I know a few here for sure have experienced the excellent bird hunting Africa has to offer. It should be on anybodies to do list who goes on Safari and likes to hunt birds.

I didn't bring back any trophy birds from Africa and I'm kind of kicking myself. Yellow River partridge and Francolin would have been really nice bird trophies.

I didn't even think about it when I actually had bird in hand.

So what's involved bring back bird trophies? Must they be done there? I don't think they get dipped and packed (or do they?).

Anyone got some mount pictures to share?

I've got a buddy who is a bird hunting fanatic that would seriously consider going if he could get some cool trophies.

Birds can be a pain to rehydrate after they have been salted and dried. I had great ideas of bringing some birds back from my first safari, hornbills, rollers, guinea fowl, but did not get much encouragement from my PH. In fact, I don't think most PH's want to be bothered with skinning, salting and shipping them. I didn't even suggest it the next time. There was a guy in camp once who wanted to get an Egyptian goose, but the PH kept changing the subject every time he brought it up. I look forward to hearing from those who have had a different experience.

In the late 1980s, I applied for and obtained museum collecting permits and export permits from three provinces of South Africa and in Namibia, and then spent two weeks collecting birds and small critters for SCI's museum in Tucson.

Before I shot anything, I lined up a taxidermist in each town to skin and ship the birds to Klineburger's Taxidermy in Seattle.

If I were collecting birds for myself, I would check first with the nature departments where I would be hunting to be certain birds aren't protected (I'm pretty sure at least one of the guinea fowls and birds such as rollers and hornbills are protected in South Africa), then contact the USFWS and the taxidermist of your choice before you go over.

It's a lot of trouble, but outfitters and taxidermists in the USA and Africa aren't familiar with the procedures, so you have no choice but to educate yourself.

Bill Quimby

It's no more difficult to import birds than antelope. Having said that, my clients have had the birds mounted in-country and exported as fully processed trophies. For Namibia, the export permits must be arranged, in advance, and then you can take (one of each licenced spedies)outside the normal hunting seasons. If you hunt birds during the normal seasons in Namibia, RSA or Botswana, you need a bird hunting licence for the country/province where you are hunting. From there it's pretty much standard procedure. But as the poster above has stated, you need to hunt with an outfitter who has done this before! Your average skinner has no idea how to skin and salt birds.

i'm doing a spur wing goose from zambia this year. #1 the skinneer has to know how to do birds
#2 - make sure that you can import them, some birds from some areas you can't bring back
#3 - in this case i'm having the goose done there

The skinning of a bird to be done on a salted skin must be handled perfectly and there are only a handful of taxidermists in the US that can do it. Find one of these and speek to him before you go. The best situation is to have the taxidermist with you. He will be able to make carcass drawings or even molds and will be able to take proper measurements and species observations. Expect to loose a couple of specimens in the process and only start with flawless specimens.

Hello

Yes bird trophies are spectacular, We do bird hunting on a regular basis and a lot of our clients are more bird secie collectors than bird shooters,

We use LifeForm in White river and the birds look great, one cient has I think 20 different species by now.

I have a PH and dogs( english Pointers) doing only my bird hunting clients, and they have a whale of a time

Hi there, I have seen some pretty impressive taxidermy done on birds, but, as someone else pointed out, I think it is mainly collectors, especially museum collectors (which have been my only justifiable observations) who could point you in the right direction as for the best taxidermists available. I can imagine that many PH's have a soft-spot for some birds, and/or the paperwork necessary for a permit, or difficulties finding a taxidermist that specialises in birds, so can imagine some apprehension maybe on their side.

I know that quite a few birds in the Southern-African sub-region are protected, not sure how laws and enforcement vary though from country to country though, would be good to look at red-data book data first for different bird's protected status' as a general insight first. For example, in SA if you shot say a blue crane, although they might be quite abundant in certain areas, you would probably have to do some serious explaining to government officials for your reasons for doing so. In some cases, especially with birds, it is best to take photos as a trophy, or a tick in the back of the bird-book!

I managed to stick a jackel while bowhunting with Melorani Safari in South Africa. I asked Dani Cilliars at NKWE Taxidermy to mount it with a Fancolin in its mouth. Dani had done the critters from my first trip and added this request to the work he did on the results of the second. So far as I know there was no special paper work or anything regarding importing the Francolin. I didn't shoot the bird, I don't know where Dani actually got it but he's a hunter himself so I expect he shot it. Anyhow I have a neat Jackel / Francolin mount thanks to Dani's interest and skill.

quote:

Originally posted by stubbleduck47:
I managed to stick a jackel while bowhunting with Melorani Safari in South Africa. I asked Dani Cilliars at NKWE Taxidermy to mount it with a Fancolin in its mouth. Dani had done the critters from my first trip and added this request to the work he did on the results of the second. So far as I know there was no special paper work or anything regarding importing the Francolin. I didn't shoot the bird, I don't know where Dani actually got it but he's a hunter himself so I expect he shot it. Anyhow I have a neat Jackel / Francolin mount thanks to Dani's interest and skill.

That's pretty neat. I'd love to see it.

Here are some bird mounts that were done in Africa. I don't know who the taxidermist was. As far as I know these birds are not on the CITES list, but if I misread the regulations then you must know that they are not in my house and I was not the one who shot them and they do not belong to me. I think they are in some house in Zim belonging to some high official.


Southern yellow-billed hornbill


Helmeted Guinea fowl


Grey loerie


European bee-eater - this bird cannot be imported in Poland.

Some of the memorable birds that I came across and noted in my journals were the kori bustard, southern crowned crane, red-billed francolin, sand grouse (I don't know which one), hoopoe, crimson-breasted shrike, weaver bird (actually I only saw their nests), long-tailed widow, and some vultures, hawks, and eagles I couldn't identify.

Unless I was going to eat them, I wouldn't shoot them - but then that's just my feelings.

Namibiahunter

Nice birds Namibiahunter (or whoever they belong to!).

If it were easy to import them here then I'd get about 10 of those go-away birds and put them all along my front door. And just for peace and quiet I'd put them by my bedroom door too!

I shot several birds while hunting in the Save with Roger. Skinned them out myself and shipped them back with my trophies. I salted the skins and slipped them into socks to protect the feathers. Looking back, I should have taken borax for this purpose. The "socks" were tagged with species, etc. It only took about 4 months to get the trophies and the skins were mountable, not perfect but they were okay. Because they were listed with my trophies they passed USFWS with no problems. The key is finding someone to skin them properly! There is a way to bring the birds back with you on the return trip but you must plan ahead and have the permits when you get off the plane. Once again, if you don't know how to skin them it's all for naught. I wouldn't take anything for my rollers!!!!