Well the long awaited time until getting my trophies from my June 2004 South African hunting trip has finally come to a close. I picked up my trophies from the Miami airport yesterday.

I hunted with Dr. Mark Sutherland. You should be able to find a post on my hunt in this forum.

Taxidermy work was done by Safari Taxidermy out of Pietersburg, RSA. I have to say the work done on the warthog coming out of a hole was better then I could have imagined. Also, the delicate work done on the facial features were also better then could have been expected. I hope the following pictures can do justice to the work completed. All crates were custom made to fit the trophies. There were two crates, one carrying a blue wildebeest shoulder mount, impala shoulder mount and a nyala shoulder mount. A second crate consisted of a warthog skull mount and a half mount of a warthog coming out of a hole. Crates were nailed at the corners and wood screws also used for easy access for customs officials and extracting the mounts. All crates had fragile painted on the sides, which is not evident from the pictures below. Needless to say, I am extremely happy with their work from taxidermy to shipping and will use them again in the future.

Fraight carrier used was Fakir Transport. I will say that I was not pleased with the length of time it took to receive the trophies. Fakir was the cheapest when getting quotes and I think now I understand why. The shipment was picked up on Nov. 7th, landed in the USA Nov. 24th, and were not presented for clearance until Dec. 5th. Hence, it took about a month to recieve them. However, in the end, nothing was damaged or harmed in any way other then my self ego wanting to get my trophies.

I hired Maria Felix from Hunter International Custom Brokers to clear the shipment. All emails and questions were answered quickly and promptly.

With that I invite anyone who would like further detail to let me know. I am attaching some of the pictures of the crates and also my trophies.

The crates arrived safe and sound:



Inside crate #1:



Inside crate #2:



Nyala



Blue Wildebeest



Impala



Warthog coming out of the hole (I have more and closer pictures, if anyone wants to see them.)





Warthog skull



Best wishes,

Very nice. I love the warthog coming out of the hole.

Me too! Me too!

Damn nice taxidermy better than the stuff I do for myself.

Congratulations on your shipment. The trophies look great, especially the wart hog.

I like the Worthog thats a super mount.
They do a good packing job.

You got some very nice trophies! The impala is especially pretty from that angle.

Funny you should say that Ann. That is about the same position he was in when I took the shot. When the PH initially saw him he was staring straight at us. Then right before I squeezed the trigger he quartered ever so slightly. One shot right on the point of the shoulder, and all I saw were two feet sticking up in the air.

Congrats! They look great. Looking forward to making the trip my self in the next 5 years.

Very nice set of trophies. I love the Warthog, they are so ugly but they are so beautiful.

Nice trophies. I too really like the warthog comming out of the hole.

Greybird:
If you don't mind me asking, what was the total weight of your shipment and the shipping cost? Air or sea?
I like the hog!
Thanks.

quote:

Originally posted by TJ:
Greybird:
If you don't mind me asking, what was the total weight of your shipment and the shipping cost? Air or sea?
I like the hog!
Thanks.

TJ,

The total weight for both crates was 269 lbs. The cost was a couple dollars shy of $1000 via air. Two other shipping companies quoted shipping costs at $1350 and higher for air transportation.

All very nice. I like both of the warthog mounts. I can't remember seeing just a skull mount before. Coming out of the hole is fantastic.

Congrats!

I like that Nyala, too. It looks as if the wind is ruffling his coat.

Jaywalker