Hello to the fourms. Two points, I received my trophies from my September 2005 trip to the Matesi reigon yesterday. They were received in San Francisco on Oct 30 and were awaiting inspection by USFW, USDA & Customs according to Coppersmith. I posted on one of the threads last month about not receiving good news from Maple freight, well things have changed again, this time for the better, at least in my case. Point two, Just a ball park figure but the cost for the whole package from CSmith was $2070. Is this in line for one cape buff, 1 Zebra flat skin, one waterbuck and 1 kudu? Thanks Art

Art: Is that 2070 to your Juneau? The fact you're in Juneau, that's reasonable. Mine was about 1900 to Atlanta, but in addition to the buff, I had a full mount bushbuck, warthog, impala & bushpig. jorge

jorge, the cost was after Coppersmitn had the freight inspected by everybody and delivered to New Method tannery right there in San Francisco. The air bill was 15XX. The rest was admin stuff.

that cost seems a little high. i had a carton shipped from joburg to san francisco for $2600 and it contained full body mount leopard. and shoulder mounted kudu, gemsbok and springbok. carton weighed over 400 lbs and was 4' by 4' by 7'.it was air freighted by air france via paris and the cost was all inclusive of all permits, inspections, etc. jerry

Somebody added wrong but if you have your trophies, Don't worry be happy...


Mike

Retreever, I was just wondering since there is very little I can do form here. And yes I am happy after all the negetive things that I hear about trophies not getting out. Thanks to all for the replies, Art

That seems close, I have all my customers ship to DFW and it is usually around 1200.00 for air freight plus fees.

Art, I think you got by cheap. This past September I finally got my buffalo and bushbuck skulls and capes back from my June 2005 hunt in Zim, and the Zimbabwe Export Permit alone was $257,920,000.00!!

My bill from Coppersmith in Seattle was $2031. One box, 58.00 kg.

Thanks to all for the replies. It looks a might high but then compared to some it looks O.K. I may get a face-to-face with someone from CopperSmith at Reno. Thanks again and Hunt Safe, Art

You mean it took 14 months for your trophies to arrive in the states?

Thats about what I paid coppersmith last year for a sable and two buffalo . They seem to always charge two thousand plus for everything they clear. They are on the high side and they charge for things that are free such as USFW inspections and storage when they are supposed to pick things up the day they arrive. They usually claim that your shipment arrived on the weekend. There are cheaper companies out there but you have to search. Ask Carol at the show about each specific charge and watch her get defensive.

I paid $106 for Arctic Furs in Anchorage to clear a shipment from Namibia. It had hogs and antelope in it. All were complete ready for display.

You're scaring me! I'm still waiting for a shipment from Maple Freight for a hunt in July 2006.

Anyway, here are some numbers for a shipment that just came in from South Africa to San Francisco for a June 2006 hunt for raw full skin lion and lioness with skulls. Both were CITIES animals so customs clearing fees in US were probably higher.

SA Documentation US$175

Freight $462
Airline ISC $ 40
Disbursement Fee (?) $ 40
Insurance $240

Filing US Customs Entry $195
Handling $ 45

Storage $ 35
Delivery to Tannery $ 75

TOTAL $1,357

We should post more of these on the web to compare notes.

Hope this helps!

quote:

Originally posted by ARTP:
Hello to the fourms. Two points, I received my trophies from my September 2005 trip to the Matesi reigon yesterday. They were received in San Francisco on Oct 30 and were awaiting inspection by USFW, USDA & Customs according to Coppersmith. I posted on one of the threads last month about not receiving good news from Maple freight, well things have changed again, this time for the better, at least in my case. Point two, Just a ball park figure but the cost for the whole package from CSmith was $2070. Is this in line for one cape buff, 1 Zebra flat skin, one waterbuck and 1 kudu? Thanks Art

Art,
I received my shipment from Zim in June or July of this year and the bill to Anchorage was $2342. My shipment was intercepted in Seattle by Coppersmith, even though I tried to make it clear with HHK to have them sent straight to Anchorage for clearing. The stop in Seattle cost me about $450 and nothing was done. The crate was offloaded and stored in Coppersmiths warehouse, then loaded back on the ship to Anchorage. That was for one crate (I don't know weight size or weight right now) of skulls, horns, capes and backskins for 5 animals (Kudu, Nyala, Sable, Waterbuck and Eland). Knight's Taxidermy did shipping and clearance work for me in Anchorage.

You should all be using John Meehan of Fauna & Flora in New York. Very reasonable to work with. I have found Coppersmith to not be straighforward on items such as combining shipments, etc. so they get to charge you xxx for each name. Ask others and you will hear similar stories. Phone number for F&F is 718-977-7700. Ask for John Meehan.

I used John Meehan this year and will use him next year on my 2006 hunting shipment. He was very personable and helpful and I saved a ton of money shipping via ocean and getting things here from New York overland by both rail and truck.

On my last hunt in 05 I used Arctic Furs to clear my hides $100. No "Handling Fees, Warehouse Fees, No bogus Fees"
It's nice to see there are a few honest people .

Robert,
I thought Knight's Taxidermy handled my trophies very well. Since they are doing the taxidermy, they didn't charge me for their involvement in clearing or transportation back to their shop.

My bill was the shipping costs, customs and USFWS fees. The Coppersmith fee kind of chapped my hide, but I was just thankful my trophies were here in the US instead of Zimbabwe. Next time I will be more adamant about the shipping not getting "lifted" in Seattle. I must have not been clear in my instructions to HHK.

Believe me if anyone can get over charged it's me! I have had shipments rerouted to New York and held for ransom. Once I was charged $125 for European vet. clearance on a shipment that flew direct Johannesburg to Atlanta ( I did not pay it ).

I think the two main problems with the shipping industry is there are no checks and balances ( No receipts ).
And african hunters rarely question their air bills. The honor system will cost you!

BigBBear...USF&W regulations forbid the combining of trophy shipments. A lot of folks get away with it...but you don't want to get in that mess with USF&W.
troy