I know I have seen this before, but I can't find the right thread using search, anyway, here is the question

If you did your taxidermy in Africa vs. US would costs be breakeven by the time you shipped full mounts back to the US? Or is it cheaper to do the taxidermy in Africa vs. shipping hides to the US and then having them mounted here?

the cost will not be in dollars but in time and quality of taxidermy ...

If you have not already, check out this recent thread:

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/392104967

This is one of those topics....

Addressing just the subject of "costs", my impression is that the cost benefit of getting work done in Africa, considering mounting costs and shipping, is not as great as it once was.

I think the more important consideration is the taxidermist themself, not which cointinenet they're on.

quote:

I think the more important consideration is the taxidermist themself, not which cointinenet they're on.

ditto.

Phoenixdawg
I made 2 trips to South Africa for plains game and had 7 mounts done over there and air shiped back to Texas each time for a total of 14 mounts. I am very well pleased with the work that was done on my trophies and the time frame was just what I was told up front. I used Karoo Taxidermy because my PH recomended them and assured me if they did not treat me right he would take care of it for me. The cost for the mounts was 1/2 or less than any of the prices I got from Taxidermist in the DFW area before we went over. Shipping back completed mounts will of course take a bigger crate and weigh more than horns and skins. I would think the shipping would not be more than $500 to $600 more for the completed mounts, which is less than the difference between what they wanted to mount a Kudu in the US and what it cost in Africa. Also the dip and pack fee was 1/4 by going to a taxidermy over there of what it would have been to get them ready to ship to Texas so that saved another couple of hundred dollars. In the end I saved about $2500 to $3000 on each trip and got my mounts back in 8 months both times. They did turn my Gemsbok the wrong way and like they say when you get it you got it so I put it on a different wall "looks good". The last 2 mounts that I had done in the US came out ok but it took me 17 months to get my Elk back from from a taxidermist in the DFW area. I had a Antelope mounted in Wyoming and after I sent him the final pay I did not get my mount and had to call a Game Warden up there to go and make him ship my mount.

Jim

I recieve a crate this past monday from Highveldt in RSA that they mounted for me and was very happy,the quality was superb,we just hunt them up this afternoon. 3 shoulder mounts,1 zebra hide and some european mounts.I shipped the mounts back ocean and all total after having them mounted there and shipped here(to my door) I figure I saved $3000-3500. I would not hestiate to do the same again, but Highveldt is very well respected,their communication has excellent and there were no glitches.
thanks
wesley

If you get double-dipped on freight the "savings" go away. Good luck!

I think you can save a fair amount of money by having it done in SA, I saved a bunch of money including shipping. Safari Tax did mine and I was quite pleased.

I have a mount that smells bad, at first I thought it was an African mount, but its not, its an Axis deer I had done locally here in Tx. Like someone already said, its who does it and how its tanned.

just noticed that the second part of my earlier post didnt come out ...i appologise if it was so abrupt ..wasnt meant that way ...

what it went on to say was that you should check on the quality of the work and see the shop or pictures of the mounts done in africa ...here in the states where everything is so readily available , there are still a lot of very poor quality mounts , especially with the cats , the same applies in africa m, however there are several very good taxidermists that stand well above the rest ...

oftentimes a local taxidermist pays commission to phs and so they will push the service and its not always as good as it should be ...so check it out , get references and you will be fine ...

the costs of taxidermy i S Africa, plus transport, are approximately half those in the US; and IMO the quality (for african animals) is as good as than the best in the US if you use Lifeform Taxidermy.

wait till all the American taxidermists who visit this website start weighing in! damn near every one of them never saw an African taxidermy job that they liked or an American taxidermy job that they didn't. i have used African taxidermists for work on 5 safaris, was well pleased with all of them and saved about $10,000-11,000 total(about the cost of another PG or buff hunt). is the work "museum quality" a term you hear bandied about a lot by Am. taxidermist? No--- but it is good work that everyone who sees my trophy room is impressed with and that is good enough for me. one word of advice. because of greatly increased air freight costs, strongly consider having any work done in RSA shipped via ocean( only takes 7-8 weeks more and saves a lot of money).

Competition is a GOOOD THING

it control prices and lifts standards

Its usually less expensive to have the trophies done here in Africa, but despite that, I'd suggest you don't to make cost your most important criteria. You're gonna be looking at your trophies for many years to come and if they're not done well, you'll know it every time you look at them and it'll drive you crazy.

Don't look just for the cheapest taxidermist, look for the best taxidermy work and probably thr best way to spot good work, is to look at their cats...... particularly their Leopards, which is the hardest animal to get right and the easiest one to get wrong.

As a guide to what you should be looking for in terms of top quality work, take a look at www.lifeform.co.za.

shakari ...well said , as i always say , you will hunt for 21 days and then look at your trophies for years and years and very seldom in that case is cheaper better look at quality first and then see if you can afford it ...


taxidermists are like phs , the good ones get a good following and are easy to find references for ...if you cant find references or people are evasive when questioned about their experience ......

a word of warning on saving money by sea freighting , if the container happens to sit in miami or similar for some time in summer , your trophies will be at over 120 degrees in the humid container and that can be a disaster...just a consideration ....