking good. How many hours into it so far?

Pines_N_Tines · Feb 5, 2020

Slightlysober said:
Looking good. How many hours into it so far?

When you add getting a cut permit, cutting the logs, stripping the bark, sanding, design and build time, I'm slightly north of 20 hours at this point. This is my first attempt at something like this so it's learn as I go.

Pines_N_Tines · Feb 18, 2020

This project is taking more time and effort than I thought it would but I made some more progress. I took the boys out shed hunting and collected a few stumps to use in the habitat.

I finished all the trim pieces and glued/nailed the final assemby of the pedestal portion.

I chose this stump to use as the base center piece.

I had to do some significant hollowing on the underside of the stump to be able to attach nuts to the all thread that comes out of the mount.

I mocked up the stump.

Finally I test fitted the mount on the pedestal.

Next up will be the rock portion.

hogg_65 · Feb 25, 2020

Great post. Great family activity. That pedestal is turning out Amazing.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 14, 2020

Sorry this project has been taking awhile but we're close to done and have been having fun working on it.
First up on our progress we decided where to permanantly mount the stump and mark for a hole to be able to attach the ram to the stump from the underneath.

Throughout the summer as my son and I were on scouting trips, we we're mindful of things we might want to include in a pedestal habitat if we were successful at taking his ram. In the picture below there are some cool burnt roots, crystals, a rattle snake skin, vegetation from the kill site, the spent cartridge from my sons one shot one kill, and the foam we use to carve our habitat rocks.

We cut and glued the 2" foam insulation into quasi rock stacks and then began carving them to take on the rock shapes we wanted.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 14, 2020

We finished carving the rocks so that they would overhang onto the lip of the pedestal and used some spackle to fill in some unwanted gaps.

We had to redo one rock because we found out the hard way that you can't spray paint foam insulation without it melting. So after we recarved a rock we put a latex paint base layer and began the multi-layer painting of the rocks.

Afterthe latex base layer we use a spray bottle and tempera paint to layer some black, umber, sienna, yellow ocher, and them dry brushed some white highlghts.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 14, 2020

The burnt roots were growing on the cliff face right below where I'm standing in this picture. We knew they were unique and we would want them "growing" in our pedestal rocks.

We attached a burnt root and added some lichens from rocks near the kill site.

We found one exposed rock with crystals while scouting and collected the larger ones for use later on. Her is a pic of the rock as it was on the mountain.

I knew I wouldn't be able to do a perfect match but we tried to recreate something resembling the crystals we found on the mountain. Here's our attempt.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 14, 2020

All that is left is to add dirt, vegetation, a part of the rattle snake skin and then my sons spent cartridge laying on the dirt as though it had just been ejected. Then the final piece will be to install the Ram and post him for you all to see. I'm excited to complete this for my son.

hogg_65 · Mar 15, 2020

Great ideas.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 15, 2020

Well we went for a drive and got some dirt out towards the kill site. We sifted it and then made a diluted elmers glue spray and layered the dirt up between the rocks.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 15, 2020

Next we glued in the vegetation and my son's .270 casing that he used to shoot the ram

We glued more vegetation on the baqck side and a rattle snake skin we found while scouting.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 15, 2020

The lighting isnt great but here is the finished pedestal with his ram. The only thing left to do is hide the all thread.

hogg_65 · Mar 16, 2020

That is a work of art. Very well done. Congrats on that time well spent with your son. That's what life is all about.

littlebighorn · Mar 16, 2020

What a way to enhance your adventure! Awesome job.

elkhunterUT · Mar 16, 2020

That turned out amazing!! Pretty cool way to remember the experience you both shared together. I am sure it will mean a lot to your son for the rest of his life!!

ortegageno · Mar 17, 2020

Nice job, next time use square tubing for your attachment that way you don't see the rods. And you want to cut the stump at the same angle of the brisket so it sits flush on the stump without seeing the attachment.

Pines_N_Tines · Mar 17, 2020

ortegageno said:
Nice job, next time use square tubing for your attachment that way you don't see the rods. And you want to cut the stump at the same angle of the brisket so it sits flush on the stump without seeing the attachment.

Great idea. This was my first pedestal/habitat. We kind of learned as we went. Early on we made a sketch of our pedestal vision. This was before we got the Ram mount back from the taxidermist.

To hide the all thread at this point I'm thinking of cutting a small juniper round. Then cutting it at and angle and cutting a "horseshoe" so that it can slide around the all thread and match the brisket angle. Any other ideas?

treedagain · Mar 17, 2020

Looks great to me.

ortegageno · Mar 17, 2020

Ya a piece of the same wood will work. Just do not put Moss like I see on many mounts to hide the rods especially on bears.

Cahunter805 · Mar 19, 2020

That’s an amazing project and looks awesome! Super creative design and thank you for sharing the project.
Congrats again to your son on his ram!

PleaseDear · Mar 23, 2020

Perfect!

congrats

Robb

live4muleys · Mar 30, 2020

Looks awesome. Good job. I really like the way it came out.

bigmoose · Apr 2, 2020

Awesome job on that pedestal ! Beautiful ram !

bigmoose · Apr 3, 2020

A question: in one of the photos the ram's head appears off center of the pedestal. Did you have to put some sort of ballast in the base? I also have a Ca. bighorn shoulder mount and it's very heavy compared to a mule deer mount. Just wondering...great looking pedestal!

twdjr · Apr 4, 2020

Incredible!

Pines_N_Tines · Apr 5, 2020

bigmoose said:
A question: in one of the photos the ram's head appears off center of the pedestal. Did you have to put some sort of ballast in the base? I also have a Ca. bighorn shoulder mount and it's very heavy compared to a mule deer mount. Just wondering...great looking pedestal!

The mount attachment point is centered towards the rear of the habitat base. The ram's head is off center to the left side of the pedestal and protrudes around 8-9 inches forward or the pedestal. The base octogon from ground up is 5/8" plywood, followed by 2 layers of 2x8' and topped with 3/4" MDF. The juniper logs are dense and heavy. The pedestal is plenty heavy to keep the Ram from tipping forward. I didn't weigh it but it was a beast to carry upstairs to my boys bedroom. Here's where it is in my son's bedroom

I tried to take a photo looking straight down from above so you can see the offset. and then again from a diferent angle.

bigmoose · Apr 5, 2020

Thanks. I did not realize the base was that heavy and I see where the support is near the back. Again, that is a great looking mount. You are talented. Congrats to your son !

Must be nice to wake up and stare at ram...LOL