Just a follow-up to my hunt last year in the RSA for those interested in possible scenarios for trophy handling and shipping.

My hunt took place in early August 2002.

On August 12, 2002 we delivered the oryx bull to Nico van Rooyen Taxidermy in Pretoria for dip & crate.

In September, 2002, the kudu bull I'd killed a few days before the oryx was picked up in Pongola and moved to van Rooyen. The cost for d&c of both trophies was $240.92.

April 7, 2003 van Rooyen confirmed that the trophies had been handed over to their shipping agent, Safari Air Cargo. (Seven months seemed way to long.)

Safari Air Cargo charge for shipment was $313.24.

April 25, 2003 SAC advised that my shipment was booked for export. (Jonas alerted on the receiving end.)

April 26, 2003 - Johannesburg to Paris

April 28, 2003 - Chicago

April 30, 2003 - Denver

The costs stated above were a lot less than I thought they would be.

The time at van Rooyen was a Hell of a lot longer than I figured.

Safari Air Cargo didn't seem to waste any time. (It took me a week to find I couldn't get around Venezuelan law regarding money transfers to them.) Once they got my money, they got moving.

I'll rest easy once I know Jonas has them in hand and they are in good shape. (Their taxidermy cost plus shipping to Plano, Texas is going to hurt.)

The time factor may drive some people crazy, but doesn't really bother me. I won't see the finished trophies for another five years or more. I haven't seen the 6x6 elk I shot in 2000 yet. Everything goes direct to storage. Some day I'm going to have a great time opening my presents.

That's about it. I'll update again in a few months as I continue to track the trophies.

If my taxidermist took that long he would be on my wall also. There is no taxidermist worth a wait that long and yes I will stack my mans work againist anyone. I will have the last of my 2000 animials this summer only because it is part of scene that includes animials from 2001 and 2002.

Had a similar experience with trophies taken in Tanzania last year. We hunted the Sealous in Tanzania and decided to have the taxidermy work down in RSA by Taxidermy Africa. When we left the outfitter stated that he had one more group hunting then all the skins/horns etc would be shipped back to Dar Es Salaam for the paperwork and shipment. To make a long story short, it took over seven months to ship the trophies to our taxidermist in RSA. The paperwork systems in these different African countries leaves a lot to be desired.

[ 04-26-2003, 19:17: Message edited by: rslus ]

I had a great experience getting my trophies home from a late August 2002 safari with Ridge Taylor in Tanzania. Ridge handles the dip and crate of all his hunter's trophies in house, and then arranges to have them shipped. My trophies arrived in San Francisco in September. My taxidermist, Leading Edge in Cody, WY, used their funds to receive and pay off the shipping charges on my behalf. No extra charge. This saved me from paying any storage costs. Hides went directly to the tannery and horns, shields etc straight to the taxicermist. Everything was completed in mid March 2003. That was a total of 7 months from kill to being on the wall.

My crate arrived at Jonas (Denver). Awaiting Fish & Wildlife clearance.

Customs and broker charges for arrival of trophies in Denver from RSA - $240.63.

Kensco, if you are shipping your mounts to Plano, why not use a taxidermist around Dallas? We have some of the best taxidermist around.

Bo-n-aro,

Who do you recommend? I've used Jonas Brothers for some time now with good results. Since I've been living overseas, I haven't taken the time to source anyone local.

I'm going to be in Dallas a few weeks next month. Tell me who I should check out. It would save me at least $500 if I used someone in the Plano area for my Dall Sheep trophy next year. All my stuff is in storage there.

Kensco, I sent you a message on 5-28. If you did not get it post a reply.
Thanks

Just looked it up. Thanks for the heads-up and the information.

I'll try to make time to look you and WA up when I get in. The first two weeks are jam-packed between, Dallas and New Mexico. About the third week of June I should get through with my wife's list of Honey-do's and get to my own.

Right now I'm balls-to-the-wall to get in shape to bail out of here Saturday, early.

..... and the beat goes on.

Agriculture Fees - $25.00
Government Inspection Fees - $75.00
Processing / Opening Fees - $65.00

bo-n-aro,

Things didn't work out. Sorry I wasn't able to make contact. Problems purchasing a house, and a colonoscopy got in the way. I'm back in beautiful downtown Ciudad Ojeda hoping my luggage comes in tonight. None of it flew in on the plane I was on.

Skins back from the tannery. Waiting on my instructions and deposit.

Looking at pedestal options.

Gave the go-ahead for two pedestals, sent the $2,000 deposit, and told them to send the tanned backskins as is. ($1,000 for a rug sounded a tad high.)