I have found a great local taxidermist who has done quite a bit of work on African animals. He showed me a finished sable and cape buffalo, and a zebra in progress and all look great. I discussed trophy shipping with him a bit, and he recommended that I have everything shipped to a tannery he uses in California. They then ship completed hides and horns back to him. I am assuming that the tannery has the necessary permits to handle the shipments. I have decided that I want all taxidermy work done in the states. I live 6 hours from Denver and nowhere near any other port of entry.

Questions:

In this situation, do I need to use a customs broker to get through this?

What questions should I ask the tannery when I call them?

Should I expect the tannery to handle shipping details, paperwork?

If hides are just being salted in Namibia, will a taxidermist still be involved in crating trophies?


I have read the many reports here concerning Coppersmith and others, and I'm not excited about what I am hearing. This is the one part of my trip planning that is stressing me out.

Thanks!

DC,

I'm going to wade in here since nobody else has yet. Don't sweat it! Tell your outfitter your plans (now) and he should be able to handle the arraingements on that end. That is to say arrainge a taxidermist in country to handle the dip & ship. I've used Safari Air Cargo Systems in RSA several times now without the slightest ripple, although for finished trophies. SAC will contact you when ready to ship to obtain all pertinent information on destination. Perhaps it'd be best to ask the taxidemist - since he has experience - to handle the arraingements on this end or at least put you in contact with the tannery and let them handle the details with the shipper. Failing their willingness to do this I'd personally start shying away from both but as a last resort ask for a reference who's had African work done by them and ask him for help.

let your taxidermists in Africa handle the shipping and dip/crate. They then contact you. But you may still have to have them brought to you in Denver then sent to the tannery in California. The tannery should have some tags for you to give to the outfitter in Africa and they may be able to send them directly to then. It depends if your tannery can except trophies directly. All in all you shouldnt have any problems. jsut ask your taxidermists and he should know.

DC,

What you describe is exactly what I did a couple years ago when bringing stuff in from Zim. And I'm presently going thru the process again with some raw hides/horns from my trip to RSA last spring.

For the current shipment, my animals first went to Karoo taxidermy for dip/pack/crate. This of course costs some money and I simply wired it to them. They are now finished and have sent the crate, and my contact information, to a freight forwarder for shipping. I expect to hear from the freight forwarder next week.

The crated shipment bears my name, but is designated to go to New Method Fur Dressing in San Francisco. Once it gets there, I have an import broker clear it for me. It then goes directly to New Method which is a USDA approved facility. They tan the skins and then forward to my taxidermist in Minneapolis.

I have to put in a good word for my import broker, Joe Yap at Hecny USA in San Francisco. I copy him on all e-mail correspondence between me, the taxidermist and the freight forwarder. He seems to know virtually every taxidermist and freight forwarder in Africa, and he keeps on top of what is going on. That right there is where he is worth every penny to me. The crate from Zim was shipped freight collect, and when it arrived in SFO, Joe simply sent me an itemized bill, and a power of attorney form for my signature, authorizing him to clear the shipment on my behalf. I made arrangements for payment, signed the form and had it notarized, and that was that.

The tanning of the hides took about 6-8 months at New Method. My taxidermist took the lead in terms of keeping up to date with them as to when he would be getting them.

Jeff

New Method specializes in clearing offshore shipments. They did a great job for me and my taxidermist, who is one of the very best on the planet, absolutely enthuses about the quality of their work!

I used Joe Yap to clear my trophies in 03( nice guy ) and New Method held my horns while they tanned the hides. I would have been very happy but New Method charged my taxidermist $125 for "Swine clearing and paper work fee " for my Warthog skull. I called them and asked why they charged a handling fee for a finished piece of taxidermy mounted in South Africa . (cleaned / bleached on a very nice plaque.) I was informed it was company policy to charge a "swine handling fee" anytime Swine products were involved !

I now use Carolina Fur Dressing !

If the tannery you are refering to is New Method in SF, they have a good reputation for tanning among taxidermists.

I haven't used their customs clearing operations before and thus cannot comment. But if you are bringing back warthog trophies, they should be packed and shipped seperately. That is because all raw swine imports need special customs clearing treatments. It might be that the "swine charge" probably was for unpacking and repacking the trophies to take the wart hogs out. That is what happens when warthog trophies are packed with everything else.

For better or worst, here is my advice especially in dealing with Nambia.

- Unless you are sure that your outfitter does not receive kickbacks from shippers, and dippers/packers AND that he will reliably follow up on any shipping problems, it is NOT a good idea to just leave your trophies with the outfitter for shipping (unless cost is not a problem of course - money has a way of solving all problems, ha! ha!)

Firstly, Namibia in particular was cited a few years ago for a cartel in which outfitters were getting kick backs from shipping brokers (names won't be mentioned here but they were in some public documents). SCI sent letters to all their chapter heads as warnings. Please do a web search and you should come up with some info about that episode. Shipper kick backs to outfitters was also suspected in SA, Zimb, etc. but to a lesser degree than in Namibia.

Secondly, a not untypical experience when leaving trophies to be shipped by outfitters in Africa is this: after a few months, you may suddenly get a bill faxed to you from an unknown customs broker basically saying that you owe $$$$$ for shipping, clearing, etc. and to pay up immediately. It may also have a small note saying that each day delay in payment will incurr $$$ per day in warehouse and bonding charges. If they breakdown charges for you, you might notice charges like US$75 for "forklift use", etc. If you contest the charges and refuse to pay, the storage + bonding charges accrue. It can be one of the most upsetting parts of a hunt.

Thirdly, if the trophies don't arrive after a while or if the trophies are not what they should be (one friend has his entire leopard skin missing, not to mention the occasional missing warthog tusk), you're only recourse will be the outfitter half a world away. If he is truly honorable, he will try to set it right with the shipper. Many will be tempted to put your problems on the back burner since they don't get extra revenues by helping you sort out your claims agains the shipper.

- Strongly suggest that you contact one of the major customs clearing houses that do a lot of African trophy work BEFORE you go on the hunt. The best houses will be happy to give you names of shippers in the country concerned AND/OR agents/dippers&packers who they've worked with before (and presumably do not give kick backs and are reliable). You contact these local groups before or when you get there. After your hunt, just tell the outfitter that XXXX will be handling your trophies. XXXX will arrange pick-up, processing, and shipment of your trophies with your outfitter directly.

The good customs brokers will also give you advice BEFORE you go on what to think about (like making sure the warthog is packed/shipped seperately, making sure your name is on the shipping invoice in case of USFW audits, tanning before shipment in BSE countries (doesn't apply to Africa), etc.). If you tell the broker what game you are looking for, the good ones also nag the local contact in AFrica to make sure that the trophies are packed, documented, and shipped the right way (there always can be mistakes of course, but at least someone in the US is on your side). The good ones will also breakdown their fees for you so you know what goes for African pre-shipment (dip& pack), shipping, clearing costs, and their fees. As far as I know there are three customs brokers which are will known nationwide for clearing trophies:

* Coppersmith in Dallas - good reputation although I have not used them before. I beleive they do a presentation about shippinig trophies at SCI Reno and other hunting conventions every year.

* Hunter International in San Francisco - I use them as do many West Coast hunters (though any of these three brokers can clear at any Designated Port of entry). I believe they are the only firm which only clears hunting trophies and nothing else. They are located very close to New Method tannery and work with them a lot. The person to contact is Maria Felix email: hbrokerage@sbcglobal.net and mlfelix@sbcglobal.net , telephone: +1-650-652-0100 If you contact Maria, tell her you heard about Hunter International on Accurate Loading from The Big Kahuna (Wayne).

* Flora and Fauna in New York - I hear mixed things about them: some good, some not so good. A problem could be that F & F are a very big customs clearing outfit. It might be that the people in charge of hunting trophies change a lot (one nice thing about Hunter International is that Maria and her husband own and run the firm so the experience doesn't move).

- Last option: if you live near one of the Designated Ports of Entry for trophy importation and have a lot of time, you can clear the trophies yourself to save a few $$ (as well as have an enlightening experience with the world of international trade). I personally don't think it's worthwhile unless you are in the transport/shipping business. But I have had friends who have cleared their own trophies (albeit with a lot of running around between government departments, etc.). But they didn't bring in anything complicated like warthogs (swine) nor CITIES species.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Sorry, forgot one comment: many hunters leave shipping to their outfitters or their taxidermist. While I don't doubt that taxidermists have a client's best interests at heart (sometimes I wonder about the outfitters! ha! ha!), they are not specialists in the highly specialized and constantly changing world of raw trophy shipping and clearing. Same thing for tanneries (somehow I suspect that well known taxidermy tanneries like New Method and Carolina (have had trophies tanned by both) may even outsource customs clearing to a professional customs broker). My own experience has been much, much better contacting a good, reliable customs broker who is willing to give you good information BEFORE you go.

quote:

Originally posted by DC Roxby:
I have found a great local taxidermist who has done quite a bit of work on African animals. He showed me a finished sable and cape buffalo, and a zebra in progress and all look great. I discussed trophy shipping with him a bit, and he recommended that I have everything shipped to a tannery he uses in California. They then ship completed hides and horns back to him. I am assuming that the tannery has the necessary permits to handle the shipments. I have decided that I want all taxidermy work done in the states. I live 6 hours from Denver and nowhere near any other port of entry.

Questions:

In this situation, do I need to use a customs broker to get through this?

What questions should I ask the tannery when I call them?

Should I expect the tannery to handle shipping details, paperwork?

If hides are just being salted in Namibia, will a taxidermist still be involved in crating trophies?


I have read the many reports here concerning Coppersmith and others, and I'm not excited about what I am hearing. This is the one part of my trip planning that is stressing me out.

Thanks!

1. Yes, use a Broker.

2. Most tanneries are wholesalers and do not want individuals contacting them.

3. No,the tannery is the USDA facility and not the broker(paper pusher).

4. In most cases the Namibian taxidermist will salt the hides and boil the horns then forward them to a Dip and Pack.

Thanks for all of the great replies. This cleared up quite a bit of confusion for me. I think I will contact Hunter's International first and speak with them.

DC Roxby,

Let me throw one thing in here. If your capes go direct to the tannery how do you know whose fault it is if one of your capes comes back from tanning ruined? The tannery could blame the outfitter's shoddy work and visa versa. My stuff goes direct to my taxidermist. He inspects it, makes sure everything is there and sends it on to the tannery.

Also if you deal with a reputable safari operator and a taxidermist that specializes in African mounts you don't need to worry about the rest. They will set everything up and you don't have to worry about it. It is to their advantage to have you be happy. Let them deal with the shipping hassles as it is their business.

Mark

>>* Hunter International in San Francisco - I use them as do many West Coast hunters (though any of these three brokers can clear at any Designated Port of entry). I believe they are the only firm which only clears hunting trophies and nothing else. They are located very close to New Method tannery and work with them a lot. The person to contact is Maria Felix email: hbrokerage@sbcglobal.net and mlfelix@sbcglobal.net , telephone: +1-650-652-0100 If you contact Maria, tell her you heard about Hunter International on Accurate Loading from The Big Kahuna (Wayne).<<

I highly recommend HI. When I went to Africa, I left most of the dip/pack, shipping and custom brokering to the outfitter and the taxidermist they use for the D&P. It was quite complicated dealing with all involved, despite having my stuff shipped direct to my taxidermist's tannery near Houston. Thus, I learned a lesson.

The following year I went to New Zealand, but on the recommendation of someone, I contacted Maria at HI BEFORE I left and she deftly handled everything for me at her end. She has agents most everywhere that will coordinate the shipping aspects from your hunt area. The only thing I had to do was tell her what taxidermist in NZ had our critters. Her agent there efficiently did the rest.

HI's fees are quite reasonable, and they do not tack on unreasonable and unnecessary charges. Best of all, when you call HI, you usually deal directly with her or Hunter, and both of them are straight forward at providing ACCURATE information.

DC
If your interested, Pm me and I will tell you one Broker and one Taxidermist in Namibia NOT TO USE!