Have any of you hunted waterfowl in South Africa?

I'll be hunting in the Eastern Cape and have a chance to add a couple of duck and geese species.

For those of you who have hunted waterfowl, did you have any of the birds mounted? If so, did you have it done in RSA or brought back to the U.S.? My U.S. bird taxidermist was cencerned about salting waterfowl skins because of rehydrating. He said the skins on waterfowl lose their oils, etc. which make it almost impossible to rehydrate properly after salting. Gamebirds like guinea fowl, franklin, etc. are not a problem because the skins don't have the same problems with rehydration.

I'm trying to decide if it is something I want to tackle on this trip or wait for the next trip to get all of my ducks in a row!

Thanks,

I would contact a taxidermist that specializes in birds and knows the ins and outs regarding African birds. One such person is Stefan Savides at Aviandesign.com I am sure there are others as well.

We did it once.

We had gone on a plains game hunt. After we finished, we moved to a place reasonably close to Bloemfontein where we shot various species of birds. This included at least one day of waterfowl shooting as I recall.

I believe it was Grasslands Safaris. Carl Cutter was the gentleman's name I think.

We shot only 1 species of duck. These were called yellow billed ducks if I recall correctly. Due to a drought, the ducks and geese were not there in the numbers normally expected. We shot no spurwings at all.

It was very strange, at least to me. Some were shot in cattle pastures coming to feeding troughs. I thought they were out of their minds.

We did have some good shooting for doves and francolin.

I didn't even attempt to get any of the birds home. Frankly, the duck isn't all that handsome.

Although I wasn't "hunting" per se, I obtained collecting permits from four South African provinces and shot more than six dozen types of birds and small mammals for SCI's museum many years ago.

Among these were the males and females of spurwing and Egyptian geese and a couple of species of duck, plus herons and ibis.

We hired a taxidermist in each province to skin and prepare them for shipping to Jonas Brothers in Seattle, where they were mounted.

For some reason, the four geese and a huge goliath heron were never used. I don't know if was because of poor preparation of the skins or simply because there was no place to display them.

Most of the other birds and animals wound up in dioramas or on display, though.

I really wanted to collect a fish eagle and a secretary bird (and had opportunities to do so), but my requests for permits were denied.

Interestingly, someone from the nature department accompanied me when I collected near Kimberley, and the stomachs of everything I shot were used in a study on the effects of the pesticides used at the time in that area.

Bill Quimby

Larry,

That would be Carel Coetzer of Grassland Safaris. He's a nice bloke!

I always think that African wing shooting is vastly underrated and vastly under utilized.

You are probably right Steve. It has been a few years back. Both he and his wife were extraordinarily nice people.

We had really good shooting. Francolin over dogs was a lot of fun. We had a couple of really good dove hunts where I shot about 100 each time.

I would do it again.

Larry,

SA dove shooting is especially good fun huh!!

Last time I did it, I was managing an average of about 2 to 1.

Unfortunately, it was about 2 birds to every 1 box of cartridges!

Graybird, I've hunted waterfowl in RSA and Zim several times and will be doing likewise in August. You will need to work with a federally licensed import taxidermist if you want to bring them home frozen. That's the only way to go. Salting and shipping home months or a year later is a waste of money. Some can be salvaged but as a rule you should have saved your money. It will work if the person doing the skinning does so properly and gets them to you within 3 months but your best to import them frozen.
LDK

David is absolutely right. My taxidermist recommends having all birds mounted in Africa. Sending bird skin wit hthe other trophiesis basically a waste of time.

Mark

Mark, you misunderstood me. Bring them home frozen. If you pre-arrange export permits from Parks and have your USF&W permits (a USF&W licensed US Taxidermist can provide this) you get excellent mounts. Coming home, you check them as luggage. It requires a little homework but nothing difficult if you have connections on both ends. Shipping mounted birds from overseas is a risk. Usually their quality is not what I can get here in the States and damage is par for the course. Birds are extremely fragile. Hope this makes better sense.
David

LDK,

Mate, you're gonna have no end of trouble doing that legally. firstly, you're meant to have a vet clearance certificate for them and also the avian flu and other issues will or at least should mean you'll have problems legally importing them into your home country.

Much better and easier to have them done in Africa.

Guys,

Here is what I've learned thus far.

You can bring the birds back home with you as either carry-on or checked in luggage.

Here are the things required and sequence of events:

1. Birds must be frozen.
2. You must have export and veterinary documents before leaving Africa from originating country.
3. Must have a migratory bird import permit from USF&W (requires about 60 days and a $75.00 service charge).
4. Once arriving in the US, the birds will likely be detained by USDA at the port of entry, in which, they will be sent for proper customs, USDA and Fish & Wildlfie clearance.
5. Then, they must be shipped to a USDA approved facility to undergo veterinary dipping/approval, at which time, they can then be sent to my taxidermist, IF he is not a USDA approved facility.

Also, if listed under CITES Appendix II or III, a copy of the South African CITES export permit must accompany the birds.

The only real concern I have is the storage of the birds once detained by USDA, which as I understand it will be in the airline cargo facility.

I spoke with Maria, Hunter International, and she said to make sure the crate is denoted as "PERISHABLE, MUST KEEP FROZEN" and the airline will have a location to store the crate. This is my real hangup because if not stored properly, they will spoil.

Well, I just looked online at Delta's cargo storage facility in Atlanta. They have 4 coolers with one going down to 33 F or 1 C. This would keep the birds cool enough as long as customs, etc. clearance doesn't take too long.

As I said, do a little homework or have a licensed Taxidermist prepare your permits and likewise with your PH in Africa. Parks must issue the export permit and list anything that is CITES anything. Hasn't been a problem. I've shipped my last salted bird home. Waste of money at every turn.
LDK

The biggest problems with taking birds home with you in checked or cabin baggage is the export certs from the game dept and the vet inspection certificate. (Item #2 on Graybird's list). Getting the game dept export permits issued before departure might not be impossible but it would be difficult as most African airports don't even have a vet available to do the vet inspection and issue the certificate in the passenger terminal at all.

Of course, it's quite possible you could take them out without vet inspection but then if you get caught, you have problems and you also won't have the right paperwork to present at the other end...... assuming you declare it at that end but again, if you don't and you get caught, then you're gonna have problems.

You also need to bear in mind that birds are very delicate indeed and any damage is going to stuff the trophy up.

I'd recommend having them done in Africa so there's less chance of damage and less chance of breaking any laws.

FWIW, whilst I'm no taxidermist, the guys I know who are, all tell me the best way to treat a bird trophy (obviously excepting arsetretch) is to skin as soon as possible, pin out on a board and salt with (non iodised) table salt and get it (complete with board) to the taxidermist asap.

I'd also be extra cautious about the skinner and unless I knew he was very good and very experienced on birds, I'd be inclined to get someone along from a good local taxidermist to take care of things.

Steve:

Unlike large mammal taxidermy, there is a huge difference between the quality of bird taxidermy done by the best bird taxidermists in the U.S. and the best in South Africa. At least that was my opinion when I shopped for a bird taxidermist for SCI's museum all those years ago.

Also, I'm not certain that salt is the best thing for raw bird skins. I don't know what the South Africantaxidermists used when I was collecting, but I do know they wanted me to deliver the specimens I shot to their shops twice a day -- at noon and again in the evening. The birds were skinned daily, and not frozen.

The quality of the specimens mounted in the States was excellent, except for three types of hornbills, for some reason. They are displayed in a diorama with a pair of caracals and I cringe whenever I see them.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:
Steve:

Unlike large mammal taxidermy, there is a huge difference between the quality of bird taxidermy done by the best bird taxidermists in the U.S. and the best in South Africa. At least that was my opinion when I shopped for a bird taxidermist for SCI's museum all those years ago.

Also, I'm not certain that salt is the best thing for raw bird skins. I don't know what the South Africantaxidermists used when I was collecting, but I do know they wanted me to deliver the specimens I shot to their shops twice a day -- at noon and again in the evening. The birds were skinned daily, and not frozen.

The quality of the specimens mounted in the States was excellent, except for three types of hornbills, for some reason. They are displayed in a diorama with a pair of caracals and I cringe whenever I see them.

Bill Quimby

Bill,

I don't know what it was like then but nowadays there's good and bad taxidermists all over the world and my advice would be to do the research beforehand and find a good one.

As you say, ideally, you'll send the bird to the taxidermist as soon after it's shot as possible and let him do the skinning but if that isn't possible, and it usually isn't, then one should have it skinned asap and preferably by someone from the taxidermists. (Which is what I said in my previous post).

All the taxidermists here tell me they'd always rather have a salted skin of anything rather than a frozen one. They all tell me that freezing should be the very last option to take.

FWIW, from the very limited research I've had time to do this morning, I get the idea that the SA vet inspectors probably wouldn't issue a vet clearance cert on frozen birds anyway because of the avian flu thing..... but I stress that's only with limited research.

At least in terms of finished work, I've seen more bad bird taxidermy than I've ever seen of big game; and I've only seen NA birds done.

I've said it many times with regards to taxidermy that it's more important who is doing it than where it is done, and I'd double that statement for birds.

Graybird, Not going to get in all this debate about what to do with them afterwards but by all means take a shotgun! As you probably know, spurwing are the largest geese in the world and if you're a brid shooter, will make a fine (though not so pretty) trophy. Gypos are beautiful, unless you look them in the eye that is! Upland birds are awesom. Did I mention, TAKE A SHOTGUN!!!!

I think I have found my bridman. Here is a post from a set of ducks I picked up on Friday. I'd say he is a little above average on waterfowl!

Thanks for all of the suggestions folks!!!

quote:

Originally posted by graybird:
I received an email today with pictures of my duck mounts from the '08-'09 season.

Here is my 12 year old banded mallard. He was banded Sept. 16, 1997 near Upham, North Dakota. I killed him on Jan. 12, 2009 north of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Just think how many times he made it up and down the flyway until some idiot redneck shot him!


Wood Duck pair:


Hooded Merganser pair:


I hope you enjoy.

Greybird,

They are very beautiful mounts indeed!!


With regard to the hunting in RSA for game birds and water fowl, we did a trip past year with some close friends and clients to explore what was available for specific trips. It is all very seasonal and area specific and we had some excellent success and some failures due to the Dog handler having a serious back injury prior to our arrival.

The Goose hunting we did was absolutely excellent by our standards. We shot the geese as they flighted off of the roost some 2km away out to the soya fields where they graze and cause a lot of damage. There was the odd duck shot but we didn't really target them as the guys were really after the Spurwings. I think we finished the first day with about 35 birds and about 20 the next day between 5-6 of us for probably about 100-150 shells fired each day.

We also shot doves over the sun flower fields which as Shakari has said was amazing sport in itself. As a team we probably averaged approximately 5-1 but Mr Hadoke finished at an amazing 1.8 shots per bird with the finest display of game shooting I have ever seen and using an old hammer gun.

We are currently arranging a filming schedule for two dedicated South African wingshooting DVD's that we are making to cover the entire spectrum of what is on offer there. We will be hunting in August for driven Guinnea fowl and Francolin and the same over pointers. We will also be hunting flighted Ducks and geese if the weather and water allows.

Next spring we will be hunting high volume Doves and Pigeons on the sunflower fields over five days which should make for interesting filming too. All along we'll be using a variety of modern and vintage guns, and I might even look at seeing if we can get some old muzzle loaders out there for use with the pointing dogs at some point.

I find it really encouraging to see the increase in the interest shown in this aspect of the sport as it is well worth trying if you get the opportunity for a couple of days.








Rgds,
FB