Context: the village has been stalked by an elusive beast (resembling a saber-toothed tiger) for weeks. its killed livestock, injured a herder, killed 2 people, caused a panic in the village, etc. The hunters finally killed it and brought it back to the village in triumph. How would this thing be displayed? I keep thinking about the pictures of fishermen posing beside their catch, hoisted by its tail. and then hunters who pose with their game where they fall. Would it be strung up? Would a hunter only display the head? Pelt? Would it be posed?
Just brainstorming possibilities, partly because I'm not sure of the technology level of the village. Taxidermy—full body, head on a wall, or skull on a wall The hunters involved might wear necklaces of its claws and teeth The skin might be stretched over someone's door (town hall maybe?) The skeleton assembled and posed like a statue In primitive societies (I don't think yours is very primitive) supposedly they would pantomime and re-enact the hunt as a thrilling story around a campfire, probably for years, like a favorite culturally important story told over and over. Later, when language came along they'd tell it storyteller-style, or there would be a song or an epic poem about it The hunters might weave the tale into their own family histories (I'm thinking of Beowulf, where they list their lengthy histories when meeting someone new) Paintings hung in important public places, or statues, or carved totem poles etc, whatever they would use Maybe one of its paws, with claws still intact, goes on the end of a chieftan's staff The hunters might achieve legendary status, become superstars, and get to call themselves The Great Spirit-Hunters of the Wimbly-Wambly Wolf (whatever it's called)
Maybe its meat is served at special celebrations, and is sacred, and somehow it never runs out. By which I mean of course it does, but they keep serving 'The Sacred meat of the Wimbly-Wambly Wolf" for celebrations and sanctified events year after year, with tales that it never spoils and regenerates after being eaten. Of course it's really just bison meat or whatever after a while. And of course when you eat it it makes you strong and courageous and heals all wounds. Supposedly.
Jim Corbett talks a little about what happened after he killed the Champawat Tigress in Man-Eaters of Kumaon. The locals who’d helped beat the underbrush in the hunt for the tiger asked him not to skin it at the kill site because the women and children would never believe it was dead if they didn’t see it for themselves (she’d killed 436 people), so he let them chop down two saplings, lashed the carcass to them, and parade it through the village for a few hours before returning it to him. Afterwards… Corbett seems to have retained the pelt, and at some point her head was taxidermied.
Take a look at her fangs. Top and bottom on her right are broken, most likely by a bullet. Corbett believed the wound caused her to turn man-eater because she couldn’t kill the usual prey. Corbett found this was a common theme with the man-eating tigers he hunted:
I've always found the practice of displaying animal corpses gruesome and gratuitous, but if your characters are into it, how it would be presented would depend on whether it's a permanent exhibit or a temporary brag. They might hoist it up to show it off after the kill, or they might chop off the head, stuff it, preserve it and mount it on a wall. If no one's going to keep it as a permanent trophy, though, I would think they would just hang it up by the feet until everyone saw it, or ooh, this isn't bad: make it the crux of a celebratory bonfire.
