This is probably the biggest headache I have in my Safari camp. Most first time hunters don't know the details of this or even what it's refering to.

RSA has set forth a series of laws some what unique to the African Safari inductry to insure that capes and skulls with horns do not leave the country with any type of contamination or disease. This is to insure that trophies arriving in any other country will be easily accepted and the export of trophies will not be shut down. Remember what happened with the mad cow in a modern country like Canada. Imagine a strain of some problem bacteria or another in a shipment from Africa! The entire Safari industry would be shut down (for export shipments) from that country.

The Government of RSA has a mandated a process of dipping the salted hides and boiling and cleaning the skulls and horns to meet these governmental requirements. They will certify a business to meet this and then that business can process the trophies, but must still wait on the Veternary approval/ inspection of each and every shipment before it can go to the freight company.

So here is the time line for example:

At the end of the outfitters hunting season all the trophies are loaded on a truck and delivered to the Dip pack company. Then they are sorted by the hunters names and matched to the PH log book papers. If all the paperwork is in order the dip process begins which requires each and every cape be soaked up and rehydrated in an antibacterial solution. Recently the requirement has been to have the hides shaved thin enough to salt cure them faster preventing a reintroduction of problems or cross contamination with incoming hides. Some new code is that the delivery of all original raw trophiesmust be made at a different incoming door then the complete shipments. Their must be a pool of antibacterial liquid for the delivery vehicle to drive through when it arrives. They have even gone so far as to have foot baths for shoes when going between areas of the facility and a change of clothing. Not to mention many other significant and expensive procedures. The rules are different in each province and enforced differently, and are constantly changing,..... even as I type this! There is a strong motion right now to make all the game laws and dip pack procedures the same country wide.

After the rehydrate and shaving the capes/ hides are resalted and dryed to near zero moisture content before it can be inspected and signed off by the veternarian then crated and prepared for shipping.

Some Dip pack companies will come to fetch the trophies at the end of each hunt. They handle the paperwork and can get started on the whole process as the hunts end, rather then getting 1000's of trophies dumped by a few dozen outfitters all in July or August when the bulk of the seasons end. That back up is a nightmare. It's also the primary reason some trophies end up in the USA a year later!

There are a number of dip pack companies but one stands out as the biggest of all. Dip Pack near Pretoria does about 60% of the exported trophies from RSA each year. I have used them for almost my entire career. Unfortunately they do not pick up for free to the Northern Province and most hunters want their things back as quick as possible. So local Dip Pack operations started springing up in the Northern Province. Some of these local Dip Pack operations are much less expensive to compete with the bigger ones in the city.

These local dip pack guys have a great deal for the many outfitters because they would pick up and get started on the trophies by the time the hunters landed back in the USA. The down side was there was still only the same amount of veternary approval personal ( a single one in most areas) this guy has a lot of other responsibility besides the dip pack business. So you have to schedule him to sign off on the trophies before they can be crated. His schedule with the new amount of dip pack business springing up is very busy and he may only get to your chosen place once every 6 weeks or even 3 months. Some crates are ready and some are not. Once he leaves those that are approved get shipped and the ones that missed that deadline get approved on his next pass though maybe as much as 6 weeks to 3 months later.

This is why some hunters have trophies in October and others only get them in Januaray. Even though they may have hunted together.

This Dip pack business is under a magnifying glass in RSA. They are very strict about the rules because the entire Safari industry is protected by this process. Furthermore no matter how well your safari was, or what a magnificent time you had, the one thing you will remember the longest is condition of the trophies and the final mounts you see on the wall every day. Choose wisely!

Most, ..... nearly all Outfitters use a third party dip pack business. The regulations are getting more strict every day and it's not practical to have a short hunting season of a few months and the expense to run a dip pack all year after your season is over. With the new regulations the construction of a building exclusive for this process will exceed the average logical investment of almost all Safari compaines.

I often give my hunters several choices and list the Dip Pack company on my web page as a suggested choice. The Owner Andreas Durring has been a friend of mine for many years now, long before he was the owner of this business. I've known him since the early to mid 90's I think.

I have,.. every single year given the hunters in my camp the option to use him. He would charge for pickup and the local Dip Pack does not. So the majority of Americans go the less expensive route. Since the dip pack is no part of my income, business, or responsibility I don't really care who they choose to do this business with. Just don't blame me for how long it takes or any problems!

We have been using another Comapnay called ACE taxidermy in Warmbaths RSA. Chris has also been a friend of mine for a long time. He is a full time professional Taxiermist who would much prefer to do the taxidermy work then the dip pack. His attention to the dip pack is exceptional as a taxidermist he fully understands the needs of a well processed hide. His buisiness will pick up the hides free for my hunters so long as there is enough to make the 6 hour round trip drive worth his time. He is a bit more expensive then the Dip Pack in Pretoria. Again most hunters choose a local outfit rather then a more expensive one. After all the process is the same and it's regulated. It's their call, and their trophies. I use Andreas or Chris 100% for my personal things unless in Natal then I use Ric Rey. If a hunter does not know who to use or has not researched who to use, then the trophies will usually go with the outfit that is picking up on the day they leave. It's not my choice it's just simple that way as the dip pack comapany is there and the hunters can talk with him.

Now once the trophies are dried, approved and crated they will likely go to tracks freight. Tracks freight will get them into the Que to be flown to the USA. What happens to them at this point is the worst part of the situation. The crates are stacked up waiting for room on a flight. The whole time they are in the Que we lose control over the condition. I have had crates at the airport for 2 months waiting on available space. Again the reason one hunters trophies come in October and his buddy gets his in December. It's the luck of the draw where available space is concerned. Another issue is that it's not really first in first out. It should be but the oldest stuff tends to get shoved into the back of the pile and the new stuff is in front. When space becomes available on a flight the stuff in front is loaded.

No.......... it's not right, but that's Africa, we have to deal with that part of the process like it or not. As an example I have had a crate of my own personal trophies deliverd to tracks freight in mid July. It has not left the terminal yet nearly two months later now! I'm sure it's getting burried further and further into the back!

Bottom line with all this process is that in the 15 years of my business and nearly 300 hunters I have seen only a handfull of problems with the thousands of trophies my hunters have recieved. Some Examples are:

One eland had some horn damage from the dip pack employees trying to twist them off with a wrench of some sort. This will never occur again, as I'm sure Andreas killed that employee.

I have had the wrong tusks of a warthog in the crate with the correct skull.

I have heard that some hides delivered were green and damp, the crate had been kept in a wet or rainy condidtion. Some hides tanned perfect and some were ruined.

I have had one hunter recieve the wrong Blue Wildebeast skull.

And the most common problem may be broken nose bones for the skull mounts. This is not always shipping problem but rather a communication issue. It's a logical thought process that if you have 8 capes and 8 skull and horns that they will be shoulder mounts. Well for some bizzare reason hunters will at times have capes shipped but are only going to do european mounts. When the dip pack should be sending the whole skill nose bones and all, they see the capes and assume that the trophies will be a shoulder mount. So if the nose bones come loose who cares? They end up in the bin.

There have been a few capes that have not tanned properly but there are way too many fingers in the pie to determine the fault of that problem. Salting? Dipping? dampness? tanning? taxidermist rehydrating? there are just way to many people involved. Use a good tannery, a good dip pack, Taxidermist, and your problems should be low to non-existant.

Over all when you consider the amount of people involved in this process and the level of processsing needed it's amazing there is not more trouble. It's a risk when you leave these things out of your sight but we have no choice in the matter. No different then checking your fireams on the flights there and back. Responsibility by others you must have some trust in. Clearly there is some risk in every aspect of the adventure.

I would strongly urge any hunters headed over to RSA or any other country for that matter to email and research the dip pack choices before they go and have an arrangement with that company to be on site the morning before you leave to fetch your trophies right from the camp. Or deliver them to the dip pack on your way to the airport. Insist on this kind of arrangement with the dip pack and outfitter. Get phone numbers, fax, Email, etc. If they don't have these methods of contact then find another option.

Dip pack is a headache for me because I have hunters calling me and Emailing me frequently with a problem or question about their things and I have no idea what they are talking about, or how to assist them. I'm not in RSA when these questions come up. I'm here in the USA. I get at least one Email or Phone call each month from hunters who did not even use my camp, just desperately searching for their things or trying to make contact with somebody in RSA/Africa regarding their trophies. Make sure you can easily contact the people who will have your trophies before you let them have them. All of you should make this a very high priority to establish contact with a dip pack company before you go to see how they respond to your questions before you give them your things to process.

If you have any questions on who to choose, or what to expect feel free to Email me, or post here. I am not involved with these businesses or a partner with any of them. I have absolutely ZERO relationship with any dip pack business. However I have done business with many of them and would be glad to give my reccomendations to you if you need a dip pack in Natal, Pretoria or the Northern Province. I also know one I would never use again!

Very educational, thanks JJ.

Thanks for that informative post JJ!

I'm with the other guys, JJ. Thanks for the tutorial.

excellent post JJ--thanks---chris

JJ,

Great post!

What do you think of tanning the hides/capes in RSA then sending to the USA for taxidermy? Are there benefits to this? Saves on the Dip/Pack and makes for easier inspection. Possibly lighter as well.

BigBullet

JJ does any of this apply to hides which get the dip and ship in Namibia and get taxidermy done it RSA? This may be a crazy way to do the taxidermy but it is what we are doing. Thanks

Great information! Thanks!
A couple of questions..
I have some capes that was supposed to be mounted, but I`ve decided that it will be european mounts a few year (until enough money is raised). Are all skins equally treated or is it possible that they don`t make such an effort if they`re supposed to be mounted when arriving in your home country? Might be a stupid question but...

I also got some damage (not much) on one of the horns from a klipspringer. That happened in camp. Would you seek any compensation of some sort? How can I discuss this with him? I have managed to fix it so it`s no big problem and it will also be difficult to prove anything..

Best regards!

Big Bullet, Tanning is a personal issue. Decide this with your taxidermist as he will be the one mounting them. Some Taxidermists, myself included are very specific about tanneries. For flat skins RSA tanning is the only way to go. They don't have Americas EPA to deal with so the chemicals used are a bit better(faor tanning) skins.

D Hunter; I don't recall Namiba having any formal regulations for Dip Pack. I know a number of hunters who checked their dry salted skins as luggage and never had any sort of formal documents or dip pack done. Namiba is leaving this volunerable to export problems with no check of the condition. They also don't include formal documents for entry into the USA. Several of the hunters have had a hella tough time with Federal F&W and US customs trying to clear a box or raw skins without documentaion. Unfortunately first time hunters toi Africa tend to believe the stories told them by A Namibain outfitter who says "sure we do it all the time" Once he is paid and the hunter is on the plane what do they care?

Anders, A dry salted hide will last nearly indefinately if kept dry and out of sunshine. I have had skins here salted 20 years that tanned 100% perfect. It's the tanned capes that will fall apart when re-hydrated after a few years. Tanned capes must be soaked up and then frozen if you want to mount them in the future( years later).

Damage is a reletive thing regarding the horn. I suppose you can try to get compensation but I would not hold my breath. Who did it? the skinner or the dip pack? Klipspringer are by the way the number one most troublesome animal to survive the salting process, the dip pack and tanning. They spoil nearly instantly before your eyes. It's always a headache to make them perfect. I have not heard of horn damage before though!

quote:

Damage is a reletive thing regarding the horn. I suppose you can try to get compensation but I would not hold my breath. Who did it? the skinner or the dip pack? Klipspringer are by the way the number one most troublesome animal to survive the salting process, the dip pack and tanning. They spoil nearly instantly before your eyes. It's always a headache to make them perfect. I have not heard of horn damage before though!

So they`re supposed to treat and salt every hide the same way even if they`re sent for shouldermounting? I guess so since theese ones arrive at the taxidermist several months later in an other country..

The horn damage was done by the skinners, no doubt. I checked my trophies before I left and made a notice. Told my PH, but didn`t show it to him. It`s not much. Maybe 1-2mm broken + some schratches. I don`t want to complain to much over small things either.

From your information I`m glad my klipspringer turned out as good as it did. It`s now a beautiful fullmount in my trophy-room!