Yesterday was a good day, as I finally was able to bring home my trophies from my Cameroon Savannah hunt last February. However, the ordeal associated with Mayo Oldiri Safaris, then with U.S. Customs really tested my resolve. Were it not for really wanting my Lord Derby Eland, I’d have told Mayo Oldiri to keep the trophies and I’d have just enjoyed having pictures.

First problem - Mayo Oldiri: my hunt included a customary Dip & Pack fee of around $1,500.; which I was expecting. That was paid up-front as part of the hunt cost. What I did not expect was a bill for an additional $5,460.00 to ship my trophies home! I knew I was going to have air freight on Turkish Airlines, but I’d just gotten a crate home from Tanzania and it was about $2,300.00 total cost to SFO. I objected, telling them this price was outrageous and unacceptable, demanding an itemized cost breakdown. I got an itemized bill and they’d reduced the price by $400, so now it was ‘only’ $5,040.; still too high, IMO. The bill indicated Turkish was $3,000; I don’t know if that was Turkish’s actual charge or if Mayo Oldiri had tacked a premium on top of the actual charge for air freight. So there was an additional $2,040 in various bullshit charges for crap I’ve never been charged for on any other shipment from other African countries. As much as this bothered me, I paid the charge as I really wanted my Lord Derby Eland home. My belief is that some or all of these charges are simply Mayo Oldiri padding their charges.

Second problem - U.S. Customs agent, ‘Inspector Colón, at SFO: When the Customs Agent, a woman who only referred to herself as ‘Inspector Colón’ inspected my shipment, she flagged it for having flesh on one or more of the items that required my shipment be sent directly to a USDA Approved facility. Jeremy Delacruz of Coppersmith (he’s excellent, BTW) gave me the choice of facilities I wanted my shipment to be sent to, so I selected Eva Wildlife Dressing, a tannery in Ceres, CA; which is about 90 minutes from my home. Upon opening and inspecting my shipment, Eva advised that they could not find any traces of flesh on anything and requested further clarification. I also wanted to know, so I called US Customs and asked to speak with whoever the inspector was who’d flagged my shipment. I had to leave a message and the next day I was called by Inspector Colón, and she said there was flesh present on an item so she flagged it. When I asked what item had flesh, she got surly and told me she did not need to tell me which item had failed scrutiny, only that something had flesh. I explained that I was trying to resolve the problem and knowing what she wanted cleaned more thoroughly would be helpful. She reiterated that she didn’t have to tell me what item she flagged and it was my problem to figure out with the tannery. I tried again and she became openly hostile, so I ended the call. EVA Wildlife worked with Jeremy Delacruz of Coppersmith and Dr. Rachel Fisher of USDA APHIS (Animal & Plant Health Inspection Services) and after too much time spent by all working on this issue created by Inspector Colòn, Dr. Fisher released my shipment for pickup without anything being done to the shipment. She determined upon personally inspecting my shipment that it was fine as is.

Yesterday, I went to Eva Wildlife Fur Dressing and picked up my crate. Finally, my Lord Derby Eland was home! It’s nice to have the other animals home, but the LDE was the real reason I went through the expense and hassle.

The ‘Good Guys’ - Jeremy Delacruz of Coppersmith is fantastic when it comes to clearing trophies. He highly responsive and stayed fully engaged clear to the end of this debacle. I’ve always been pleased with his service, but now he’s made me a loyal customer for life also Dr. Rachel Fisher of USDA. She was ‘on it’ in dealing with the issue and personally inspected my trophies to clear them. It’s nice to see a Federal Government employee who gives a damn and works in a timely manner to serve the public. Finally, EVA Wildlife. They were very helpful and only charged a reasonable fee for their part in resolving my problem. I toured their tannery while there and was very impressed. They’ve been tanning capes and skins for the taxidermy industry since 1984 and they’ve earned future business from me.

Inspector Colón cost me nearly $1,000 extra expenses, between bonded warehouse storage, freight to EVA and other costs. She has not heard the last from me as I’m working on a letter of complaint that’s going to the San Francisco US Customs office, US Customs headquarters and my Congressman’s office. His office is only five minutes from my house, so I’ll be delivering it in person.

Mayo Oldiri will never see any future business from me. I was not at all pleased with how they handled several issues ranging from a 2nd licenses to shoot extra animals, to how they’ve neglected anti-poaching that has led to a decline in most of their northern areas, to ripping me off on sending my trophies to me. My opinion is that Mayo Oldiri is 100% about $$$ and everything else is secondary. I’d love to hunt Cameroon again, but if I do it’ll be with a different safari operator. If anyone is considering them and wants further details, feel free to PM me.
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DLS, I'm sorry that you had such a frustrating experience getting your trophies to your home.
I have no dog in this fight as my budget does not stretch to LDE but after reading your report it reminded me of the value of AR. Real world experiences, both good and bad that allow others to evaluate the evidence and make decisions on where to spend their hard earned cash.
Thank you for taking the time to post. Perhaps Mayo Oldiri (if they are on this forum) would like to shed more light on the trophy shipment charges?

JCHB

I have heard few complains about them over the years
In their defense, they probably have to deal with classic bullshit of corrupt government officials in Cameroon more then we think
Agent Colon, wow that is a classic government official here in US…here is a problem but you figure out what problem that is…that sounds like some African official…

Thanks for the heads up. I have a LDE booked with Mayo.

DLS, so sorry to hear about the headaches! I’m glad your LDE is home safely though. Your experience makes me a little nervous as I leave for Cameroon February 1 (not hunting with Mayo though).

You might consider including Rodney Scott as an addressee on your letter and mailing it on January 21st

Wow -

Getting trophies shipped home from Africa is one of the biggest scams in the sport hunting world.

I hunted LDE and Bongo with CAWA back in 2012. My crate was large, as it had in it, full-mount capes for LDE, Bongo and all the Duikers I killed. I think it was 12 animals in all.

This was all before the hubbub about trophy shipping so getting it shipped wasn't the problem.

My crate was 6,600.00 to just get it from Bangui to CDG airport in France. That's about what an entire RSA safari could be.

However, the end results in having all these iconic species from Central Africa preserved for eternity was well worth the price and hassles.

IIRC I had everything shipped from France to Dallas and Coppersmiths. My taxidermist (Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife Art) is very good at handling all the little trapdoors and hoops to jump through to get stuff home.

Happy for you to have your LDE home. I believe it is the pinnacle of African trophy hunting. Proper pure tracking hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanajay:
Thanks for the heads up. I have a LDE booked with Mayo.

What month of the year?

Send your complaint to Trump and let Musk handle it.

What an ordeal!

So sorry to hear this, but glad that with perseverance you have worked it out.

I did not hunt with Mayo Oldiri in Cameroon, although they seem to be on everyone’s short list.

My sense is that is changing.

There never seems to be an "easy," let alone consistent, trophy shipping story in my hunting lifetime. And it's not getting easier.

I curse the costs and swear that I'll just take pictures next time, but every time I walk into my office and see my trophies, I change my mind.

Just got my elephant tusk replicas home from Zimbabwe. It was supposed to be a simply process, and was still a hassle. However, I'd do it all over again to see this view when I work from home.

Sorry to hear about your problems getting trophies back from Cameroon Dan. These days getting trophies stateside is loaded with logistical issues which add dollars onto our tab and increase the total costs of our safaris. I think West Africa is the worst... as Steve said, it seems every shipment is routed through CDG in Paris before making it to the states. Every stop, every inspection, every new route costs dollars. And the lack of airlines to compete on shipping make it a virtual monopoly for those that do...

As to the rogue Customs agent at SFO, this is, IMO, the very thing that led to the election results in November. The Government and its regulators feel no impunity at making things difficult for the people. Though not a fan of Trump the man, I think most Americans agree the country needs a thorough recalibration, reducing regulations and reminding beauracrats that they work for the populace, not the other way around. May karma meet agent Colon...

But, hey, you got your LDE back! Congrats!!!

It’s gotta be place in Us to have tusk replicas done here

There is, or at least there was. I got mine done at Wildlife Gallery 9 years ago. Well pleased with the result although it took 6 months more than promised.

These shipping stories really suck!

I don’t think government influence plays any part in this. I feel it’s the private companies along the entire logistics chain that just add bogus charges.

Just for reference, my shipment in 2022 from Cameroon costed me 1700£ delivered to my taxidermist. This included dip, pack, shipping and customs duties. Come to think of it, my 3 shipments out of Ethiopia, Cameroon and Tanzania came to just under 6000$ dip, pack, shipping and customs!

The only time I was really screwed was my trophies out of Zambia. That costed me almost 5000$. Two subcontractors were used.

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Contact

Oh how much I wish I could get trophies from Africa into New Zealand so cheaply and easily!

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Originally posted by jdollar:
There is, or at least there was. I got mine done at Wildlife Gallery 9 years ago. Well pleased with the result although it took 6 months more than promised.

There are quite a few. I was "sold" on the idea of having molds made from my actual tusks (which also preserved the Zim stamp) and then airbrushed next to the real ones. In retrospect, I'd take measurements and a lot of pictures next time. The stamps are quite unimpressive.

I’m afraid we we only be seeing much more of these shipping/clearing woes. Turkish Air tried to charge me $2200.00 “storage” on a crate they transported but never received in their DFW warehouse, got that corrected but still had to pay $2708.00 for a crate weighing 32 kg and 30”x36”x16”, not very big. And had similar CBP issues with same crate, non- English speaking inspector didn’t understand trophy clearing process. Just this week my best friend was expecting a crate from SA shipped on Delta, which has been good because the USDA inspections are done in Atlanta, not good this time as the CBP inspector said she couldn’t open the crate for inspection and he could either fly to Atlanta and open it or hire Coppersmith (specified Coppersmith) to open it. Several hundred dollars later the crate was opened and inspected. Lots of new CBP inspectors who really don’t know their job and apparently make it up as they go along:

With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

I’ll take exception to your post. I owned a very successful industrial supply business for 30 years. We specialized in hydraulics.

We NEVER once added margin on freight, either inbound or outbound on goods. Our margins on goods and services was healthy. My only cost was the shipping clerks wages and the small amount of extra AR or AP time it added to my accounting staff.

Margin on freight is non-customer/client centric, and will drive business away.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

I’ll take exception to your post. I owned a very successful industrial supply business for 30 years. We specialized in hydraulics.

We NEVER once added margin on freight, either inbound or outbound on goods. Our margins on goods and services was healthy. My only cost was the shipping clerks wages and the small amount of extra AR or AP time it added to my accounting staff.

Margin on freight is non-customer/client centric, and will drive business away.

Totally agree Steve
Theses exorbitant mark ups are highway robbery and leaves bad taste in hunters mouths and these outfits loose clients and credibility in long run
In just few words…bad business

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

I'll echo those above and have to disagree with you wholeheartedly.

The dip and pack fee was paid to the outfitter upfront which typically involves trophy preparation/packing/delivery to the appropriate resource for exportation. Certainly, this is a service provider by the operator and generates expense for the operator which warrants the fee (but no one is arguing that point). Padding extra fees on the freight/international shipping is nonsense and has nothing to do with a service provided by the operator.

I’ve had more issues with South Africa than I’ve had with any other country.

Paying the operator for field prep and transport.

Then paying a “taxidermy” for dip and pack and inspection… plus storage and transport again.

Then a trophy shipping company.

Each one wanting a big cut of money.

Add another company if it’s from a different country shipping to South Africa.

My last hunt in South Africa the trophy transport stuff cost more than the animals hunted did.

I do pay someone in the US to deal with customs and USFWS/ag. After bringing in a bear by myself from Canada, it’s worth it there.

quote:

My last hunt in South Africa the trophy transport stuff cost more than the animals hunted did.

I’m looking at the same scenario for our last SA hunt. I’ve tried to make these guys understand that screwing their clients with exorbitant shipping/taxidermy/dip pack fees will only cost them in the long run doesn’t seem to matter. I just got a quote from a SA taxidermist for 4 European mounts…$7200.00 US. Told them no thanks, throw ‘em in the trash. I think more of this sort of thing might change their ways. I would think that US and other foreign hunters make up a large segment of African taxidermists business, seems like they could figure out that the “well” could run dry if they don’t try and be more reasonable, same with shippers. My son also has several trophies at the same location, not sure what he will do.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:

quote:

My last hunt in South Africa the trophy transport stuff cost more than the animals hunted did.

I’m looking at the same scenario for our last SA hunt. I’ve tried to make these guys understand that screwing their clients with exorbitant shipping/taxidermy/dip pack fees will only cost them in the long run doesn’t seem to matter. I just got a quote from a SA taxidermist for 4 European mounts…$7200.00 US. Told them no thanks, throw ‘em in the trash. I think more of this sort of thing might change their ways. I would think that US and other foreign hunters make up a large segment of African taxidermists business, seems like they could figure out that the “well” could run dry if they don’t try and be more reasonable, same with shippers. My son also has several trophies at the same location, not sure what he will do.

The absolute fairest dealing I've ever experienced was the duPlooy's in Zambia. IIRC, back in 2004-2010 they charged ~1500.00 dip, pack, regardless of size. In 2005 I spent almost 40 continuous days, Tondwa/Nyaminga. I killed a boatload of stuff and again, IIRC, it was 1500.00. They did it all themselves.

Trophies showed up remarkably fast as well. The duplooy's always ran their business, like a business, not a hobby farm.

I don't think they tried to get a cut from the shipper either. Their customer treatment/service brought me back for 6 straight years.

Infinito does everything in the house including shipping and it is the best price anywhere bar none

quote:

Originally posted by PAGuardian:

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

I'll echo those above and have to disagree with you wholeheartedly.

The dip and pack fee was paid to the outfitter upfront which typically involves trophy preparation/packing/delivery to the appropriate resource for exportation. Certainly, this is a service provider by the operator and generates expense for the operator which warrants the fee (but no one is arguing that point). Padding extra fees on the freight/international shipping is nonsense and has nothing to do with a service provided by the operator.

Sorry but you have got that wrong. If I understand correctly from what DLS intimated in his first post, the freight/international shipping expense was paid by Mayo Oldiri who on his books would have to record that as a cost to which he should apply his margin. If he needs to make say a 20% profit margin across the board to maintain a viable business then he cannot afford to incur a cost of $3000 for the Turkish air freight and apply no margin/padding. If he does that often enough he'll suddenly find he has only made a 15% profit margin overall.
If he doesn't apply a margin to certain costs then he must pad out margins on other costs e.g. daily fees etc., then that unfairly loads costs on other hunters who may not want taxied trophies. User pays.

Mayo Oldiri has in effect acted as a bank for DLS organising and paying for shipping and associated costs from his own money for which he is entitled to earn a margin for that service.

I'm sure most of you guys who can afford to spend thousands and thousands of dollars hunting in Africa and other places abroad don't supply services using your own money for nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:

quote:

Originally posted by PAGuardian:

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

I'll echo those above and have to disagree with you wholeheartedly.

The dip and pack fee was paid to the outfitter upfront which typically involves trophy preparation/packing/delivery to the appropriate resource for exportation. Certainly, this is a service provider by the operator and generates expense for the operator which warrants the fee (but no one is arguing that point). Padding extra fees on the freight/international shipping is nonsense and has nothing to do with a service provided by the operator.

Sorry but you have got that wrong. If I understand correctly from what DLS intimated in his first post, the freight/international shipping expense was paid by Mayo Oldiri who on his books would have to record that as a cost to which he should apply his margin. If he needs to make say a 20% profit margin across the board to maintain a viable business then he cannot afford to incur a cost of $3000 for the Turkish air freight and apply no margin/padding. If he does that often enough he'll suddenly find he has only made a 15% profit margin overall.
If he doesn't apply a margin to certain costs then he must pad out margins on other costs e.g. daily fees etc., then that unfairly loads costs on other hunters who may not want taxied trophies. User pays.

Mayo Oldiri has in effect acted as a bank for DLS organising and paying for shipping and associated costs from his own money for which he is entitled to earn a margin for that service.

I'm sure most of you guys who can afford to spend thousands and thousands of dollars hunting in Africa and other places abroad don't supply services using your own money for nothing.

Only if freight is look at as a profit center.

AR/Bookkeepers have freight GL entries that don't apply to your gross profit, only your net. No different than a water bill or a company truck payment.


A normal business doesn't show freight as billable inventory. As a matter of fact, the new computer system that the guys that bought my business had, the incoming & outgoing UPS was automatically charged and front counter guys couldn't deviate. If it isn't in the computer as inventory, they can't sell it.

When the shipping and receiving guys receive it, the freight is automatically tied to the customers order. When the order is billed the freight just loads.

Now, there are LOTS of business's that do see freight as a profit center. We never did and used it as a very powerful sales tool against competitors. As we are seeing here against Mayo Oldiri.

With the prices charged In Cameroon, screwing a client on dip and pack should not be necessary to insure a profit. Outfitters can’t control actual shipping costs but screwing a client on d&p shouldn’t be tolerated.

Maybe Tampon Tim would get you a better response Jdollar! Welcome to your next four years of reality!

quote:

Originally posted by eagle27:
With respect DLS I'm not sure that you have grasped business practices that well. You seem to being implying that Mayo Oldiri should just pass on his/their costs to you with no padding as you call it, or markup/margin as I would call it.
Having been a contract manager for 30 odd years handling multimillion dollar local authority contracts I can tell you that businesses can go belly up very quickly if they do not apply margins/padding to their costs for supplying materials and services before billing their clients. It's just standard accounting.
Would you expect your dentist to supply the materials he uses to maintain your teeth at just his cost or your home builder to do the same?
I think not so why do you expect taxidermists or companies in Africa to operate on a no margin/padding basis?

Unless operating under a signed contract where the level of markup to be applied to materials and services is agreed and noted, customers have no rights to expect a supplier to provide details of the margin they apply to their costs. That is confidential to their business.

I agree with you that things today have become quite expensive and processes quite testing, however as the Pom has pointed out in his post, you guys in the States are not that hard done by compared to other parts of the world.

Yeah, you’re probably right. I’m just a dumb banker who finances businesses and commercial real estate for a living, so I probably wouldn’t understand the concepts you mention.

.

I leave all my stuff in RSA in a town house that we have. Likely have paid for the place in what we saved on trophy shipments to Europe!!

quote:

I just got a quote from a SA taxidermist for 4 European mounts…$7200.00 US

Karl, 4 Euro mounts USD 7.200,- !!! Madness !!! Which company was that ???

.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Wow -

Getting trophies shipped home from Africa is one of the biggest scams in the sport hunting world.

I hunted LDE and Bongo with CAWA back in 2012. My crate was large, as it had in it, full-mount capes for LDE, Bongo and all the Duikers I killed. I think it was 12 animals in all.

This was all before the hubbub about trophy shipping so getting it shipped wasn't the problem.

My crate was 6,600.00 to just get it from Bangui to CDG airport in France. That's about what an entire RSA safari could be.

However, the end results in having all these iconic species from Central Africa preserved for eternity was well worth the price and hassles.

IIRC I had everything shipped from France to Dallas and Coppersmiths. My taxidermist (Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife Art) is very good at handling all the little trapdoors and hoops to jump through to get stuff home.

Happy for you to have your LDE home. I believe it is the pinnacle of African trophy hunting. Proper pure tracking hunt.

the problem of CAR is now it is not anymore UTA but air france and that was air france or maybe air afrique (do not know when they shut down) at your time, we used a lot UTA cargo and solely them to ship everything up to CDG and like other pointed we never charged extra to the customers we charged the fee we were charged, we were not shipping company, our business: was safari to each is own of course.

quote:

Originally posted by medved:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Wow -

Getting trophies shipped home from Africa is one of the biggest scams in the sport hunting world.

I hunted LDE and Bongo with CAWA back in 2012. My crate was large, as it had in it, full-mount capes for LDE, Bongo and all the Duikers I killed. I think it was 12 animals in all.

This was all before the hubbub about trophy shipping so getting it shipped wasn't the problem.

My crate was 6,600.00 to just get it from Bangui to CDG airport in France. That's about what an entire RSA safari could be.

However, the end results in having all these iconic species from Central Africa preserved for eternity was well worth the price and hassles.

IIRC I had everything shipped from France to Dallas and Coppersmiths. My taxidermist (Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife Art) is very good at handling all the little trapdoors and hoops to jump through to get stuff home.

Happy for you to have your LDE home. I believe it is the pinnacle of African trophy hunting. Proper pure tracking hunt.

the problem of CAR is now it is not anymore UTA but air france and that was air france or maybe air afrique (do not know when they shut down) at your time, we used a lot UTA cargo and solely them to ship everything up to CDG and like other pointed we never charged extra to the customers we charged the fee we were charged, we were not shipping company, our business: was safari to each is own of course.

I don't remember the actual carrier that transported to CDG. It was 2012.

But as I said, the cost was worth it The pain of the 6600.00 wore off long ago. But the enjoyment of seeing the full-mount Bongo/LDE will lat forever.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Wow -

Getting trophies shipped home from Africa is one of the biggest scams in the sport hunting world.

I hunted LDE and Bongo with CAWA back in 2012. My crate was large, as it had in it, full-mount capes for LDE, Bongo and all the Duikers I killed. I think it was 12 animals in all.

This was all before the hubbub about trophy shipping so getting it shipped wasn't the problem.

My crate was 6,600.00 to just get it from Bangui to CDG airport in France. That's about what an entire RSA safari could be.

However, the end results in having all these iconic species from Central Africa preserved for eternity was well worth the price and hassles.

IIRC I had everything shipped from France to Dallas and Coppersmiths. My taxidermist (Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife Art) is very good at handling all the little trapdoors and hoops to jump through to get stuff home.

Happy for you to have your LDE home. I believe it is the pinnacle of African trophy hunting. Proper pure tracking hunt.

Jim is the man!! In particular, his cats are oustanding.

I’m still waiting for the day one of us says…

“Nahh, too much. Keep ‘em” and hangs up the phone.

quote:

Originally posted by rnovi:
I’m still waiting for the day one of us says…

“Nahh, too much. Keep ‘em” and hangs up the phone.

RNovi, I was ‘right there’. If not for my LDE I’d have told them to keep them and stick them where the sun never shines.

Here was the bill that I objected to:
Here is how it was itemized -
Air Freight. $3,415.25
Cites & Forestry control. $561.60
Vet inspect & Cert. $327.33
Transport. $130.70
Police Control Airport. $124.37
Customs Control. $206.47
Storage @ airport. $109.31
Export Charges. $134.00
Cantina & Packing. $167.55
DHL documents. $98.75
Arrangement. $185.28
Total Invoice. $5,460.61

Maybe I’m naive, but I’ve never seen a bill to ship my stuff that ever looked anything like this from any other company in any other country. I’ve never seen a total that was much more than 1/2 this amount, even for heavier shipments. But then, I am used to dealing with very reputable people like Johnny DuPlooy and Alan Vincent.

The whole shipping thing has become a total fiasco. Ridiculous costs.

I am about out of room anyway . I doubt I will be bringing much home in the future .

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
The whole shipping thing has become a total fiasco. Ridiculous costs.

I am about out of room anyway . I doubt I will be bringing much home in the future .

But I know one animal you damn sure are gonna bring home. You’re hunting it next month!

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:

quote:

Originally posted by medved:

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Ahrenberg:
Wow -

Getting trophies shipped home from Africa is one of the biggest scams in the sport hunting world.

I hunted LDE and Bongo with CAWA back in 2012. My crate was large, as it had in it, full-mount capes for LDE, Bongo and all the Duikers I killed. I think it was 12 animals in all.

This was all before the hubbub about trophy shipping so getting it shipped wasn't the problem.

My crate was 6,600.00 to just get it from Bangui to CDG airport in France. That's about what an entire RSA safari could be.

However, the end results in having all these iconic species from Central Africa preserved for eternity was well worth the price and hassles.

IIRC I had everything shipped from France to Dallas and Coppersmiths. My taxidermist (Jim Hartsock, SW Wildlife Art) is very good at handling all the little trapdoors and hoops to jump through to get stuff home.

Happy for you to have your LDE home. I believe it is the pinnacle of African trophy hunting. Proper pure tracking hunt.

the problem of CAR is now it is not anymore UTA but air france and that was air france or maybe air afrique (do not know when they shut down) at your time, we used a lot UTA cargo and solely them to ship everything up to CDG and like other pointed we never charged extra to the customers we charged the fee we were charged, we were not shipping company, our business: was safari to each is own of course.

I don't remember the actual carrier that transported to CDG. It was 2012.

But as I said, the cost was worth it The pain of the 6600.00 wore off long ago. But the enjoyment of seeing the full-mount Bongo/LDE will lat forever.

big time and your trophies worth the hassle. not as bas a cameroon anyway and it was an issue already in the day. but i do not recall anyone trying to fleece a customer/hunter with that kind of tactic at least in my time.