Has anyone had work done by Safariland Taxidermy or Taxidermy Enterprises in Bulawayo.

Interested in comments on both.

Thanks,
Bob S.

Taxidermy Enterprisies did an excellent job for me in many animals (kudu, waterbuck, impala, bushbuck, reedbuck, sable, grysbuck, duiker ...).

Another vote for TE. I've never had them do anything for me, but I have seen their work and most importantly, I had the pleasure of dealing with one of the partners, Roy Luddick and he helped me tremendously in getting my raw skins and skull out of Zim to a taxidermist in RSA. jorge

I visited their place in Bulawayo. [TE]
Their stuff looked good. They are doing some hides for me.

I had TE do two years worth of hunts, including leopard full body mount, Cape buff shoulder mount and eland shoulder mount. Also klipspringer full body. The quality of the mounts was adequate.

The major problem with doing taxidermy "over there" is paying for the freight back. I paid as much for the four crates to make it to California as I did for the taxidermy. I would think seriously about having hides, skulls and horns sent here, then do the taxidermy here.

If you do it here, you can get things fixed more easily if they need it.

jim

I'll chime in on the freight cost issue. The first time I did it back in 01 I saved close to 40% and that included the freight. This time my taxidermy costs were four grand and freight was 2200 bucks. Do a search and you'l see the post with my itemized costs. I'm prety happy with the work ( NOT Jonas Bros or Animal Artistry quality) but for example, my full mount bushbuck cost me 1200 bucks andmy buff shoulder mount was 850 just to name two items. So weigh your options carefully. jorge

I have had work done by TE.Most recently tanning of my elephant hide panels taken on a hunt wiht John Sharp in 1996. Good work then and I have seen some of the paintings done on elephant ears done there...great.
That said, as is true in all hunting, fishing, PH/Outfitters and Taxidermists...nothing ever stays the same and that I hear now is the case for TE. A great PH you all know has taken all of his work away from them because of problems. TWO Good friends just had a 22 animal safari processed by TE, communications were terrible, instructions were NOT followed and TE shipped the trophies without their permission or prepayment...and there were freight issues before they were shipped...Freight is a HUGE issue today even just for dipped and packed trophies and if you don't prepay every stop adds their fees!! I vote against TE these days until they clean up thier act!!

I have friends born in Zim that use TE for their work and recommend them to others.

I've used them both and would say their quality is comparable. I did have one issue with a buffalo pedestal mount I had done by Safariland (unbalanced and wanted to tip forward) which they didn't really help with but that's pretty minor in the scheme of things. I will also say that timing wise they were both comparable.

You've heard various comments, the majority negative. Here's another. I received a bad shoulder mounted eland from Safari-land. What's more, it wasn't even the one I shot. Later (luckily) they did pay a compensation. I have to echo the comments about freight too. It seems that freight operations have decided to gouge the hunting public. Having said all that, I must acknowledge that these businesses probably do change, and for all I know they may have quality work now. Thanks for asking. Bill

I would not recommend TE. Their work took over a year longer than they had promised. The quality of the work on my trophies was average to below average.

I recommend tanning your trophies in africa and having your taxidermy done locally. That saves on shipping and the prices of local taxidermy are sometimes less.

I think the lesson to take away here is the tremendous difference in cost to ship one box of horns and hides to North America compared to the cost to ship finished taxidermy here: you pay both weight and volume.

If you are penciling out your safari it is a good idea to do the math before commiting to having the taxidermy done locally, regardless of quality of the work.

It is easy to pay $4,000 to $5,000 just to ship your finished work back.

jim

I did do my math, twice to be exact and after all was said and done, it was cheaper to have the stuff shipped from Zim to RSA for taxidermy then had the finished trophies air freighted to Atlanta where I picked them up. As I stated previously, do a search and look at the costs i posted. Now as to the quality of work, I said I was satisfied but fully recognize that there are magnificent taxidermists here in the US. jorge

I visited both shops in the past year and while the work is adequate I didn't find it the equal of most US taxidermist. The freight cost today could be brutal as well and I doubt if you'll save much money if any.I also had work done in South Africa several years ago and would never again have work done anywhere I've been in Africa. It's the USA for me.

With the differing opinions on this issue I advise that cost would only be one factor to consider. There are quality taxidermist both in the US and in Africa as well as cheap and expensive. The best thing to do is check the quality of their work yourself if possible and ask questions. This is the only way you can get any real comfort on whom you chose to use.

quote:

Originally posted by Pathfinder:
The freight cost today could be brutal as well and I doubt if you'll save much money if any.

Well, not nessesarily. Whike the freight was more than in 2001, I still saved money. I'm not a rocket scientist, but I can do simple math, I even used a calculator and while I don't nessesarily disagree with your view that taxidermy here in the USA is excellent, your blanket statement that ALL taxidermy done in RSA is of poor quality is just flat not accurate.

I'm the first to admit my buffalo and bushbuck that I posted are not Jonas Bros quality, but I can spot good work and for 1200 bucks for a bushbuck full mount, NOBODY here in the US (that I knew about at the time anyway) could touch that price, especially after you added the ADDED freight costs from their studios to my house. jorge

Jorge-- I thiunk you were right then but with fuel and changing Rand value it might no longer be the case. I have some trophies at Tax Ent now. I just received another shipment that went through JBG to Seattle. It has changed a lot from my last shipment in 2003. I'm thinking dip and ship for my trip next year. If so that will be the first time I have not had work completed in Africa and then shipped home. Can't seem to get an ocean freight thing going to the west coast.

Crane: Ocena freight comes with another whole set of issues (besides time) that add to the cost. There is also an issue with the added expense of FINISHED trophies out of Zim as the amount of air travel into that country is limited, hence higher freight costs. It cost me 215 US for my raw trophies,(buffalo,bushbuck,warthog, impala & bushpig plus associated hides).

Those same finished trophies that consisted of a buff, bushpig, impala & warthog shoulder mounts, a full munt bushbuck including the wooden platform of course plus all the tanned backskins cost me about 1900 bucks in air freight from Johannesburg (where the taxidermist is) to Atlanta where I picked them up. I'll say it again, DO THE MATH and it might jsut work out for you, providing of course one is happy with the taxidermy work, which I was. jorge

I agree with Jorge 1000% I have only hunted Africa twice. The first time in Zim in 2000.
Then I went to Tanzania in 2003 and I am going back next year. I used Taxidermy Enteprizes in Zim the first time. I got a impala shouldermount, a warthog shouldermount, a watrhog skull and a giraffe skull bleached. Total cost with shipping to my house (in CA at the time) was under $2000.

For Tanzania in 2003 I used Highveld in South Africa. I had to ship my stuff from Tanzania to South Africa and then to the US (Maine where I live now)
I had Highveld do a life size Hyena and skull bleached, Zebra rug, bleached skulls for baboon, hippo, crocodile. Shoulder mounts for waterbuck, greater kudu, cape buff, thompsons and grants gazelle. With all the shipping and taxidermy costs I spent $5800 USD

True almost half was shipping however I still feel I came way out ahead. Lets forget about shipping and just look at some US taxidermist prices. CAPE BUFF SHOULDERMOUNT $1500 and up LIFE SIZE HYENA $2000+ KUDU $1000+

You see where the cost savings come in. Also where I live there are a few good taxidermists but NONE of them have ever worked on African animals. I have sat down and added it all up.
EVEN WITH ALL THE SHIPPING GETTING A LARGE ORDER OF ANIMALD DONE IN THE US COSTS ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am planning on using either Highveld or Taxidermy Enteprizes for next year.
They both do excelent work, the only decision is TE is a little cheaper, however dealing with Zim makes me nervous.

Jorge- Who are you using in JBG? I misread your post re: Tax Ent.

I used Kwiktan taxidermy. jorge

EVEN WITH ALL THE SHIPPING GETTING A LARGE ORDER OF ANIMALD DONE IN THE US COSTS ALMOST TWICE AS MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That generalization is not true either. My taxidermist here in GA, who specializes in Africa stuff, his prices are about the same on most stuff as Highveld. The price differences vary on different animals but I did a price comparison on eight different shoulder mounts and the overall price difference between the two was about $100. When you get to full body mounts Highveld is usually cheaper in price most of the time. I toured Highveld's last year and they do quality work but I chose to use my local taxidermist.

I just do not like seeing the generalizations that everything is cheaper in price my an African taxidermist as well as the one about all African taxidermist are inferior to US ones. Both are incorrect.

quote:

your blanket statement that ALL taxidermy done in RSA is of poor quality is just flat not accurate

Jorge,
I don't think I said that and if interpreted that way would be incorrect. There may well be some reasonable quality somewhere in Africa but I have not seen it when compared to the US work. I'm also fortunate in that I have excellent taxidermists near my homes in Connecticut and Arizona so I just pick up the mounts when they're done so shipping inside the US is not a factor for me. I admit to hunting in only three African countries so my experience and observation is limited to several shops in each of those countries.

Is Matabeleland Taxidermy still in business in Bulawayo? They seemed to do pretty good work but since Don Reeve opened a shop in So. Africa I don't know if anyone ever continued his old operation. He was terrific on painting elephant ears and mounting birds, especially Rollers.

One more negative reply. I had some work done a few years back. It was a pretty much messed up. I took some pictures to the SCI Convention and showed them to James Vessels, one of the owners. He agreed that my work was done badly. He recommeded to me that I get Magic Markers and fix them up. My Cape buffalo was mounted with it's head way up in the air. You could not see the boss. James replied that it was probably because the cape was too small for the head. I replied that the cape came off the buffalo and if it was too small, it would because they substituted another cape. Anyway. I had to have it redone by Steve Moss. Wendell Reich, who posts here a lot, gave me the cape as he had an extra one at Steve Moss'. I am beholding to Wendell and I will not forget it. He really helped me out of a jam. Steve Moss is a damn good taxidermist. Again, the only reason you run from Taxidermy Enterprises, is that you can't fly!