My brother in I have been on a 1 1/2 year learning curve about getting some trophies back to US from a early 2005 hunt in Namibia. We had problems with the PH not leaving the permits with the taxidermist in Otjiwarongo. That has been rectified. We are using a lady in Windhoek named Pam Forster to do the exporting. My question is exactly the paper work required stateside and the proceedure when it arrives in Seattle. Do we handle the Fish and Wildlife forms, etc. I assume that we pick it up at the air freight office after it clears customs. Is that the general scenario? Believe me, we have asked Ms. Forester these and many other questions but suppose she thinks us first timers should know it all. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

From here on out it is strictly meat hunting!!!
Thanks,
BJB

There are two answers, the short answer and the long one.

The short answer: Hire a clearing agent. Let them worry about it.

The Long answer: You can do it yourself, but it keeps getting more difficult. What did you shoot? Warthog? Baboons? Monkeys? Leopard?

I'm in the process of getting a crate cleared as we speak (type). I used Hunter Int'l on advise of Safari Air Cargo. Their fees (so far) are as follows;
Brokerage fee $ 195.00
Airline ISC 40.00
Handling fee 95.00
Airline min. storage 40.00
Total $ 370.00 excludes delivery

I'll be picking-up at airport so delivery is moot. This is for one crate approx. 3x3x4 feet - 120lb. - three heads. Not a bad deal for me as the airport is an hour away and the crate arrived Sat. and is still "in process" at this time (Friday morning!). Others may not agree but their expertise and experience in handling this is worth $400 to me! Might be worth inquiring at least. They're in Cal. but operate at all entry ports. Their number is 650-652-0100. Ask for Rose.

BJB, I have used Fauna and Flora and they have shipped right to my house in Las Vegas. I can recommend them.

Just returned from the airport with my crate. Since I picked up the same day as it was cleared I was not charged storage (B.A. was the carrier). Total for broakerage service/government clearence remains $370 with Hunter Int'l. Equal to the trophy fee for a smaller animal but my time and sanity is also worth something and spending stressful hours trying to chase paperwork around government agencies I'm not familiar with... well, I consider it a bargain. I've used funa and flora in the past and they to gave excellent service.

If you have mounted trophies, or if your CERTIFIED dipped & packed trophies do NOT include swine or apes, then the procedure is really very simple.

1. Get the AWB number from your shipper or carrier.
2. Call F&W at the airport as soon as the crate comes in and give them the AWB #. You may also need to fax them some of the papers below. They will inspect your crate(s).
3. Get the commercial invoice and taxidermist papers (certifications etc). from the shipper or carrier.
4. Make an appt with F&W people to meet you at customs.
5. Stand back while the paperwork is shuffled.
6. Get your stamped clearance, drive to airline warehouse, and load her up!

Takes about an hour of your time if all goes to plan.

You won't have to pay any duty provided there is a letter from you to whom it may concern, stating that these are personal hunting trophies of no commercial value and not for resale. This you give to customs at the appropriate time.

If there are swine, wet skins, or apes in your shipment, it gets a lot trickier because DOA gets involved and they are only present at certain ports etc etc.

As of this year it's not that easy, if they are dipped and packed only and there are ruminants in the crate they have to be sent to a USDA approved facility. You can't pick them up yourself.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
If you have mounted trophies, or if your CERTIFIED dipped & packed trophies do NOT include swine or apes, then the procedure is really very simple.

This used to be the case but, not anymore.

Now, if you have a ruminent (Pretty much all of them are ruminents, some aren't ... ) you have to have a USDA approved facility treat them on arrival.

You can pick them up yourself, but you must make prior arraqngements and let the USDA guys know which facility you are taking them to.

I picked one close to my home, notified USDA and they processed the paperwork (before collecting the trophies). They will send a form to the taxidermist saying " Wendell has agreed to have you treat 2 Buffalo, 1 Waterbuck etc. ..."

If you do not take them to the facility, you will likely loose them when the paperwork catches up with you.

It cost me $360 to have 2 Buff, 1 Waterbuck, 2 Reedbuck, and 1 Hartebeest "treated". That was after the facility gave me a discount of about $120.

I always clear my own trophies. It saves me clearing fees etc. Well, not anymore. That $360 plus my time to mess with it wound up more expensive than having a broker do it and forward the trophies to the tannery who "treats" the trophies for free (as part of the tanning process.

Next time I have a shipment come in, I will direct the crate to ABX in Houston, close to the tannery. They will clear it, the tannery will collect it, and treat the ruminents, and tan the hides.

Live and learn.

This doesn't sound right Wendell. Dip and pack in Africa by a licenced/certified taxidermist is acceptable provided the hides are not wet and the crate is made from certified lumber,or at least it was quite recently. And if the trophies are mounted, they are by definition sterile and dry. Could some third party weigh in here?

Got my stuff in a couple of months ago and the only thing the USDA was concerned about was the warthog. After they inspected had to be ground shipped directly to my taxidermist, USDA approved facility. If I did not have the warthog I could have picked it up myself at the airport and saved the ground transport fees. All this was confirmed by Coppersmith's who helped me with my import process.

quote:

Originally posted by Russ Gould:
Dip and pack in Africa by a licenced/certified taxidermist is acceptable provided the hides are not wet and the crate is made from certified lumber, or at least it was quite recently. And if the trophies are mounted, they are by definition sterile and dry. Could some third party weigh in here?

I believe mounted trophies are still fine. Unmounted trophies of ungulates, are not ... according to the USDA gal in Dallas.

She said, "I have to fill out form "XYZ" and send it to ABC Taxidermy and they will verify that you brought the trophies to them to be cleaned."

I had no choice. If I wanted my trophies, they had to be re-dipped.

It is new, maybe Dallas is on the cutting edge of the new laws. Who knows.

Just sharing my experiences.

quote:

Originally posted by David Culpepper:
Got my stuff in a couple of months ago and the only thing the USDA was concerned about was the warthog. After they inspected had to be ground shipped directly to my taxidermist, USDA approved facility. If I did not have the warthog I could have picked it up myself at the airport and saved the ground transport fees. All this was confirmed by Coppersmith's who helped me with my import process.

Coppersmith had my papers. They called and I told them not to touch the trophies because I always clear them myself (I did not ask for Coppersmith to do the clearing)

They agreed and said, "You are going to have to have them shipped to a USDA approved facility. We are a USDA approved facility."

I declined to let them clear them anyway.

I could still clear them myself and pick them up. I just had to take them to a USDA approved facility.

When I was talking about a USDA approved facility, I was talking about after they left the airport. And I was told by Coppersmith's this was so only because of the warthog, maybe all this has changed very recently. As far as USDA checking everything before it left the airport I am not sure about as I had Coppersmith's clear everything for me, I did not see anything in the paperwork I received saying anything about USDA inspections.

You can only clear items that have been shipped in your name. You cannot clear trophies in a crate if it has multiple ownerships. A very affordable means of shipping is combining the shipments of several hunters into a single crate. You must however ship them with a single owner. Otherwise when they arrive you must use a broker with a license to clear a crate with the property of mulitiple owners inside. If all are put into one name then the person who's name they are shipped under must be the one to clear the trophies.

When your trophies are packed in Africa they must have export papers to leave the country. This is what you pay for with the dip/pack process. No shipper is going to take a shipment bound for the USA without proper doc's. They will not collect the freight if they cannot be cleared. I have never heard of this as a problem, not ever not even one time( from RSA).

STEP ONE:
When your trophies arrive in the USA you will be called by the shipping company. They will usually give you 48 hours to collect the crate before storage fees start adding up.

STEP TWO:
You arrive at the shippers office and collect the packet of paperwork that arrives with the crate. The shipper will supply you with this packet so that you have the information to clear the trophies. It's the same packet that the Broker would use. Without this no broker will clear them either.

STEP Three:

You take the packet of information to the Federal fish and wildlife office, you might call ahead to be sure they are on site when you arrive. You may also need an appointment for them. When you arrive on site at the Office they will have a big pad of forms on the counter and will give that to you to fill out. It requires the airline flight numbers, the carrier, shipper, dates, etc.
It requires the common and latin name of each animal and the amounts of each. You just answer the questions and fill in the blanks, easy as can be. All that information is in the packet that came from Africa with the export information as it left Africa. As are the license and tags or any other information needed for export. Once filled out Fed F&W will look at the export documents and compare them to the import documents that you just filled out. They will be looking for protected species, Swine or primates which require additional handling. If there are none of these they will stamp the copies and hand them back over to you keeping one for their files.

STEP FOUR: You take the Fed's paperwork to the US customs office and present them with the approved stamped paperwork and they ask you what the value is. Since it's just salted dried skins the value can be 100 bucks. There is no duty on a 100 dollar amaount so they stamp the paperwork and hand it back to you.

Step FIVE:
You go back to the shipper and show them you have had everything approved. Then you pay the shipping fee, unless prepaid and they give you back your documents. They will likely direct you the the shipping dock and the Union dock workers will load the crate onto your truck. They will not uncrate it or let you uncrate it on their site.

DONE.......... FREE......... EASY!

I've done this exact thing more times then I can count, and I've given these same instructions to people across the USA for which is has worked the same for them.

With Baboons and/or Primates it's a different arrangement that requires a Agriculture permit. A taxidermist with that certification can clear the trophies for you. Taxidermists make more doing taxidermy then they do standing in a line at Fed F&W and Customs so they will usually hire a Broker and tack that on your invoice.

That's the way it has always worked for me JJ.The one exception is that I use a brother who lives close to the airport to pick them up and do the paperwork for me.I have to give him a signed power of attorney for him to act in my interest.Otherwise ,just as you outline it.

I picked up my mounted trophies at last Thursday. I used Coppersmith since they have a Seattle office. The shipping box was about 3' X 3' X 4', 160 pounds. The charges were as follows:
Air freight $1,054.94
Bond to Customs 65.00
Terminal Charges 40.00
Customs Entry Services 100.00
Fish/Wildlife Entry Serv. 100.00
Messenger Services 25.00
Total $1,384.94


They paid the freight and handled all the paperwork and details. They called me when I could pick up the box. My only responsibility was to drive to the airport, write the check, open and close the tailgate and drive home.

Dave

Can anyone recommend a customs agent in the Baltimore/Washington area?

JJHACK,
You can't do it anymore, I just got off the phone with USDA and any shipment of raw trophies that has ruminants (which is all plains game)in it has to go to a USDA approved facility. You CAN clear them yourself, but from there is has to go to the approved facility, you CAN NOT take them home from the shipper. Now in Wendell's case they let him transport the crate to the approved site, but I think that is going to be the exception. When the crate arrives there, they cannot release the skins and horns unless they have been tanned or treated.

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker: JJHACK, You can't do it anymore, I just got off the phone with USDA and any shipment of raw trophies that has ruminants (which is all plains game) in it has to go to a USDA approved facility...

Yea, I ran into this earlier in the year, F&F cleared my trophies but had the wrong taxidermist on their paperwork which they submitted. I got a call from a USDA agent advising that the tax was not approved and that I would be held personally responsible and the items subject to confiscation. At that time, the agent said only swine, primates and buffalo, although he may not have been fully aware of the procedures either. F&F corrected this, but bottom line is that (1) they are taking this seriously and (2) this means that we need to not only factor in clearing costs but also inland shipping for those of us that picked raw trophies up at the broker or port of entry after being cleared.