It has been almost exactly 2 years since i shot a hippo, croc and bushbuck in Moz and a mountain reed buck on a friend's farm in KZN on the way home. numerous snafus since but finally got an email today from Safari Cargo Systems that it's all in their warehouse WITH APPROPRIATE PAPERWORK and ready to ship. problem now is i leave on Wed on an 8 day long range fishing trip from San Diego to southern Baja waters. i will contact Maria Felix at Hunters International tomorrow to see if shipment can be delayed until i get back- if not, i guess my poor wife will have to deal with any problems that come up( i will definitely be incommunicado for 8 days- no cell phone reception 30-100 miles at sea off Mexico!). i was beginning to think that the export permit problem would never get straightened out( about 1 1/2 years ago USFWS decided that any CITES animal needed a CITES export tag on every piece of animal product from the same animal). my croc needed 2 CITES export tags( 1 for the skull, 1 for the belly skin) from Moz even though NO CITES permit is needed from the US to bring it in. skull, skin arrived in RSA for taxidermy with only 1 CITES export tag- HUGE PROBLEM!! my shipment arrived in RSA 19 months ago and it has taken a year since taxidermy completion to get the skull/belly skin tagged to suit USFWS. DON'T YOU JUST LOVE HOW A GOVERNMENT AGENCY CAN MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!

jd - Why not just take a Sat Phone along on your trip, problems solved if they come up?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

I'm glad to hear it has worked out in the end for you. With the USFWS nothing is ever for sure. Your receiving agent can clear it and hold it for you until you get back from Mexico as long as they have a POA from you. Hope the yellow fin bite is on.

i PREFER to be incommunicado!!same reason i don't take a sat phone to Africa. sometimes the wife just has to stand on her own 2 feet and take care of business. whatever arises, it will just have to wait until i get home to sort it out if she can't handle it.

I'm glad to hear it has worked out in the end for you. With the USFWS nothing is ever for sure. Your receiving agent can clear it and hold it for you until you get back from Mexico as long as they have a POA from you. Hope the yellow fin bite is on.[/QUOTE]
as of yesterday's fishing report( phoned in via sat phone and posted daily on the boat's website) yellowfin bite is good and they are picking up a lot of dorado. it's the same length trip i am own to the same area.

Which boat are you riding? I used to be a regular on the Q105, Searcher, Polaris Supreme and a few others.

The Excel on this trip

Jerry,
Glad to hear Walter has your trophies headed your way! I agree that USFW has gotten really picky on paperwork as of late. Hope you have your stuff soon!

quote:

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE HOW A GOVERNMENT AGENCY CAN MAKE YOUR LIFE A LIVING HELL!

The current administration views making your life a living hell as their natural calling.

I had a similar wait a while back while Mochaba and Safari Air Cargo tried to get a Leopard out of Mozambique for me -- but, they finally succeeded. Nowadays, even getting trophies out of South Africa and through U.S. Customs has become a terrible challenge.

These things ebb and flow, but I'm not optimistic that our trophy import/export problems will be much of a priority for whomever holds sway in the 2012 election cycle -- and this is understandable with 25 million folks un or under employed.

just so everyone understands, Walter Enslin(Kwan Safaris) had my trophies at Life Form Taxidermy in RSA within about 6 months of the hunt- damn good for something coming out of Moz. the problem arose because the Moz export people did not have a CITES tag on both the skull AND the belly skin as USFWS REGUIRES, even though you don't need a US CITES import permit for crocs. essentially a year was wasted applying for and getting the damn new tags from Moz for a trophy already exported to RSA. the topper to all this is i leave tomorrow on a 10 big game fishing trip and the crates will probably end up on my front porch for a while since my wife has a bad back and won't be able to move them inside( 1 crate weighs 86 kilos and the other one is 12 kilos). my hat is really off to Maria Felix at Hunters Int. customs brokers for making sure every i is dotted and every t is crossed BEFORE they leave JNB. one good thing- at least African Hunters Quest who decided i am a poes ( is that the same as a POS??)for agreeing with the original thread poster that shooting elephants at a borehole in A NATIONAL PARK is degraceful, won't have to read anymore of my terrible posts on the "is this really hunting" thread. he obviously feels that PHASA, SA Nature Conservation, and the fine folks in charge of hunting in Zim will punish the culprits, just like they all did with Dawie Groenwald.

Hell, I hunted with Safaris de Mozambique last May and took only a Cape Buffalo and have yet to receive my hide and horns. Getting ready to call SCI and ask them to intervene as I bought the hunt through the SCI Banquet in Reno.

I'm still confused about CITES for croc...

Not unusual...my Moz trophies from 2 safaris ago just came in a few months ago....about 2 years. The trophies from Namibia, taken a year after the Moz hunt, are already here, taxidermy done, and have been on the wall for some time.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Sellers:
jd - Why not just take a Sat Phone along on your trip, problems solved if they come up?

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

same reason i don't take a sat phone to Africa- I AM ON VACATION AND MY WIFE IS AN ADULT WHO SHOULD BE ABLE TO DEAL WITH WHATEVER PROBLEM ARISES.

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:
I'm still confused about CITES for croc...

crocs are CITES animals as far as CITES is concerned and each country is given an export quota. crocs are not "endangered" as far as USFWS is concerned and no import permit is required to bring them home. however they must have a CITES tag(s) to get OUT of Moz. and THROUGH RSA!.. stupid regs all around but what can you do?

My post seemed to work. I got an email today and all of a sudden, my Buffalo is ready to be exported. Had a good hunt with good people, shot a nice 41"+ bull but maybe Moz takes longer to get your stuff back from.

did you mean May of this year or last year? if this year and shipment is on its way, you have set a new record. if you meant May of last year, you are still doing pretty good. last email i got was a week ago and my shipment is STILL sitting in Joburg awaiting space on a Delta flight- and it has been almost exactly 2 years( and another month since Safari Cargo said they were ready to go!!)

No, it was May of last year. Loved the place, the game quantity, the food and all but am not used to having to wait so long for the trophies to be shipped. Maybe it just takes longer in Mozambique. I hunted with Chifuti this year from Aug 4-12 and already, my trophies are ready to be sent where they belong.

2 trips to Moz, 2 different outfitters and 2 different areas. took about 2 years for each to get them to me. the rule of 2's. a year and a half is above my batting average!

Thanks for that information. I have a lot more faith in the company I hunted with now. I thought I was just being blown off. Now I feel fortunate. simon and his bunch really put on a good show and I was completely happy with everything that occured. We were onto buffalo withing 20 minutes of leaving camp the first day and it just got better. There seemed to be a bit of friction between me and the PH but it all worked out very well. I would hunt with them again if they would have me.