Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'll take a stab at it!

I'm an American working for the US DOD in the UK. So, when I go to Africa and I will ship my hides, etc. legally to the UK and have them mounted, turned into book ends, gun slips, foot stools, whatever, and enjoy them.

Fast forward to next year or ten years or twenty years from now; eventually I will have to repatriate to the US. When I do, will I be able to bring my mounts, etc, with me in my household goods shipment? Or will it all have to go seperately to be examined as if it had just come from Africa??

Any insights appreciated!

My advice is to contact a decent taxidermist based in the UK. These guys have to keep up with current legislation and if they are exporting items to the USA will know what the present situation is - but what is correct now may have changed 10 or 20 years down the line!

Yes, I agree that the taxidermy guys probably know best about sending mounts hither and yon, but I'm curious about just plain moving house

I think if the moving company came and boxed up my house to move internationally they would not even notice that some things used to be live african animals. Heck, they almost boxed up my cat because he was moving too slow when I moved here to the UK!

Has anybody on this forum moved internationally with mounts/rugs, etc??

(and as an aside, I would love to come up and hunt some stag sometime!)

Cheers,

I am a US expatriate living in Angola for two years. Just before I moved, I called USFW and asked them that question. Not specifically about mounts, because I ship anything I want to have mounted back to the states to do the work. I asked about any skins I might have tanned here and specifically about any animal products I brought with me to Africa when I moved here, would it be any problem getting them back into the US.

The response I received, and I wish I would have got it in writing or at least in an email rather than just over the phone, was that as long as it was part of your household shipment, USFW would not look at. She still recommended I keep any relevant export papers, licenses, etc, but that I would not have to file any special request to have the shipment inspected. That was from one person two years ago, might be a different answer now but that's what I'm still going by.

Good luck!

I STRONGLY advise you NOT to import raw trophies into the UK.

The UK and esp the vet inspectors are not only generally anti hunting but they're also absolutely paranoid about possible foot & mouth problems.

They'll expect at least 24 hours notice of arrival (and that is completely out of your hands) and they'll examine the paperwork under a microscope in the hope of finding something wrong with it.

If they don't get 24 hours notice OR if they find so much as a smudged date stamp, they'll give you the choice of either returning the shipment to the country of origin at your expense so the whole process can staret again OR your other choice is incineration of the entire shipment.

Shipping finished trophies into the UK isn't anywhere near as problematical.

This http://www.shakariconnection.c...frican-trophies.html might also be of use.

Steve, thanks for the heads up about processing mounts here in the UK. I'm sure that I will have everthing mounted there in Africa and shipped here to the UK. As a bonus, it will no doubt be cheaper.

My biggest concern was getting my dusty old mounts (at least thats what I'm going to call them!) back to the states someday.

quote:

Originally posted by mymur:

The response I received, and I wish I would have got it in writing or at least in an email rather than just over the phone, was that as long as it was part of your household shipment, USFW would not look at. She still recommended I keep any relevant export papers, licenses, etc, but that I would not have to file any special request to have the shipment inspected. That was from one person two years ago, might be a different answer now but that's what I'm still going by.

Good luck!

Boy I would really, really be surprised if that was correct. If this were the case you could just pile up a bunch of tusks without having to worry about CITES or the USF&W.

Not saying it's totally wrong, but I really don't know how that will hold-up if someone(customs, USF&W) does decide to question something in your shipment.

Didn't sound right to me either, but that's the advice I got from the relevant division of USFWS. Again, she also said to keep your paperwork, just because it's in your household shipment doesn't mean you get to bring in anything that is banned from importation into the US.

If they caught you trying to sneak in a black-faced impala or elephant from Mozambique, I'm sure the penalties would be just as severe.

And JBrown is probably right, if you had ivory, that might trigger some questions from the customs inspectors to bring in USFWS, but I don't think skins or antelope mounts will be a problem.

My advice would be to put it in your household goods shipment and have your documents in order in case you're questioned.

I would also recommend calling USFW just before you repatriate to get a current opinion because I don't think showing them my post on AR telling you it's ok will be a good defense in court

Good ideas! I think I will be okay as I won't be shipping back leopard, lion, rhino or hefelump bits. The rarest thing might be a buff mount (which is about as rare as popcorn on the cinema floor!).

Hope you are enjoying Luanda. I'm thinking of going to Namibia for a PG hunt next year. Been living overseas for 12 years now. Going back to the States now seems like exotic travel

I've been in Luanda almost two years, first time living outside of Texas. We like it but Angola is a difficult place. Can't keep my rifles here, so have to borrow camp guns wherever I hunt. I'm racking up an impressive collection of disaster stories related to that.

Also no way to ship any animals here mounted or unmounted so everything goes back to Texas. I have brought in skins I've had tanned in South Africa with no problems and I'm hoping there are no problems geting them back to the US in a few years.

I'm making my first trip to Namibia next year as well. The biggest perk is the 3 hr flight to Windhoek, no jet lag!

Good hunting.