The sound of an 18-volt Makita drill driver fills the air in Chase Grippa’s Milner home as the longtime Yampa Valley resident puts the finishing touches on his latest work of art — a five-point bull elk skull plated in metal.
“I got into this because it felt like doing something that no one had ever done,” said Grippa, who uses his talents to embellish his Western skull mounts with thin metal plates of copper, brass and tin. “I’m fascinated by the whole aspect of a bull animal that has antlers or horns that it uses in its fight to survive. I just thought the metal armor is a cool visual — the bull must fight to survive and has lived long enough to have antlers of that size.”
Grippa, who started doing skull mounts five years ago while working with another taxidermist, has recently set out on his own and expanded his creative offerings with Battle Born Bones (@bornbattlebones) by affixing oval metal plates to the skulls of elk, deer and bison. His girlfriend, Jess Claslin, will also engrave skulls to give customers another creative outlet.
He explained that the skulls he creates are unique because of the way he does the metal plates. He pre-drills small holes though thin sheets and into the skull before using a brad to secure the small malleable metal ovals to the skull. Sometimes he also adds small metal chains and spikes to create a one-of-a-kind offering.
Grippa, a 2009 Steamboat Springs High School graduate, grew up in Steamboat Springs focusing on doing European mounts, where the animal’s skull and antlers are cleaned and prepared for display.
Grippa, who is not a hunter, said he was drawn to doing this out of respect for the animals that he works on for customers. He wants the mount to allow people to feel the power and spirit of the animals that are brought to him, whether it’s one of his traditional European mounts or one of his newer artistic creations.
He takes great pride and care in making sure his mounts are done correctly and to the best of his ability. He has also welcomed the chance to provide mounts with a more artistic flair because he feels it draws attention to the lives that these animals lived and what they represent.
“It’s just respect,” Grippa said. “These animals are incredible — they fought off wolves, mountain lions, bears and other animals as big as them.”