I have found a bit of a loophole that would likely be the right way to handle trophy shipments now.

Since processed trophies are free to enter the USA, only Raw trophies require AG permit holder to process. It seem to me the hunter should have all skins and capes tanned in RSA, and all skulls mounted as a European mount( no panels). Then they arrive "processed" and you're free to collect them from the shipper after clearing USF&W and US Customs.

Then have the trophies mounted here in the USA. The tanning would have to be done anyway so that's no extra cost. Sure the European mounts would be an extra fee to complete, but certainly less then the cost of the other USA requirements now being implemented. Probably less then the domestic shipping alone, and likely far cheaper then a company with an AG permit will charge you to process the trophies for cleared admission to the USA.

There are about a dozen hands touching your trophies from the time they are shot until they hang on your wall. It's amazing anything gets completed and actually comes out good at all.

After the shot you have to wrestle the beast for photos, drag and load the game to a truck

Skin and salt the hide, hang it and fold it for shipment to the dip pack

Dip pack the trophies

Ship them in a crate to the airport by truck uncontrolled environment(Freezing? Roasting? moisture?)

Handled again and stored in a warehouse prior to shipping. They are stored among other crates of unknown contents with who knows what kind of parasite or insect in unknown levels of weather protection from rain or dampness, especially from Nov to Feb!

Loaded on that flight and carried across the ocean.

Stored in a warehouse in the USA until cleared

***** new process of dipping and clearing the trophies by a company/person with an AG permit***** rehydrate and PH test may be required again!****

Shipped to your Taxidermist by truck in a non-controlled environment dampness? Freezing? Roasting? in that same wood crate,

Unpacked and shipped again to a tannery

Rehydrated and tanned

Dried, tumbled and finish process at the tannery

Shipped back to the taxidermist

Rehydrated and stretched for mounting.

When completed you now have a mount.

Think about the amount of handling that goes on with these trophies. It's amazing any end up on the wall in decent condition!

JJ,
This is not a new option, before a hunter does this he needs to talk with his taxidermist. The African taxidermists mount all of their animals with a WET tanned skin, they don't dry tan them like we do here in the states. The skins I have tried to work that were tanned in Africa weren't very good. Their soft tanning for rugs and flat skins is excellent but the dry tanned skins that I have tried to mount were of poor quality, and some of them coudn't even be mounted. Actually I would rather it could be done this way, it would save us all a lot of hassle and Your idea is good,BUT , from a voice of experience, please proceed with caution, Their tanning process is just not the same.

Jerry, what we need to do then is find a few quality tanneries that we can work with over there. I have had a number of hides come back that were flawless and at least as well tanned as I have seen here. I don't recall who did them, but with you pointing this out it's a good time to locate this resource and maybe share the information with others here.

I will try and look back and see if I can find the tannery used or those involved. The flat skins are as good as it gets, and the few capes I've seen were also great. However as you point out not every tannery in RSA is Equal, nor are they in the USA for that matter!

JJ,
The best way to do it is have some tanned and sent back next year and have a reputable taxidermist work with them and see how they are. If you can find a tannery over there that will do a high quality tan ( for mounting purposes) I for one will use them.

Jerry I've done my own taxidermy for pushing 30 years now, since I was a grunt in a taxidermy shop as a young teenager. Bow I just do my own things in a local shop that has about 60% Africa, 30% domestic and 10% other international work (Mongolia is popular lately)

As you know 90% of the stuff comes dry salted gets repacked and sent to a tannery. We have been using Carolina Fur dressing, New Method(although rare now) and Wildlife fur dressing in Michigan.

There were a couple safairs that came into the shop over the last year that were all tanned and the hides althouh thick around the lips and eyes were really good condition. Surprised by this we all took notice and wondered why it was not done more often this way. I have to find out who did the tanning. I can get a cape next year, or part of a cape or hide and sent it to you. With a section of skin you can rehydrate and make your own decision after seeing it.

This is the best solution right now to the new USDA regulations. It has another advantage as well. If the hide does not tan and falls apart the tannery will tell the taxidermist there and they will find a replacement hide on their side before the shipment comes over.

If the hide slips over here you have much bigger hurdles. Now you might have to ship a single skin across for big bucks. Or feel the pain of buying one already here. If it's a Nyala, bushbuck, klipspringer, waterbuck, etc. it starts getting difficult to find a good one already in the USA. God forbid it's a sable or Bongo!

Anyway I'm going to make this plan and I will see about getting a section of tanned cape for you to pass judgement on. I always welcome another opinion on this stuff before I make the recomendation to my hunters!

quote:

USF&W and US Customs.

It would be great if someone started tannery that produced a quality dry tan like Carolina Fur dressing, But how long do you think shipping agents would put up with all the lost income before they convinced government regulators to close this loop hole ? Were talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars.