I have just received my trophies from South Africa, Issues:

The horns are drilled for a wire and tag, is this normal practise nowadays?

And the big issue, which the PH will explain I am sure, a wrong trophy, my friend camp meat animal, not the one I shot!

Depends on which taxidermy firm is handling your trophies but that is the way they do it now ( about 95%) and just make more work for the taxidermist doing your work. On the wrong trophy-good luck getting the right trophy. I receive the wrong ones now and then for the client and all they do they never get the right one back plus you have to pay all the import bills again for one critter...

And that's Africa. Hope you took pictures. But odds are, you won't see the trophy again.

Hey lincs

Which taxidermist did you use?

I can't see the need to drill the horn as a cable tie an be just as secure.

K

Every one of my trophies had a small horn drilled in them and then tags attached. Taxidermist fixed the small holes easily and I forogt they were even there until I read this post. A good friend has been to Africa six times with six different outfits and all the horns came home with horns drilled and marked.

Kotoko Taxidermy of Bloemfontein.

The holes are nothing to be concerned about really.

I believe some holes are drilled into horns over there so that insecticide can be injected/poured into horns. You see this a lot on species where the horn can not be pulled off the horn core due to the curves. It is an easy repair for a taxidermist and will be all but invisible if done well.. Why they make the holes larger than they need to be I have no idea. At least they are usually on the back side of the horn. They also use the holes for attaching points for tags or to keep the horns attaches to their cores with a small screw.

The wires were installed in the ends of the horns solely to secure plastic tags with my client number on them. Plastic cable ties would work as well and would be as resistant to chemicals/heat as the plastic tag?

If drilling trophies is becoming standard, I can see hunters seeking out countries where this mutilation isn’t practised. Logically we could add the tags in the field as they do in America, this would make logistics easier all round?
The PH was mortified at the mistake, accepting full responsibility and is now rectifying the problem at his expense. He actually picked up the “news” via this thread, which wasn’t my intention – sorry Andrew.

All of mine have been done with drilled holes after taxidermy you can't find them.


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