Gents,

What is a reasonable amount of $$$ I should put aside for freight/dipping/boxing/transport & taxidermy fees for my first hunt in Africa??? Thanks.

There are a lot of variables to consider but I would budget $1500.00 - $2500.00 depending on the size and number of trophies.

I was recently told you could save money by pre paying freight but I don't know any details about how to do it.

Good question, I was just wondering the same thing. Does this price sound right for say 5 or 6 animals (one of which I'd hope to be a buff cape mount).

$2500 is not bad, from the way some talk it's as much as the hunt.

Are you having mounts done in Africa or capes and horns shipped back for taxidermy? I believe that shipping back mounts will increase your cost quite a bit, unless perhaps you go by sea rather than air.

You should get some better answers from others as I did not have anything mounted in Africa but just shipped back some horns and capes plus one full skin.

Just got my stuff back last fall around Thanksgiving. The taxidermy for 3 shoulder mounts (nyala, blue wildebeest and impala), one warthog skull mount and one half mount of a warthog coming out of a hole was about $2100. The shipping was a couple bucks shy of $1000. I paid around $3500 for the hunt and I've heard that you can pretty much take the cost of the hunt and apply the same cost to taxidermy and shipping. If you look at the prices I gave you, this is a fairly good estimate.

Woodford

Do everything you can to avoid getting double-dipped by (multiple) freight companies. Lost any savings on a shoulder mount warthog job done in RSA that way. Still worth everything, but you'd likely prefer your money goes to trophy fees instead of middle men.

I just got my shipping quote from Fakir Transport yesterday and the shipping costs are $662.70 to Chicago for the completed trophies. Not Bad!!

Woodford,

The first question is what and how many animals are you going to shoot..Shoulder mounts or full body mounts...
This will give you an idea of crate size or sizes...You are paying for weight and volmetric space..
Mounting in Africa or USA...

Mike

Taxidermy costs for my son and me; shoulder mounts, 1 blue wildebeest , 3 Impala , 1 blesbock, 1 warthog, 1 gemsbok, 1 zebra rug , 1 impala rug (son's 1st),$3200. quoted shipping $1175.00, total yikes! memories priceless!
Mike

You can figure about $800 each for dip/pack/ship/taxidermy for shoulder mounts of the smaller animals (Springbok, warthog, impala, etc) and maybe $1200 each for the larger (Kudu, Gemsbok, etc). The buff would probably be maybe more like $1500.

It doesn't really matter alot whether you have the taxidermy done there or here, $$-wise. The cheaper work done there is offset by the higher shipping, for the most part.

So, yeah, the trophy fee is only half of the total cost for each animal, or thereabouts.

Here's some recent info:

Taxidermy
1 duiker pedestal
1 impala back skin
1 impala shldr mount ( my 14 yo son's)
1 kudu flat skin
1 mtn reedbuck pedestal
1 nyala full mount
1 warthog shldr hount(again, son's, and bigger than mine!)
1 warthog shldr mount
plus a couple more backskins, etc.
Total taxidermy in Polokwame (Pietersburg)
by Safari Taxidermie was $2340 including crating. I've used these folks 3 times, very pleased. PM me if you want more info.

Freight to Seattle was $1900 to Safari Air Cargo.

Here in Seattle the US Fish and Wildlife folks are very helpful. You can clear your trophies without a broker. If you live in or near an F & W office at port of entry you can likely do this.