A few weeks ago I got an email that my buff horns and cape were ready to be shipped from Bulawayo. I got an invoice for a little over $500.00 bucks, which I gladly paid, thinking that was fairly reasonable.

The other day I got another invoice for almost $500.00. Turns out the first invoice was just for the vet inspection and dipping and perhaps crating.

The second invoice was for shipping the single crate to Johannesburg via truck.

From there I can expect another invoice for the final shipping to Denver, CO.

I have no idea what that will cost, but so far, I am in for $1000.00 just to get the trophies to Jo'burg.

For about $1500.00 you can fly round trip from Denver to Bulawayo, so $1000.00 just to minimally prepare and ship one set of horns and cape from Bulawayo to Jo'burg seems ridiculous.

Is this just one more case of sportmen being ripped off by the locals (or are shipping companies having to pay off officials)?

Anyone have any insider information on this?

BH63

Just another way of ripping off foreign hunters. It's probably to late but I've heard nothing but good things about a shipping agent in Zim whose name is Andy Hunter (I think). I'm sure someone will correct me if I got that name wrong.

If I were you I'd be thinking long and hard about telling them to stuff it when you get billed for some more outrageous charges. Be prepared to cut your losses or get ripped off some more. I've read where several people have told the shippers to keep the trophies rather than paying their high charges and the fees have then been reduced. It's worth a try.

It's easy for me to advise you to abandon your trophies since I've adopted the pictures only philosophy,so take my advice with a grain of salt. Personally, I've left two Buff in Zim rather than pay these fees.

quote:

It's easy for me to advise you to abandon your trophies since I've adopted the pictures only philosophy,so take my advice with a grain of salt. Personally, I've left two Buff in Zim rather than pay these fees.

I've done the same thing, left two buffalo this past Oct. One I really would have like to mount, old white faced, scared up. I've gone to the "non - trophy", own use hunts. You save on dip and pack, shipping and taxidermy. That's several thousand dollars, plus the hunt is less than half of the "trophy" hunts.

I have a Buffalo over there as well and not looking forward to the bill. I know a guy that got a huge dagga boy shipped to his house. He called his African taxidermist and told him that it was not the Buffalo that he killed. Taxidermist said for him to keep it. Think of the poor guy that killed that great trophy and the expression on his face when he opened his crate. It happens all the time. I would rather spend the money on travel and other hunts.
As an American, you are perceived as being rich and stupid. Nothing is more frustrating than having to sort out a taxidermy or shipping bill, especially with a Dutchman! Sorry that you got taken advantage of like that. I would contact the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters Association.

I just paid $708 from Bulawayo to Jburg for paperwork and ground Transport. It was for just one Shoulder Mounted Buff.

I could see where a mounted trophy might cost more for shipping than just the salted cape and horns,but $700 bucks for a shoulder mount is still a lot better than 1000.00 bucks just for a raw cape and horns.

I feel sorry for the PHs who work so hard to get clients their trophies and then have extra charges wind up hurting their chances of repeat clients.

BH63

I just paid right at $1,000 to ship a crate of completed taxidermy work from Joberg to Anchorage, AK...no middle man in between and a friend cleared the crate for me in Anchorage. Granted the shipment originated in RSA and not from Zimbabwe. I thought that was a pretty good deal through Safari Cargo Systems.

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I often wonder if there would be any milage in grouping trophies and dip/pack work into one multi year end shipment shared by a group.

I guess it's logistics.

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I have left 2 buffalo behind. I will bet it will be at least another$1000 to get it from Joburg to here between shipping and customs broker fees. So $2000 before the taxidermy fees. Ridiculous!

Last week I just picked up my capes hides and horns in Denver.
I was pretty surprised at the total to get the stuff here.
I had a Zebra, Wildebeest, warthog, Blesbok, Bushbuck, Impala and Kudu.
I paid for hides to be salted, dipped and packed and skulls boiled, dipped and packed.
The South African Taxidermy company charged roughly $1800+ the shipper in SA charged $1300 for shipping and export permits.
Then on this end I was hit for $850 for the clearing of customs, local transport, USFWS etc etc..
I was told by USFWS that I could not clear these myself in Denver because they were not finished (mounted) trophies, they had to go to a secure USFWS approved facility to be opened inspected and again disinfected.
Totals close to $3950 for 7 animals.
Now I still need to have a Taxidermist send them to a tannery $ and then the rugs and mounts $$$.
I think next trip I won't bring so much home.

Those costs are crazy! I shipped an elk and pronghorn shoulder mounts from WY to NZ and that cost me about $US1000 which I thought was a lot but reckon it could have been a lot more!

Charlie 64 had a great idea.


Start like a CoOp. You would have to hire someone in RSA to handle everything. I do not know how long the hides and mounts could stay on a container before they started to get damaged.
Trophies get lost all of the time. The taxidermist over there are like a large production facility with cheap labor. They will tell you it cost less than it does in US but they get it back in shipping.
Took a friend of mine five trips before he got his leopard. His mount got lost somewhere in RSA. So he was told.

Ahrenberg will be along shortly to kick the asses of everyone who leaves trophies behind.

I have my trophies sent directly to Jonas Bros in Denver which is a registered port, so hopefully I won't have any $850.00 dollar surprises at my end (but you never know).

I almost shot a nice Impala while on my buff hunt.

The PH said it was a REALLY nice one. I'm so glad I didn't. Although the trophy fee was only $250.00, it probably would have added another $1500.00 - $2000.00 to the shipping total.

What a racket!

Hunting grizzs in AK is starting to look more and more like a cost effective DG alternative to Africa!

BH63

A friend and I just brought home 2 Red Stag capes and antlers, a Fallow deer cape and antlers, and some stag sheds from New Zealand as checked baggage. It cost each of us $28.00 for a NZ export certificate and $101.00 for the extra bag charge. We were lucky and did not get charged any over size fees. The USFW officer met us at baggage claim in LAX, we went through customs and had bags x-rayed. Officer signed our paperwork and we were on our way to our flight to Denver. Bags were never opened by anyone. Capes were not salted just frozen. We had made arrangements with the NZ officials and USFW before we left on our trip. Our booking agent said that we probably saved $2000-2500.00 by not having them shipped and paying all the middle men. I doubt this would work for Africa but I will be doing it for other places where I only have 1-2 trophies.

quote:

Charlie 64 had a great idea.

They would get you for storage.

TJH

Wow. Glad things went so well. Wish shipping trophies from other countries were that hassle free.

Thanks for the info.

BH63

$500 is more than reasonable these days, $2000 to $2500 isn't unusual..The best way to save on shipping is avoid British Air like the plague. Those guys are world champion rip off artist. I recently told them to keep a Zebra and a buffalo as I wasn't about to pay them two grand, he replied what are we supposed to do with them, and your losing your hard earned trophies..Sorry pal your problem, I don't need them that bad and won't be black mailed by a two bit airline..I don't know what they did with them..It was apparent they thought they had me over a barrel, and in the case of some who had been on a first time safari, they would have had them over a barrel and that should be a criminal offense.

I routinely ship from Namibia to the USFWS customs house in Memphis, TN. Our crates are generally 3ft x 3ft x 1.5 ft. and the air freight plus packing and custom clearance on both ends is $1,200.00.

You can arrange for your own dip, packing, and transport, but it is a pain to deal with all the paperwork while ensuring the shipper is doing their job. That being said, dip, packing and transport has unfortunately become a profit center for some operators. So make sure you understand what the costs are going to be BEFORE you book your hunt. Otherwise you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Thats it, next time I go Africa I aint paying no dip and pack, pictures only. Seems like anyone that lays their eyes on your crate has to get money.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Savikataaq Jr:
Thats it, next time I go Africa I aint paying no dip and pack, pictures only. Seems like anyone that lays their eyes on your crate has to get money.

You may be the smartest thing one on this site!!

As I absolutely hate to be taken advantage of, non-trophy hunting is looking more and more appealing.

As much as I like my taxidermist mounts, it is looking like on my next safari, I will not be shipping anything back home, and I doubt that I will even take a rifle.

I'd rather spend a thousand bucks on a good video camera that I can attach to a rifle barrel.

The hassle factor (not to mention the expense) is taking a lot of fun out of safaris IMO.

BH63

The more I hear these stories, the more I wonder how these D&P companies stay in business. I guess they will until we make a stand

quote:

As I absolutely hate to be taken advantage of, non-trophy hunting is looking more and more appealing.

That's exactly how I feel about the dip/pack, handling, shipping, vet clearance, customs clearance rackets. I'm still hunting Africa almost every year, but like I said in my earlier post all that comes back with me is pictures. If it ever gets to the point where I can't take my own rifles that may cause me to quit going across the pond.

If you really want to get depressed go to a taxidermy auction to see what the selling prices are for those expensive mounts. Most of the time the selling prices are far less than the taxidermy cost.

quote:

Originally posted by Jason P:
The more I hear these stories, the more I wonder how these D&P companies stay in business. I guess they will until we make a stand

I think they stay in business primarily because most Americans don't go on safari that often.

Once they book the hunt, they don't find out about how expensive it will be to get their trophies home until they return home.

In my case, instead of getting one upfront total cost for shipping and dipping, it was being broken down in increments. It is only after I pay the first charge, will they perform the service and then let me know the next charge.

It had been 13 years since my last African safari, so that's why the "sticker" shock was so bad for me.

I think those few that do go on safaris regularly have become more selective about what they want to ship home, if anything.

To think it will cost more to ship a Cape Buff skull and cape then it will to get it mounted at arguably one of the best Taxidermy shops in the world (Jonas Bros of Denver), is a sad commentary on the business of shipping trophies.

To be fair, much of the expense incurred by shipping companies might be related to paying off African officials.

On my first invoices there is $250.00 paperwork fee and a $95.00 admin fee. You have to wonder where all that money is going.

After paying my "second" shipping fee, I was told that the shipping company is still waiting on "export" documentation. Of the $487.00 for that phase, only $117.00 is being invoiced as freight charges, the other charges are for paperwork.

I was told that there would be another charge for shipment from Jo'burg to Denver. I can't wait to see how much that will cost.

I should point out that my PH had already salted the cape and started the skull cleaning process free-of-charge on this trip.



BH63

quote:

Originally posted by TJH:
A friend and I just brought home 2 Red Stag capes and antlers, a Fallow deer cape and antlers, and some stag sheds from New Zealand as checked baggage. It cost each of us $28.00 for a NZ export certificate and $101.00 for the extra bag charge. We were lucky and did not get charged any over size fees. The USFW officer met us at baggage claim in LAX, we went through customs and had bags x-rayed. Officer signed our paperwork and we were on our way to our flight to Denver. Bags were never opened by anyone. Capes were not salted just frozen. We had made arrangements with the NZ officials and USFW before we left on our trip. Our booking agent said that we probably saved $2000-2500.00 by not having them shipped and paying all the middle men. I doubt this would work for Africa but I will be doing it for other places where I only have 1-2 trophies.

It cost dad $1,700 to ship a stag and elk European mounts from NZ. He was supposed to pay another broker $1,200 to handle at customs. Dad had paperwork with him so I went to customs, got them cleared and was on the way home with mounts in the truck when the broker called. I learned some new words after telling the broker I already had the mounts and that his service was a crock.

I just called the airline in Dallas & gave them the size & weight of the crate that I just received from SA & asked for an estimate to ship it from Dallas to Joburg & the cost quoted was exactly half 1/2 the amount I was charged to get it from Joburg to Dallas. What does that tell you? I am sick of being ripped off by these con artists. Oh well my rant for the day.

How about the one when you get the bill and once you go to pay there was another $100 added because you waited two weeks and the permits had expired.

quote:

Originally posted by huntfish1963:

quote:

Originally posted by TJH:
A friend and I just brought home 2 Red Stag capes and antlers, a Fallow deer cape and antlers, and some stag sheds from New Zealand as checked baggage. It cost each of us $28.00 for a NZ export certificate and $101.00 for the extra bag charge. We were lucky and did not get charged any over size fees. The USFW officer met us at baggage claim in LAX, we went through customs and had bags x-rayed. Officer signed our paperwork and we were on our way to our flight to Denver. Bags were never opened by anyone. Capes were not salted just frozen. We had made arrangements with the NZ officials and USFW before we left on our trip. Our booking agent said that we probably saved $2000-2500.00 by not having them shipped and paying all the middle men. I doubt this would work for Africa but I will be doing it for other places where I only have 1-2 trophies.

It cost dad $1,700 to ship a stag and elk European mounts from NZ. He was supposed to pay another broker $1,200 to handle at customs. Dad had paperwork with him so I went to customs, got them cleared and was on the way home with mounts in the truck when the broker called. I learned some new words after telling the broker I already had the mounts and that his service was a crock.

Who was the broker? Was it Safari Specialty Imports? I know they charge in that ballpark.

First three times over I shipped everything home had it mounted here to show off in my trophy room, now those mounts hang in the garage collecting dust. Since then I am happy with digital pictures. I have been all over Africa hunting a total of 17 times to date...who needs or wants that many dead animals in their house.

Seven Animals
Pack and Dip + crate $800
Shipping RSA to Chicago $761
Coppersmith $737

ALL IN Total from RSA to USA $2298

Est. Taxidermy: $6365 plus shipping to Texas.

Shipping and crating for 7 mounts from Chicago to TX will be a minimum of $500, probably much more. So figure a minimum of $9100, probably much more. In other words, a second safari....

I still have dreams of a 40" or better buff. So on my next hunt it will be a big, beautiful buff or nothing at all!

BH63

Just wired my third payment for my trophy shipment. This was for $907.01. So far I paid over $2000.00 USD and according to the email the buff skull and cape are still in Bulawayo.

What a racket.

BH63

We are considering a family Botswana trip in a couple of years when the youngest is a better traveler. Maybe our last trip while we live in Europe.

I am going to want whatever the kids shoot mounted. Well, I think I am.

I am pretty much a skull on the wall and done kind of guy now.

Considering a Muskox hunt in Greenland for next year. Taxidermy, shipping and bullshit is as much as the hunt.