I’m way late to get these photos posted, but better late than never!

It was a long haul, with a potentially disastrous ending, but fortunately it all worked out in the end.
Went to Namibia in September of 2007 and had a fantastic hunt with African Twilight Safaris. Long story short, on June first of this year the mounts arrived. Jerry Huffaker did the taxidermy in Abilene and I am more than pleased with the quality of the work. He even put up with my constant e-mail questions and throughout the whole time period.
So as I said, the two 8 foot long, 4 foot wide 4 foot tall crates arrived on June first. I went to go pick them up and one had been run through by a forklift, and the other had been damaged in such a way as the bottom was 25% missing and when lifted, the kudu was actually hanging out of the bottom of the crate!!

All in all about 1200 in damage was done to the mounts. Significant damage was done to my diorama and damage was also done to the back of the kudu and the ears on the zebra. It took about 3 months but the freight company paid the damages (hard to deny damages when you can see the forklift holes in the crate!!) The process was long, but pretty easy. I guess waiting 21 months for the mounts to arrive taught me the needed patience to deal with the freight company.

At any rate, here are the photos.
Gemsbok


My Kudu (Jerry went above and beyond to fix some significant hair slip that occurred on the cheeks)



Springbok (note-jerry asked me if I wanted to make the horns all black, but I elected to keep the white on it as that was how the springbok looked in the field)


Hartebeest


Here is the impala which I think came out fantastic!


Now for the Warthog, I decided to go with a diorama. Full bodied warthog, with a steenbok in the background, and a guinea fowl pecking around. But what does EVERYONE ask about when they see a warthog mount? They ask “But where is Timon?” Well, I failed to get a meerkat the one time we saw them so I worked out a deal with my PH and he added one to the shipment before it left Africa. So below are the photos of the diorama. Not also that the photos are pre-repair to the damage that was done in shipping so there are some cracks in base that I have covered with rocks, and some white showing that I will be covering up in the next few weeks. I added in the springbok horn and the ostrich egg as well as some lava rocks (keeps the cat from getting in the display). Also note that the photos do not seem to do justice to the warthog face. It looks like he has big red dirt spots under his eyes but when you look at it in person, they are blended in perfectly. Something about the way the flash hits the warthog skin.





Here is a group shot of some of the heads


And finally we have the zebra. The animal I did not go to Africa to hunt, but the mount I am most pleased with.




Lastly I thought I would toss in a couple photos of my Dad’s warthog. I think Jerry did a great job with it. Dad’s pig was very blue and Jerry matched the color perfectly. He also did a good job with Dad’s request for a floor mount warthog in a shoulder mount coming out of a rock pile… I was not sure how that would come out, but it looks GREAT. His kudu is pretty dang good too!.

Rob,

Very well done. good to hear that things worked out for you, finally.

Each animal looks fantastic. Your hartebeest looks ready to step into your room.

Did you save room for your next safari's trophies?

Very nice. Jerry did a good job for you. I like your diorama. I also actually think the red dirt on the other warthog looks very natural and very African.

I really like the zebra pedestal also. Very nice work.

Jack, alas, I have but two small rooms trophies can go in. Curse of a small house. But there is always room for one more!

Mike, I love the red dirt on the warthog nose. It looks great in person. I just think the photo looks funny. I tried several shots with different cameras and they all come out that way. In person the dirt blends with the skin rather than looking like a big spot as it does in the photos.

To say I am pleased with Jerry's work would be an understatement. My den feels like the african exhibit at our local zoo everytime I walk into it! I keep expecting the zebra to blink. The damage in shipping is still visable on the zebra ears, I'll be taking both the zebra and the kusdu to a local taxidermist to get them fixed as soon as he has an opening in his schedule.

The crates were hit so hard that the internal 2x2 cross struts snapped in two! It pushed the zebra up against the roof and the tips of the ears rubbed and bent.

Great looking trophies!
And the reapir was very well done!

Thank you for the kind words Rob, It certainly was a pleasure doing business with you and your Father.

Excellent Rob , the zebra pedestal is outstanding

Great trophies, the Zebra pedestal is special.

quote:

Great trophies, the Zebra pedestal is special.

+1

Seloushunter

Now I want to go back to Namibia for another mountain zebra so I can have a mount like that. Way cooler than the rug I have hanging on the wall!

WOW!!! Nice!!!

Trophies are excellent. The burdgendy colored wall really makes them stand out as well.

Beautiful Zebra mount, I really like!!

Wonderful trophies! I especiall like the zebra & pedistal & the warthog is EXACTLY what I want to do with one!!!!

The mounts look great. The only thing I would change is the wall colour. For me It's way to dark to properly display the trophies. But hey thats just my opinion.

Zebra looks fantastic. Wish I would have convinced myself I had the money and space for that mount. My trophies are due back from Namibia this Fri. Shot a beautiful Mtn. Zebra Stallion that would have looked great like that. I'm sure my rug will be wonderful but that's spectacular. Also recieving male and female gemsbok, kudu, and springbok euro mounts. Can't wait to see them again!

nice mounts.