I was curious if anyone had used this taxidermist in SA and how things turned out.

http://www.safaritaxidermy.co.za/

The way to tell a good taxidermist is by looking at their cats - esp their Leopards. You'll find a particularly good taxidermist at www.lifeform.co.za. You might like to compare the standard of work between Lifeform Taxidermy and the company you mention........

Shakari,
I agree with part of what you say - most taxidermists are "generalists" as their business requires that they do a little of everything. HOwever, each taxidermist has a personal favorite or a specific animal/bird/fish that they do particularly well.

I am an amatuer and put my birds up against most pros. On heads, well, my heads look like dead animals. My fish look better in the frying pan than on the wall.

You are 100% correct to advise looking at cats as they are very difficult to catch the eyes and facials correctly. But, some guys are great on cats, but don't put in the time on heads or other animals they are not excited about. They may do very average work on regular heads.

My guy that does my Africa stuff is great on horned animals, but his birds are sub-standard. His lifesize is excellent, but his cats are average. I will take cats to another guy that I know does what I like.

All in all, I suggest you ask the taxidermist what they really like to work on - then go with them on those animals. Shop around as there are many good taxidermists out there. Also, beauty is in your own eyes. I have had guys say that they had the greatest taxidermist in the world, then I saw the mounts and thought I was looking at a beginners work. Go with who you like and whose work you are pleased with.

..... perhaps I was trying to be diplomatic.... My real point is that I see a lot of taxidermy and the Lifeform stuff really stands out as first class work..... whereas the work on that other website (IMO) leaves a lot to be desired.

Another way to tell good work is to look at the mouths of the animals.... esp(?) the antelopes. A bad taxidermist makes the animals look like they have pursed lips or have just been given some bad news.........

Very difficult to judge the quality of taxidermy work from a picture. I would not use any taxidermist that I had not visited his shop and viewed his work up close and personal.

Sniper, being the old Whitetail and Turkey hunter that you are, I'm sure you agree with me.

Sniper,

I have used the taxidermy shop you mention. I was very pleased with the work they did. Not only was I pleased with the work, I was also happy with their service and attention to all emails and questions I had regrading the taxidermy, shipping, etc.

You can see the work they completed for me in this posting.

If you should have more personal questions about Safari, please send me aPM.

I can highly recommmend Life-Form Taxidermy's work, and I have found their customer service to be excellent as well.

I'll second or third Life-Form. I have met Zac and the gang and traveled through their operation in White River and can give them an enthusiastic "thumbs up". They have done my taxidermy on two of my trips and the work is excellent.

I used Safari Taxidermy and was pleased with the tanning of my capes and backskins. The packing of my shipment was very good and nothing was broken in transit. They were very good about keeping me informed and answer any and all questions in a timely manner. Someone here posted a pic a short time ago of a warthog coming out of a hole that they had done with them and it looked really good. They sent me all the paperwork I needed and I cleared my shipment myself with no problems. The whole clearing process took less than 1 hour.

I also had two hunts worth of animals done at Life-Form. I was able to visit their facility first, and meet the folks. I liked especially in addition to the quality of their work the person who worked with me via email was very good.

jim

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like both do quality work and have good customer relations.

I have been very pleased with LifeForm.

"Another way to tell good work is to look at the mouths of the animals..."
Excellent point shakari! The lips are what I seem to notice most also. Too many seem to apear to have ill-fitting dentures.

Lifeforms did a beautiful job on two pedestal mounts (Kudu and Gemsbock), three european mounts (Warthog, Blue Wildebeast, Impala), and skins (Zebra in addition to the above). Could not ask for nicer work.

Life Form just finished my full bodied Lion mount and it is fantastic. I should be receiving my shipment from them of Cape Buffalo, Giraffe, Warthog, Lion, and Elephant in the next few weeks. Just waiting for the elephant ears to be finished being tanned and painted. The other parts (Ivory, feet, trunk) are already done. The leather is also finished as well. If I can post a picture of the lion I will do so.

We deal with quite a lot of different taxidermists - but one thing I always notice and truly appreciate about Lifeform other than their terrific standard of work, is their office staff. Every safari company and every client always gets a "link person" who deals with everything relating to any particular batch of trophies. We always know who to go to and they always know exactly what's happening in regard to those trophies...... In fact, they usually don't even have to go to the filing cabinet to find out. They answer the question as soon as it's asked. Most other taxidermists aren't anywhere near that organised.

There's something else on the fullmounts of the other site that is a trifle "unusual" that no-one has commented on....... I wonder if anyone out there will spot it. - I would be unfair of me say what it is, but I'll be very interested to see if anyone else picks it up........

I've used Safari Taxidermie since 1999, about 25 mounts. I'm very pleased with their work. They make most of their own manikins, and some are much better than average, such as their eland form. They did a life mount nyala for me that was gorgeous. In addition, their packing is very skilled, and they are very accommodating about including curios in the crates.

Use Enough Gun,

How are you having your giraffe done? Skin, shoulder mount, etc. Im kinda interested in shooting one, but not sure what to do with it afterwards.

Any chance of getting a picture of it once you have it back?

How does the cost compare with having it done there as opposed to a taxidermist in the states?

Brice,

Any chance you can post some photos of your trophy mounts?

If you're not sure how to do it, you'll find instructions on the hunting reports section..... or just click on this link:- https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/951100671

Bisonhunter1: I have been told that I will have pics of all of my trophies being done from Life Form next week. Once I get those, I will try and post. As far as the Giraffe goes, we are having a shoulder mount done and will place it in our formal living room with high vaulted ceilngs overlooking our waterfall, pool and backyard. The Giraffe mount is left turned as I understand it. We are also having the remaining backskin tanned as well. The giraffe was my wife's first African (and for that matter, anything from anywhere) trophy. She shot it herself after having never shot a big game gun or any animal at all. One shot right through the heart with a .30-378 Weatherby. She is very excited about seeing the real thing finished. Giraffe is kind of like zebra. People relate to Africa through giraffe, zebra, elephant, etc. Many of the plains game they know nothing about.

Here are pics of my lion for your viewing pleasure as recently completed by Life Form Taxidermy.

quote:

Originally posted by bisonhunter1:
Use Enough Gun,

How are you having your giraffe done? Skin, shoulder mount, etc. Im kinda interested in shooting one, but not sure what to do with it afterwards.

Any chance of getting a picture of it once you have it back?

How does the cost compare with having it done there as opposed to a taxidermist in the states?

Bisonhunter,
My son shot a giraffe in Zim last year. We shipped the hide back with no intention of mounting it. We are bleaching the skull and making the hide into a rug, and keeping the extra hide for accent pieces (pillow backing, etc.)

However, be prepared for sticker shock. The hide cost a bunch to ship, and even more to tan. The overall effort is costing several thousand dollars (trophy fee, shipping, tanning, rug making all together).

The cheapest thing we did was let the local guys weave giraffe hair bracelets for us....

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Here are pics of my lion for your viewing pleasure as recently completed by Life Form Taxidermy.

Great looking lion!!!!

Another way to judge good taxidermy work is to look at the eyes - if they follow you around the roam and look focused - it is pretty good work. If they look like a vacant stare - it is not so good...

Also, check the detail work in the nose and mouth, the also shows that the taxidermist knows his stuff....

Not to hijack the thread...but are any of you guys familiar with the Taxidermi International in Pretoria ??
My plains game trophies ended there as the outfitter used that firm on a regular basis.
Their shop looked really good ,but again...I have very little experience with taxidermy.

( by the way; a terrific looking lion ! )

Use enough gun and dogcat,

Thanks for the giraffe info, I know it ain't gonne be cheap to shoot one, let alone do anything with it afterwards, but hey its about as cclose as to reasonable big/dg game Im liable to get on this next trip. Everthing costs and one has to make their own choices, but getting ideas/info and seeing pics is what this forum is about. Great looking lion too. Im hoping for a leopard on my next trip too, and if I get one, a full body mount of somesort is what I'll do there.

Having done some of my own personal taxidermy in the past, there is at least one item the hunter needs to be absolutely aware of.

The condition of the animal when it was caped and how it was packed, is of the utmost crucial importance, in obtaining the best mount possible.

I don't care how good your chosen taxidermist is. They can't grow hair on capes that have been drug bald or seemlessly heal bad cuts. Hair slippage and cape cracks are primarily caused by poor cape dipping and handling. Such repairs are always eventually visible on the mounts. Many comments about the mouths on mounts. The taxidermist can only work with the lip material he has. Eyes are difficult to do right as well. This all goes back to the initial caping. This is exactly why some taxidermists refuse to do work on animals from certain outfitters.

Many taxidermists are good at horn repair, but don't expect magic on a bad cape.

Use enough Gun,
Wow, that lion mount looks great! Old Bradley put you on a nice cat! Those feet look huge.

Yes, Brad is a great PH and he delivers what he promies. Those feet were (and are) HUGE!