I am posting this as a warning to other forum members who may be considering using ACE Taxidermy in Warmbaths, RSA.

The story starts a couple or three years ago with a me being lucky enough to have a fantastic hunt in the Northern Province of RSA along with a two other of our forum members.

On recommendation, the three of us elected to use ACE Taxidermy to get our trophies done.

Out of personal preference and due to clack of space at home, I decided to have mine done as various types of European Skull mounts along with a felt backed rug for my zebra skin, plus one or two other odd items.

The arrangements were made and the raw trophies were were collected by ACE from where we were hunting.

We had been warned of a fairly long waiting period and this turned out to be around 15months IIRC.

During that that period, communication from ACE was virtually none existent. It generally took or three emails and at least a couple of weeks wait for a response each time we corresponded. This was for inquiries with regards cash transfers ect and progress on the work.

Eventually we were told the various grates were being shipped, and we made our final payments.

After nearly 18 months, my crate finally arrived only for me to very disappointed when I opened it.

Much of the order was either wrong or missing and what was done was of a very poor standard.

The skulls in particular were covered in brown stains and felt greasy to the touch. One in particular was badly damaged by over boiling and a couple had been cut not per as my instructions.

The rug was without it's felt backing and one trophy shield was missing from the crate. The remaining shields looked as if they were missing the final sanding and coat of wax...

A few emails to ACE resulted in their usual "no response" so i followed up with a phone call.

After a brief discussion, there was much apologies and promises to sort things out as far as possible. I didn't actually mention the crap workmanship, as I thought it might have been counter productive, but instead asked them to first sort out the missing shield and what to do about the rug.

A course of action was agreed on, and plans made, but thats the last I ever heard from them.

Further emails again went unanswered and a couple of phone calls resulted in promises to phone back, which of course never happened. To be honest, it was what I was expecting...

Why wait so long to post this now?

A couple of weeks back, I noticed the box containing the skulls had stated to smell a bit "funky"...

This spurred me on to try some remedial work to degrease the skulls, repair what damage I could, and then give them another soak in peroxide, ie to get them half decent to go on the wall..

Accordingly, I removed the skulls from the shields and dropped them into some soapy water as the start of this process.

Tonight, after a couple of weeks soaking, I removed the skulls and easily found the source of the smell.

Off each skull I have removed at least a cup full of flesh, membrane, sinew, and in the case of the waterbuck skull, a portion of its brain which had stuck to indentations on the inside of the skull case!

The original bleaching, drying and coating in borax powder, plus the fact this residual "meat" was "in side" the skull had meant it had gone unnoticed until it was dehydrated following the soaking.

As someone who has done a number of their own European Skulls mounts, I can honestly say I am shocked at the poor quality work this so called professional taxidermist has sent out from his shop, not to mention the none existent customer service through out the whole process.

The other two forum members had similar poor quality work, with their shoulder mounts shedding some type of beetle a few weeks after they had been up on the walls...Not the sort of thing you want infesting your other trophies!

So be warned, use ACE Taxidermy at your own risk!

Thanks for the heads up on ACE taxidermy.There is no excuse for that kind of work and certainly no reason to put up with the lack of customer service.

Only other thing I may suggest is to let your PH in Africa know how you were treated and what the end result was.If he is worth his salt he will want to make sure his clients are not using this taxidermy in the future.

Fookers. I hate hearing about these kinds of things. Sorry to hear about it. Not a lot stings more than having a wonderful hunting/fishing trip, only to get screwed by people like that in the end (pun unintended).

KG

To be honest I missed the first alarm bells when the taxidermist asked if I wanted the skulls spray painting with acrylic after the bleaching, or leaving "as is"..

I now realize the only reason to paint a skull is because the taxidermist doesn't take the trouble to, or doesn't know how to, process them correctly to get them grease / stain free and reasonably white..

Having since done a bit of research over the Net, I notice that many American taxidermists are producing European mounts of what look like excellent quality, and are doing so for a variety of animals from deer and elk, to cougar and boar which apparently are notoriously greasy...

This tells me the reasons I was given at the time for the need to paint the skulls if a nice even whitish colour was desired, were simply BS..

Pete, I'm terribly sorry to hear of your woes. As I have mentioned before, I have also had bad experience with African taxidermy - even what you would consider the simplest kind (e.g skull mounts). On my latest attempt, my skulls had in general been totally overcooked, and are now deeply pitted. There is just no comparison to a properly executed skull mount.

I'm not saying all African taxidermy is bad. How could I, I have not tried all African taxidermists. However of the taxidermists I have used in Namibia, SA and Zimbabwe, none have even come close to delivering good work. This in spite of the fact, that I have tried to make the jobs simpler and simpler (rugs and skulls).

IMHO, what happens is as follows. The taxidermist you might have an interview with and agree on the work to be done, will at most supervise the work, and that is if you are lucky. Other than that, the actual work is normally done by unskilled labour (cheap is the keyword here). The final price is not determined by the expense of having the job done, rather it depends on a "destination charge". I.e. a local will pay a totally different price to what you pay if you happen to reside in the US or Europe.

Just my experience, be it generally valid or not.

- mike

P.S. In all fairness, I should mention the last game ranch I hunted on in Namiba (Kalahari area) actually did a pretty credible job of boiling and bleaching the skulls. I have seen a lot worse from socalled taxidermists in SA.

quote:

IMHO, what happens is as follows. The taxidermist you might have an interview with and agree on the work to be done, will at most supervise the work, and that is if you are lucky. Other than that, the actual work is normally done by unskilled labour (cheap is the keyword here). The final price is not determined by the expense of having the job done, rather it depends on a "destination charge". I.e. a local will pay a totally different price to what you pay if you happen to reside in the US or Europe.

Mike,

That is pretty much the conclusion I reached. I suspect that the main man looks after the high $$ mounts and VIP clients and things like skull mounts get done by "the boy"....

Not sure what the answer is really as the skulls have to be boiled ect before they can be exported and thats regardless of whether they are then finished off or not before being shipped..

Regards,

Pete

I really hate to hear of any hunter losing his or her trophies to shoddy workmanship. That is sad.

FWIW, I used Life Form in RSA about six years ago and my trophies arrived in great shape and they still look great. Plus, their customer service was superb - very responsive and took the initiative to contact along the way to advise me of progress.

There are, of course, bad operators in every field in every country.

Damn, Pete. I hate to hear that. I am thinking I got off pretty easy. Except for the bugs and moth ball like smell which Miller Trophy Room fixed for me, I got the ones I shot. Everything looks pretty good. I was fortunate that the ones from my March 2006 hunt turned out okay. Had I known what was in store from my first shipment I would not have used them a second time. Needless to say the bugs freaked out my wife.

Pete,

Sorry to hear all the details of your tribulations with ACE.

I am just as P'd off as you though. What you found inside your euro mounts definitely explains why RAC and I got bugs in our shipments...I wish I could see inside my shoulder mounts...I am betting they are full of tissue, etc, too.

My trophies are still in plastic bags...its way out of my budget to get Miller Trophy Room restoration to come up to Canada and I still don't trust that the trophies are bug free, in spite of the chemical I have applied and the two months of freezing they got last winter.

ACE also "forgot" to ship two of my skins...they are apparently sitting in their shop in case I manage to get back to that area sometime. Since they probably screwed them up too (the nyala backskin is a real mess), I am not willing to pay for the frieght and go through the hassle of driving 10 hours round trip to clear them through customs.

My waterbuck euro mount was totally botched. Its supposed to be a long nose skull mount and its just a skull cap. As a result the horns just stick straight out from the wall...it looks absolutely rediculous. The waterbuck skin is one of the ones that is MIA, so I have nothing from that animal worth displaying.

ACE was a major, major disappointement to me too and severly tarnished the experience overall (ie. when I look at the trophies its hard to remember the good times....haven't gotten over the bugs, the hassles, the shoddy work, etc). I will confirm all that Pete says about their customer service too...it could not be any worse if they tried.

Canuck

Damn, I feel for you guys, what a shitty deal. My condolences.

Andy

RAC, Canuck,

Did you ever contact ACE about the beetle infestation? If so, what was their response?

Regards,

Pete

Fella's, report this to your Customs Departments. If they find any sort of insect coming from a foreign business, they will ban further imports and jump all over his home Province. Ripple effect. Pete, if you haven't finished your skulls, email me and I'll advise you on how to remove the grease and what to seal them with. If discoloration is too severe, a bone white acrylic paint will do wonders. Sorry to hear about this nightmare but spread the word to all that will listen. LDK

absolutely do as L david says. he is 100% right. aft6er customs gets them on a bad guy list they are all done screwing people

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
RAC, Canuck,

Did you ever contact ACE about the beetle infestation? If so, what was their response?

Regards,

Pete

It took forever to get a reply from them, but they did eventually. Weren't much help though...never ID'd the bug for me and couldn't suggest a way to fix it. Wanted to blame the shipping company, who of course blamed the taxidermy shop. ACE did get me a name of a guy in the Yukon (3500 km away from where I live!) that they thought could help me. I called him...he knew less about it than me. I think they just googled "taxidermists in Canada" and sent the name of the first guy they saw (presumably thinking we probably all know each other anyway ).

They did e-mail out of the blue a few months later to see how I was making out...but of course they didn't reply to my response.

Canuck

Pete, Thanks for the Heads up.

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
RAC, Canuck,

Did you ever contact ACE about the beetle infestation? If so, what was their response?

Regards,

Pete

Pete, I contacted them and their e-mail replies were sporadic. They talked about doing something but I took matters in my own hands by using Miller Trophy Room. I am not sure what they could have done anyhow.

This kind of discussion is also near and dear to me as I had a shipment from RSA take almost 2 1/2 years to get to me. When the mount arrived it was not as I had ordered or prescribed. Well, but at least it is here and in good order in my home. I have since found someone there for ship and pack and sometimes mounting that is really good and they are easy to work with.

I also did a search on Google and found a posting by one of our own here on AR. JJHACK talks about ACE Taxidermy on another internet forum and also post about them here on AR a couple of years past. Link to other forums discussion

Maybe he would be able to help you remedy this situation?

Really inportant to all
CK THIS OUT , AMMINUNITION BEING REGULATED BY OSHA ,DEPT OF LABOR

This is a form letter . Call all gov officials.

U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625 200 Constitution Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20210

Re.: Docket No. OSHA-2007-0032 (Explosives—Proposed Rule)

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am writing in strong opposition to OSHA’s proposed rules on “explosives,†which go far beyond regulating true explosives. These proposed rules would impose severe restrictions on the transportation and storage of small arms ammunition—both complete cartridges and handloading components such as black and smokeless powder, primers, and percussion caps. These restrictions go far beyond existing transportation and fire protection regulations.

As a person who uses ammunition and components, I am very concerned that these regulations will have a serious effect on my ability to obtain these products. OSHA’s proposed rules would impose restrictions that very few gun stores, sporting goods stores, or ammunition dealers could comply with. (Prohibiting firearms in stores that sell ammunition, for example, is absurd—but would be required under the proposed rule.)

The proposed transportation regulations would also affect shooters’ ability to buy these components by mail or online, because shipping companies would also have great difficulty complying with the proposed rules.

There is absolutely no evidence of any new safety hazard from storage or transportation of small arms ammunition or components that would justify these new rules. I also understand that organizations with expertise in this field, such as the National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation, and Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Association, will be submitting detailed comments on this issue. I hope OSHA will listen to these organizations’ comments as the agency develops a final rule on this issue.

Sincerely,

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
On recommendation, the three of us elected to use ACE Taxidermy to get our trophies done.

Who made the recommendation?

I also had a truly bad trophy experience from my hunt in Namibia. Multiple problems I won't go into on this thread. But it has soured me on the whole experience and if I ever make it back to the Dark Continent you can be sure that the only thing I'll be spending my money on is developing the camera film.

Screw the dip and pack.
Screw the overboiled skulls.
Screw the piss-poor taxidermy.
Screw the shipping companies.
Screw the customs clearing agents.
Screw the bonded warehouses.

IMHO there are not many trustworthy Taxidermy Companys in RSA. I had similar with one South African Taxidermy Company.

Seloushunter

quote:

IMHO there are not many trustworthy Taxidermy Companys in RSA. I had similar with one South African Taxidermy Company.

mboga, please tell us who so we can avoid them.
Good hunting, LDK

Avoid "Big Buck" Taxidermy near Jo'burg/Pretoria as well.

They managed to loose all the documentation given to them, then claimed they were never given it.

Usually the outfitter could replace by Jaco du Plessis disappeared in between.

Steve Robinson (otherwise not connected with the affair) ended up helping me out by arranging new documentation somehow.

Stay away from Taxidermy International in Pretoria. Lousy communications until they want payment and very long turn around time.I tried for 8 months after final payment to find out where my trophies were. I was finally contacted by Safari Cargo to tell me the permits had run out.That is how I found my trophies

quote:

IMHO there are not many trustworthy Taxidermy Companys in RSA. I had similar with one South African Taxidermy Company.

mboga, please tell us who so we can avoid them.
Good hunting, LDK

The Company based near Piet Retif is out of Business Now (No Wonder )

Seloushunter

Quit being tightasses and get your critters mounted in U.S.. I know there are reputable companies in Africa, but there is an infinite amount of possible problems that can arrise. When something goes wrong, IT'S IN AFRICA! Do you really think you will have good odds of recourse? In U.S. you would be able to hire an attorney and go after these assholes, but over there they just don't have to answer your call. Yes, taxidermy in the U.S. costs more money. But there is no quality equal, better service, or better piece of mind. I am really sorry about any one's bad taxidermy experience but it has become really easy to find a great taxidermist in the U.S. you can work with and I suggest you find that business well before your next safari and your choice to gamble with your next trophy.

quote:

My waterbuck euro mount was totally botched. Its supposed to be a long nose skull mount and its just a skull cap. As a result the horns just stick straight out from the wall...it looks absolutely rediculous. The waterbuck skin is one of the ones that is MIA, so I have nothing from that animal worth displaying.

Canuck,
The is still hope for your waterbuck. When I was in Namibia I cut all of the skulls I was going to mount into just the skull caps. When my tanning returned from Kwiktan in Jo'berg it was complete c**p and unusable (hint: don't use Kwiktan!), meaning, like you, all I had was the skull caps of my critters.

I went to a local taxidermist who does African mounts and gave him a list of the animals that I needed skulls for. As other hunters brought their animals in, the taxidermist would cut the skull cap from those skulls for the mount and was going to throw the rest of the skull away.

Even though they were going to be trash, I offered him $20.00 each for the trash skulls (so he would remember me!. Then I put my skull caps on the trash skulls with bondo, screws, etc., and did a little body work with some stuff called Apoxie Sculpt. Actually it was kinda fun to do.

When the sculpting was done, I chose to "bronze" the skulls but you could easily lightly spray them with a bone white acrylic paint. If you take your time, you will not be able tell that it was fixed.

Good luck!

JDS

These kind of stories are the reason I am going to have all work done in the states. By my calculations it will also be cheaper. I am honestly surprised that anyone chooses to have their mounts done in Africa as their is simply no cost benefit when shipping charges are factored in. The tannery in texas offered me a better rate on the zebra rug than can be had in Namibia!

We will be in Namibia for our first African hunt in May, and are using Pam Foerster to arrange shipping to a tannery in Texas. From there tanned capes will come to me and I will mount as money allows.

I just don't want my trip ruined by having my trophies destroyed.

I hate to hear stories like this!!
jds and I have discussed his problems with Kwiktan before, while I plan on using them for tanning again this next month for a party of 8 bow hunter. I used them on my last trip and had great luck. Out of 21 items, we had two impala that were not mountable due to slippage. This could have been, and was most likely the prep work at the skinning shed, before it got to the tannery. One email and I had two new capes on the way.
This type of thing also happens in the states. I am working with a client at this time that took a nice Kansas buck, had it mounted by a State, National and World champion, in fish, and the guy used the wrong cape......not even a midwest cape. I was asked if I would remove the antlers before he took it back because he did not feel like he wanted to leave them. He hopes to get his cape and I will mount it for him.
When I pulled the rack, it had already started growing green and had a smell. Some flesh was left on and the liner of the brain. Not good!
The mount still had staples behind the eyes and it had some type of wax rubbed over the seem, I assume to hold down the hair due to the sewing job... it was a mess!
When you do find a god taxidermist keep him, or her! Don't make your decision based on the price. Make sure you look at the work of the person that will be working on your mount. Thats one of the problems in the big shops, you never know who will be working on yours. Many shops wholesale work out, so watch out for that.

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:

quote:

Originally posted by Pete E:
On recommendation, the three of us elected to use ACE Taxidermy to get our trophies done.

Who made the recommendation?

I also had a truly bad trophy experience from my hunt in Namibia. Multiple problems I won't go into on this thread. But it has soured me on the whole experience and if I ever make it back to the Dark Continent you can be sure that the only thing I'll be spending my money on is developing the camera film.
.

onefunzr2,

ACE was one of a couple of Taxidermists recommended by our PH, JJHack..He also gave us the option of using one of our own choice if we had so desired.

I actually don't hold Jim responsible in anyway, and as such, never complained to him after the hunt. The first he knew of my real unhappiness was probably when he read this thread..

Knowing Jim, if I had asked him at the time to get another skull or even a cape or something, he would have certainly tried his best.

But for me the point is that a replacement is just that: it wouldn't be "mine"...The work should have been correct and to a decent standard in the first place; that it wasn't was down to ACE...If i want replacements, I could have got them of Ebay with very little problem..

Your idea about just taking pictures is a very good one...I know somebody who went a step further and left a few of his pictures with a local artist and had a series of small oil paintings done....A very nice touch indeed...

Cunningham,

Jim doesn't use ACE anymore and hasn't done so for some time for other unrelated reasons...

Like I said previously, I don't hold Jim in anyway responsible for the poor workmanship of ACE, so didn't chase him over it.

ACE had their chance to try to redress the situation when I contacted them directly, & when they didn't, I basically thought "screw you"...

To be honest, shipping anything back to ACE for them to try to fix with would have been another prolonged nightmare, and even if they had offered a partial refund (which they didn't), that still would not solve the underlying problems, so with a bitter taste in my mouth I chalked it up to experience and moved on..

It was only the skulls starting to smell and finding all that organic matter still in them which finally P****d me off enough to start this thread as a warning to others...

Regards,

Pete

quote:

Originally posted by smarterthanu:
Quit being tightasses and get your critters mounted in U.S.. I know there are reputable companies in Africa, but there is an infinite amount of possible problems that can arrise. When something goes wrong, IT'S IN AFRICA! Do you really think you will have good odds of recourse? In U.S. you would be able to hire an attorney and go after these assholes, but over there they just don't have to answer your call. Yes, taxidermy in the U.S. costs more money. But there is no quality equal, better service, or better piece of mind. I am really sorry about any one's bad taxidermy experience but it has become really easy to find a great taxidermist in the U.S. you can work with and I suggest you find that business well before your next safari and your choice to gamble with your next trophy.

I now believe your comments have a lot of merit, but in the case of European skull mounts that approach wouldn't help, as about 75% of the work would still need to be done in RSA prior to them being shipped. Nor would it help the folks with missing items or wrong orders, as that could still occur during the dip and pack process...

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

After reading this and talking to you earlier I think having stuff dont in the UK may well be as cheap as having it sent over from Africa.

If you remember the troubles I had with the shipping, and their inflated costs and changing the goal posts all the time. (thankfully the work of Safaritaxidermy was very good) I think the cost savings on dip pack would more than account for the additional costs of mounts. There is also the VAT to be paid on all the taxidermy, shipping etc so I figure ther could be some savings.

But lke you say with euro mount most of the job is done already.

I'd still be tempted to take them dip packed and perhaps even do them myself if I didn't have a local taxidermist,as once it is cut wrongly then it's goosed.

As an excercise I'm going to ask a freind up in Norwich (that will hopefully do my stag shoulder mount if I ever get him!! ) as he does quite a bit of african stuff. Might be worth talking to for when you go to thetford next it isn't much further.

I think the only thing I might consider doing in Africa is a full cat as a good artist just won't have the experience of them here in the UK.

Let me know if you want his contact details and I'll put you in touch.

Rgds,
FB

FB,

You could ask him if he is able to felt a Zebra skin rug, and if so, for a ball park figure I'd be interested..

The skulls I am hoping to sort out as far as possible myself...Even after only two weeks in a detergent degreasing solution, I can see some improvement so that at least bodes well..

Once I've done as much as I can myself, I'll regroup and consider whats left..I'm thinking of things like the boiled bases on the Kudu horns for example...

Regards,

Pete

Pete,

Send the guy an email with a link to this thread. That will at least let him know that the word is out about him and he can not continually screw everyone over.

Wayne

None of this surprises me in the least! I've looked at a lot of taxidermy, over the years, and I've never seen a mount done in any country in Africa, that was worth shipping home! I'm sure there are good taxidermists in Africa, but I certainly haven't seen any of their work. My experience is even the dip and ship is often botched, and the goudgeing on price, by Africans is rampant in many cases,they knowing you are not going to fly back there to kick their collective asses, to get your money back. The safari opperator is at fault a much as anyone, because he usually selects the taxidermy shop to handle their work, be it finish, or a simple dip, and ship!

Bring it home, and have it done here, you will be money ahead, and have your trophies done properly, in most cases!

Pete

I'll get you Benny's number.

There is also a guy that a freind used to restore a 80 year old stag shouldermount last year.

Like I say I'm going to get some quotes for shoulder mounts and stuff to get a realistic idea of the alternative cost of african mounts in the UK anyway so I may just ask them what they would charge for you.

Rgds,
FB

I just completed 14 Euro mounts that were done in RSA. My client was so upset with the work over there, he had me redo it.

I'm sorry you went through this.

We U.S. taxidermists charge more, but we also live in your neighborhood and can rectify problems face to face.

Hugh

Macd37

My experience is, so far, just the opposite.

The work I've had done in South Africa, two different shops, has been FAR superior to work I had done by a big reputation shop in Texas! [Interestingly the Texas mounts are the only ones I have had bug problems with too!]

That said, however, the price advantage seems to have dwindled in the last few years, perhaps with the exchange rate. And if not hunting in RSA it is for sure cheaper/easier to send the raw trophies here to the US, than to the RSA and then here.

I'm sure my trophies, if any, from the upcoming trip to Zim will be shipped here raw for mounting.

Les

Mr. LHowell,

Could you share with me what big reputation shop in Texas you used so I might be able to advise my friends in Houston? If you are still interested I can give you several recomendations on shops around the nation that no Taxidermists in the world can compare in quality of work. Check the world taxidermy competitions and you will see the vast number of winners come from the U.S.A.. Some winners especially in bird taxidermy are in Europe and a few winners from Canada. But I don't believe I have ever seen anyone from any African nation win at this show.
Secondly many of the big reputation shops anywhere are big, not because of the quality of work they do, because of thier marketing skills and business savy. Many of the best artists are really bad at business management and therefore remain small. I live in a city where two of the largest taxidermy companies in the world operate and most of thier production work is substandard. However there are probably five other shops in the area that have been in business longer and put out far superior craftsmanship but are 1/10 the size of these other two. Shops like these might treat you the best for the qualities you desire.

There are several good shops in Texas. Jerry Huffaker in Abilene does great work and he's a member of this forum.
Conroe Taxidermy in Conroe, Texas as well as Brush Country Studio Brush Country Studios

smarterthanthou

No, I do not feel a need to share that specific taxidermist name. I have no real quarrel with them. They treated me very well, and I was quite satisfied at that time.

[though it sounds as if you already have an idea who it was]

I was not reporting against their work as much as differing with the above statement that "..never seen a mount..." worth shipping from Africa.

I will have taxidermy done here again, as I stated , though not in Texas again, the shipping afterwards, just precludes that, and there are competent shops locally that I am aware of now.

[Though I'll probably have my RSA trophies done there again as well.]

Les