Hi I know this is the wrong place to put this post, but need some advice / reccommendations if possible.

Hi I'm off to SA soon for safari and was just wondering if anyone could reccomend a good taxidermist to use. I currently have several heads already with Karl Human's but haven't heard anything good about them, yet..... I'm looking for one i can use to mount a trophy warthog and Kudu as well as other trophies my fellow hunters plan on shooting. Has anyone - especially from the UK used anyone they thought were good? I want to go by a reccomendation really rather than just by one the outfitter reccomends and is probably getting a kick back from. Any help on who / who not to use would be appreciated.

You won't do better than www.lifeform.co.za

Highveld Taxidermy in Erasmia RSA

Look at Taxidermy Africa's website. The peacocks will take care of you. Taxidermy

quote:

Originally posted by Scott450:
Highveld Taxidermy in Erasmia RSA

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
You won't do better than www.lifeform.co.za

I have used LifeForm for all my African mounts and they are just fine. Some are now 20 years old and look great.

I have also used Highveld and I am happy with the way they do business. The 7 I got back last year look good. I have 9 heads there now getting done, and their communication is very good. They answer emails daily even when you write to them a lot like I tend to do.
The quality is good, but I am sure you could find somewhere a little better, at the same time I am sure you can find much worse.

http://www.highveldtaxidermists.com/

Thanks for all the replies, I have looked at all the sites and will probably use Lifeform as they seem to have a good reply and seem happy to answer emails quickly and their work looks good on the website too.

Paul,

A good decision. - One of the best things about Lifeform. other than the standard of their work, is that they allocate a specified member of staff to communicate with each client. - That way, nothing gets missed or passed on to someone else and you always know exactly who you need to communicate with. - It works a treat.

quote:

www.lifeform.co.za

I've spent most of my life travelling the world, doing business and enjoying my leisure in numerous different countries. And, I've always followed a single policy vis a vis local business -- make my presence there as economically important to their country as possible. If you're visiting South Korea, fly Korean Air; stay at the Chosun; dine in real Korean restaurants; and, buy everything I need to buy from local merchants. The same thing goes for hunting Africa -- fly SAA; etc. This just seems to make good sense to me if I want the country to value my visits.

As regards taxidermy specifically: One more reason for doing business with locals comes into play -- Africans know African animals better than anyone else. I wouldn't dream of having an African mount my grizzly and I wouldn't dream of having an Alaskan prepare my Kudu trophy.

My last two trips to Africa I've had Life-Form do all of my taxidermy work (www.lifeform.co.za) and everything they've done for me has been superlative in terms of quality, responsiveness and timeliness. I'm sure that there are other quality taxidermy houses in Africa, but I can't imagine better service than I get at Life-Form and, unless something changes, I'll never use anyone else for my African hunting trophies.

quote:

Africans know African animals better than anyone else.

Please understand that I am not trying to rehash the African vs. US taxidermist debate. That has been covered.

But... this statement is simply not true. You must judge each taxidermist individually. Proximity to the animals you are mounting is not relevant. To say one group of taxidermists is better because they live in the same area as the animals is not a valid argument. Knowledge of anatomy, good technique, good use of reference material- these are the things that count. Take any animal to a world champion taxidermist and they will prove this to you. I do not care if they have ever seen the animal alive or not.

People do not send North American animals to Africa because there is no reason to do so. But I am sure that a skilled taxidermist in Africa could do a great bear for you.
Is it too much to ask that your taxidermist be able to do a great job on any mount?

The guy that can mount a great bear in Alaska but could not mount a good looking kudu is not a skilled taxidermist.

Just like a safari,I'd get some references. My RSA PH guided me to "his" taxidermist, and well, my warthog isn't my warthog, and it's a little late to do anything about it. After the shipping is paid, I believe the costs to be about equal, All said, I'm more comfortable using a taxidermist who's local and knows he'll see me again. Best of luck!!

Ladies and Gents;

If you were searching out a flat artist to draw or paint your animal would you base your decision on skill or geographic location? Which would you use as a qualifier for commissioning a sculpting of an animal?

Why should it be any different for a taxidermist? Proximity has very little to do with familiarity, and nothing to do with skill.

If you are from the U.S. to prove this to yourself go out and hand the next 10 people you meet a blank paper and a pencil and ask them to sketch out the two surfaces of a nickel (US .05 dollar). Don’t let then take one out and look just have them sketch from their vast access.

Nearly every one of them will have probably had a nickel in their pocket for much of their life but very few can conjure up a likeness. This exact experiment won’t work quite as well for folks of other Nationalities and in some countries currency changes and is countefietted enough that money is not a valid tool for this but I am sure there is a similar set up that would similarly illustrate the fact that there is no substitute for skill, research/study, interpretation and execution and that these are distributed randomly and in varying amounts across the globe.


Respectfully

Your Friend Afield

Mike O

quote:

Originally posted by Cunningham:
Look at Taxidermy Africa's website. The peacocks will take care of you.

Pretty poor pictures (pre-digital camera days!), but they have still my nyala and kudu in their Gallery:
http://www.taxidermyafrica.com/i/g/214.jpg
http://www.taxidermyafrica.com/i/g/212.jpg

They did decent quality work for me at fair prices (exchange rates were very good and shipping was cheap back then), the curious were great (pillows, ostrich feet lamps, buffalo feet bookends, ect), and Cathy and son Roland are top notch people. In fact Roland came to my house when in the States for the shows some years back to take care of a few mounts that needed touch-up.

Since then, however, my work including custom mounts have been done locally (not to get into this debate...)

I do not want into the debate either. You should check on current shipping. It has changed dramatically in the last couple of years.

BillC,
Roland left the business last year to pursue construction work in PE I believe.
David

The problem for me and many others from the UK was the shipping charges. You have an EU vet inspection fee and then VAT payable in the UK for the entire cost of taxidermy and shippping. You then have a clearence fee and Delivery. It really does add up a lot.

I think the cost of getting the trophies mounted and shipped was more than the cost of going to RSA and shooting them all. I seriously think that for small shipments it is cheaper to dip pack and get the work done at home now. The only benefit you might get now rather than when I went in 2005 is that if you are quoted a price in USD$ the rate may help a little but it won't be huge.

Rgds,
FB

I have been very satisfied with the work done for me by Jody Shults with Whitetail Taxidermy. He is located in the very small Mississippi town of Como. This might be a bit off of the beaten path, but he does great work.

His phone number is 662-526-9111. He does have an em address but I do not know what it is.

H Kittle

quote:

quote:
Africans know African animals better than anyone else.

This statement goes without saying, however; that does not mean that they all do good work. Some of the worst taxidermy I have seen was in a very big shop in Bulawayo......

quote:

Originally posted by Scott450:
Highveld Taxidermy in Erasmia RSA

Highveld does very nice work. A few years ago I got the chance to take a tour of thier shop. They even do mounts for museums.

But for my mounts I have them shipped back and done locally just so I can personally see the progress of the work and have anything changed if needed.

I've had work done by Wild Africa Taxidermy that is located in Port Alfred (eastern cape), South Africa. I've had several animals mounted a few years ago, and the quality of the workmanship was excellent. They have mounted several plains game animals that look so life like that it literally jumps out at you. Their crates and packing of the trophies were very well done. The crate arrived in San Francisco on time and the trophies were fine. Their service and followup was most professional of all the many taxidermist that I've dealt with.

A few months ago, I went on Safari in Kwa-zulu, Natal, South Africa and shot Kudu, Nyala, Waterbuck, Warthog, Blesbok, Wildebeest and a number of other plainsgame. Again, these raw trophies are being forwarded to Wild Africa Taxidermy which is quite some distance away. Before the safari started, I contacted them and they made all the necessary arrangements for the courier to pick them from the outfitter. Cost of courier pickup was very reasonable (less than $100 usd). I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone. Their website address is: http://www.wildafricataxidermy.co.za

Good people who do excellent work.