This week just couldn't get any worse. A pay discrepency at work from 8 months ago has still not bee resolved (to the tune of $600). A rifle project that has been with a gunsmith for 5 months is STILL not done and the gunsmith ignores my numerous emails and postings on his web forum. I've been sick as hell all week but still went to work, where it has been busy as hell. But a bright light shone through, briefly, when a large delivery truck showed up with a large box . . . from Namibia! My trophies! I was so excited that I wolfed down my lunch and got to opening up the box.

Well, let me describe said box - it was heavy cardboard, and on the inside it was "framed" with particle board slats that were screwed together - but two of them were broken and had fallen into and onto the trophies. The trophies were packed in bubble wrap and surrounded by confetti. I slowly extricated each one, beng careful to unwrap them.

Springbok skull and horns - look good, though one of the horns wont slip all the way down the base - may have to "sand" or shave off a little to get it down all the way.

Oryx skull and horns - perfect - very nice.

Baboon skull - wonderful

Impala skull and horns - awesome.

Warthog skull and tusks - very nice, except the shield it is on is split in half - not a biggie, I can fix that - some wood glue, a few bridging brackets, or just a new shield.

Kudu skull and horns - well, it appears the brunt of the damage from the broken frame hit the nose of the kudu and broke it off - but, I think with some glue (any suggestions on what to use to glue bone together?) I can make it look like it never happened - horns look great.

Zebra skin and zebra lamps - the lamps look really nice, also got some skin pieces from the rear legs and they are a good size to use for maybe some knife sheaths. The skin itself is HUGE - wife didn't realize just how big it was - one very small hole (any idea on how to patch this - maybe just glue a black felt patch on the back side?) - also, is there a way to make the mane stick up, as it sticks up in one or two places but is flat in others - or should it just stay flat? - overall, though, it is a great looking skin, though the wife said "Why are the "white" striped brownishand kind of grungy - shouldn't they be white"?

BUT - the biggest disappointment were my two remaining skins, the Impala and Springbok. Why? BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T THERE! They were beautiful animals with incredible hides, and they were nowhere to be found - triple checked every inch of the box, packing materials, etc. - gone. So, now Coppersmith is starting to check into this. I can only think that either it wasn't put in the packaging, or it was stolen somewhere along the way, maybe by some Customs official, or by someone who packaged it up. I don't know - is this a common problem? Have any of you all had something like this happen? What sort of recours do I have?

What was supposed to be a very happy and joyous moment for me is kind of soured right now by this.

Just had to vent.

Who was the shipping agent in Namibia? I used Harald Preschel at Namibia Safari Services and requested an detailed inventory before I paid the invoice. The freight forwarder should be able to provide a packing list. Sorry about the disappointment. I picked my box up last month at Coppersmith from a June hunt. Luckily, everything was good.

Aw man,that's a kick in the shorts. Bummer.

Shoot me a PM if you'd like to get together and do some shooting. I'll be working up some loads for my 458 and would like to borrow your shoulder

I can't imagine your disappointment.


But hey, at least you were able to hunt Africa!

(feeble attempt to help you look on the positive)

Packing agent was International Air Cargo Services out of Windhoek, taxidermist was Retoma out of Omaruru, and I used Coppersmith for handling all the stuff here stateside.

Coppersmith has been notified and is beginning an investigation.

quote:

Originally posted by mrfudd:
Who was the shipping agent in Namibia? I used Harald Preschel at Namibia Safari Services and requested an detailed inventory before I paid the invoice. The freight forwarder should be able to provide a packing list. Sorry about the disappointment. I picked my box up last month at Coppersmith from a June hunt. Luckily, everything was good.

John,
Having argued with a with a different Namibia taxidermist recently about shipping in a cardboard box and thus receiving a shipment of crushed skulls as you did, I suspect the hides never made it in the shipment from the taxidermist. I'm afraid you may be SOL but I hope not.

Mine came in cardboard too, but the box arrived fine. I had skulls/horns from duiker, springbok, steenbok, and blue wildebeast. I also had the capes, 2 wildebeast backskins, and a few souvenirs.

If I had to use Namibia Safari Services for shipping, I would not got to Namibia again. My son and I used them a couple years ago. All our animals were packed in two large CARDBOARD boxes, no wood. They both looked like a truck had driven over them.
Here is the damage.....
My wart hog tusks were not there.
My Sons Blesbok skull was broken...
My Sons Springbok horns were not there...
I paid them for insurance. I submitted a claim.
They agreed to pay a minimal amount.
From that amount, they paid the taxidermist for replacement Springbok horns, and a warthog skull with tusks which had a lower jaw that didn't match. I didn't approve this.
My final insurance payment was around $200, Harald would not send it to me because he had to pay $35 for bank transfer fees.
This is not a rant, it's the truth. I can prove it. I have emails from them and pics to prove it.
My advice, DON'T USE NAMIBIA SAFARI SERVICES.

I see from mrfudds post, they are still using cardboard boxes for shipping. Some people never learn.

Use regular elmers white glue. Works great

Found this on TaxidermY forum:
ZEBRA MANE


Quote:
Wet the mane by pulling a thick toothed comb dipped in water through the hair (try to not get the mount wet) and apply a cheap hair mousse to it. Work the mousse through with the comb. Cut chip board (soda or beer case box) into long strips the height of the mane (may need a few strips to card the whole mane), now card the mane by placing a piece of the chip board on either side of the mane and clip together with large paper clips.
Make sure the mane remains in an erect position while drying. Should be dry in a few days to a week as you don't have much humidity in Bakersfield. Will stand up beautifully after it dries. PM me if you need any further help.

Kind regards,
Mary

Taxidermist/Rugmaker

Thanks, John and CSXCS for the tips!

I used Harald Preschel at Namibia Safari Services to get my shipment to Australia last year, had no problems.
warren

I used Harald Preschel as the shipping agent for my 2007 Namibia trophies. His estimate of packing/shipping costs was accurate and the packing was excellent. All items arrived in perfect condition.

The import agent was ABX in Houston, which is another story. Their receiving charges were outlandish and they were slow to notify me and slower in transferring the shipment to the USDA-approved taxidermist (baboon and warthog skull requirement). When a 35 pound box of tanned hides arrived a couple of months after the shipment of skulls/horns, ABX wanted to charge me $135 to ship the box by UPS from Houston to Austin. I will use Harald Preschel again; I won't use ABX again.

John - What species of Zebra did you shoot?

I think you will find that the taxidermist did the packing and not the shipping agent the way I understood is Namibia Safari Services receive them packed. Might want to contact them and confirm who did the packing.

I don't like the cardboard boxes either and will use Nyati taxidermy in Windhoek as they pack in wood on request.

quote:

Originally posted by RR4hunt:

I don't like the cardboard boxes either and will use Nyati taxidermy in Windhoek as they pack in wood on request.

I thought I had read some iffy things on here about Nyati in other threads?

quote:

Originally posted by Couestaxi:
John - What species of Zebra did you shoot?

Hartmann's Mountain Zebra

John,

I had some broken pieces on my skulls from Namibia and I used a 2 part epoxy that I picked up at Wal-Mart to repair them. This worked really well as it dries fast and makes a very strong bond. It dried a little shiny so I sanded it with some fine sandpaper and the repairs are basically invisible.

Don

Well, the skins have been found - they were STILL at the tannery! Apparently this has happened to a lot of people's skins. The taxidermist had my name on a list of people to contact about this but they skipped me over and never emailed me. So the rest of the items were shipped because they didn't want the two skins to hold things up.

They are going to ship me, at their cost, the skins once they come back from the tannery.

quote:

They are going to ship me, at their cost, the skins once they come back from the tannery.

That's good, but you'll still be on the hook for the import agent's fees. If you're using Coppersmith, I hope they are more reasonable than ABX.

quote:

I hope they are more reasonable than ABX.

Hmmm I had ABX handle mine and I thought their fee was fair. The darn freight from Windhoek was around $2300 vs the much lower estimate. Claimed fuel. That wasn't their issue.

I used Reiser in Windhoek. They did the shoulder mounts, rugs, skins and a euro mt and boxed it up. The box had walls framed with 2x2" with at least 2 2x2 spacers on a side along with 3/16" plywood all around. Heads were wrapped in bubble and screwed with numerous screws to the spacers. Took a couple hours to get it all apart.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnCrighton:

They are going to ship me, at their cost, the skins once they come back from the tannery.

Originally answered by Stonecreek:

That's good, but you'll still be on the hook for the import agent's fees. If you're using Coppersmith, I hope they are more reasonable than ABX.

Eric:

You might want to clear the next shipment yourself, if you are so inclined. I've done my own in the past and will do it myself again for my next shipment coming in 2 weeks. It's pretty simple and painless but, in the past, when I post that you can do it yourself someone suggests that I'm a cheapskate - so I am.

Glad things are turning out alright for you after all.

Namibiahunter

sorry to hear about your near disaster. i have had two shipments from namibia and both came in wooden boxes and there was no damage at all. the warthog tusks were left out of the first shipment due to some new unexpected usda requirement but that got resoved well. i used coppersmith both times and they helped a lot. i had nakara do my two zebra hides (great job) and reiser did the giraffe hide, waterbuck shoulder mount and th other skulls. they did a great job also. i think i had apoorer job of skull and skin prep on my tanzanian trophies.

quote:

You might want to clear the next shipment yourself, if you are so inclined. I've done my own in the past and will do it myself again for my next shipment coming in 2 weeks. It's pretty simple and painless but, in the past, when I post that you can do it yourself someone suggests that I'm a cheapskate - so I am.

OK, How do you clear them yourself?

Unless they are mounted, and then I'm not certain, I don't think a normal individual can clear swine (warthogs or bushpig). They have to be cleared/sent to a person or company who is "certified" to handle swine.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatogordo:
Unless they are mounted, and then I'm not certain, I don't think a normal individual can clear swine (warthogs or bushpig). They have to be cleared/sent to a person or company who is "certified" to handle swine.

quote:

OK, How do you clear them yourself

In order to "clear" them (go through the importation process), you must be located physically at the port of entry. This is possible for some people, depending on where they live.

Gato is right that swine parts must go through a USDA-approved inspection. Baboons, being a primate (like us) and being subject to diseases like humans, must be inspected and cleared by someone certified to do so (don't know which Federal agency oversees this). Import agents like Coppersmith or ABX don't provide this inspection -- they just forward the swine or primates to authorized persons who inspect them then release them to the owner.