We are soon leaving for a hunt in Nyae Nyae and at Mokore and I changed the sighting arrangement on my .505 Gibbs, took the Leupold 1x5 off and installed a Leupold Delta Point Pro red dot. So, just to be safe, I went to CBP at DFW and got a new 4457 with the red dot. Only one of the guys I've dealt with in the past was there, whole new crew, and not a very friendly crew at that. The guy that signed my 4457 was obviously not really comfortable checking my rifle (asked me to prove unloaded when the bolt wasn't in the rifle). I was glad to comply and while waiting for him to run my ID and such, the "new" supervisory came out and reminded me that I must declare any and all valuables and cash in excess of the limit upon reentry. They were going to be more stringent in the future (at least that's what I think she said, pretty sure English is not her first language), she was even so kind as to quote several different sections of US Code for me. It'll be interesting to see if they quiz my wife and I when we leave on Qatar later today.
I asked about the guys I normally see in the office and was told one retired and two others transferred to other duty stations (I think I know why).
CBP may be becoming more strict, I cleared some trophies a few weeks ago and for the first time I was charged a "fee" at CBP, not duty, but a fee. All of $9.00 for some sort of fee. I asked about it saying $9.00 wasn't worth their time, why not make it at least $20.00? Officer told me that they were instructed to collect duty for things over limit or $9.00 for clearance under the limit. I guess we will see.

Also, USFWS has been badly understaffed at DFW for almost a year due to retirements and transfers, but they are hiring /have hired several inspectors and contracted with a recently retired inspector to teach them the ropes (he was a good inspector to work with and was the senior inspector for all of USFWS nationwide until his retirement). His replacement at DFW is a pretty good guy too, but I suspect there will be a learning curve with the new guys that might make it a bit difficult for a while.

Sounds kinda like going through Zimbabwe Customs on BOTH ends of travel.

Soon at DFW maybe they'll take you into a little room, have you point your rifle in a safe direction and pull the trigger!!

Well…check in at Qatar was painless, rifle carriage was preapproved and we had copies of everything they needed, so weren’t delayed while they made copies. TSA firearm check took 30 seconds, simply swabbed my case and sent us on our way. TSA security check was different story…was “randomly” chosen for secondary screening, had to be scanned 3 times before they were satisfied. Apparently, the plates and screws in my right foot and ankle confused them, thought they might have been in my shoe.

No, pretty soon you'll be taken into a little room and it will be suggested that the skids be greased, just like in every other third world country.

Karl,

It has been a long time, but I likely had one of the “cool” officers who knew guns, but the other didn’t.

At first, I parked outside the small office and notified them I needed to get 4457 forms and the firearms were in my truck.

“No problem, bring them in and make sure they are unloaded.”

“Yes, sir. I promise you they are not loaded, but I know you need to check.”

All went well with the “cool” officer, but another guy had no clue about guns, yet had one on his hip.

CBP also detained me for two hours in Miami after I had been in Argentina for about a month. My entry kiosk ticket had the dreaded XXX on it. I was asked why I go to Argentina so much. At 6:30am after 10 hours on a plane I replied “Please explain so much, sir. Isn’t it all relative?”

I know that wasn’t smart, but tried to recover saying I visit my girlfriend and great friends there. It was already too late.

Yes, it was that little room where I couldn’t use my phone or read a book, but know the CBP video very well, as it was on a loop.

Once I had the opportunity to speak with someone, they asked questions about my address, line of work, etc. they knew all the answers. I was allowed a question, which was obviously why I was detained. I was given a card or somewhere I could make a FOI request.

I later got my Global Entry without a problem. I have renewed it without a problem. However, I understand what Larry has been through recently.

My experience was 180 from your Karl. I went to CBP on Esters and they were cordial and easy. This was in June though.

However, Qatar had an unknowledgeable agent handling gun check in (our trip was the end of July…we just got back a couple of weeks agao). We had everything in multiple copies and all in order but it took them an hour to get us checked. And then we got the TSA agent you never want. A 60+ yr old woman bound on taking my cases apart without my help. It took her 20 minutes and was almost a disaster a couple of times.

This coupled with the fact that we were on the 10:55 pm departure boarding at 9:55.

We decided to get to the airport early to get checked in and then have a dinner at one of the restaurants in terminal D. We were all lugged into the ticketing area about 6:30 pm and Qatar would not let us check in until 2 hours pre-boarding. So…there we sat for an hour and a half. Then, because it took them and TSA so long…we were barely able to wolf down a Whataburger before boarding a 9:55.

Lane, we also booked the 10:50 flight and arrived early, same plan as you. Had to wait until 7:30 pm to check in. We also had copies of everything they needed, but a Qatar supervisor came up to us (and the other hunters in line) about 10 minutes before the ticket agents arrived asking for passports, she had our approved firearms carriage paperwork with her and was verifying those with gun cases had proper clearance. Check in took about 15 min, walked down to TSA oversized baggage and the gentleman swabbed my case and sent us on our way, literally less than two minutes.
I wondered if CBP was going to quiz me at the gate since I had a bit of a problem going thru security. They didn’t quiz me but they stopped Rebecca and asked lots of questions regarding final destination, and some financial questions. Weird how they do that. They also stopped another guy going hunting in Zim.
Who knows why they do what they do?

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:
Karl,

It has been a long time, but I likely had one of the “cool” officers who knew guns, but the other didn’t.

At first, I parked outside the small office and notified them I needed to get 4457 forms and the firearms were in my truck.

“No problem, bring them in and make sure they are unloaded.”

“Yes, sir. I promise you they are not loaded, but I know you need to check.”

All went well with the “cool” officer, but another guy had no clue about guns, yet had one on his hip.

CBP also detained me for two hours in Miami after I had been in Argentina for about a month. My entry kiosk ticket had the dreaded XXX on it. I was asked why I go to Argentina so much. At 6:30am after 10 hours on a plane I replied “Please explain so much, sir. Isn’t it all relative?”

I know that wasn’t smart, but tried to recover saying I visit my girlfriend and great friends there. It was already too late.

Yes, it was that little room where I couldn’t use my phone or read a book, but know the CBP video very well, as it was on a loop.

Once I had the opportunity to speak with someone, they asked questions about my address, line of work, etc. they knew all the answers. I was allowed a question, which was obviously why I was detained. I was given a card or somewhere I could make a FOI request.

I later got my Global Entry without a problem. I have renewed it without a problem. However, I understand what Larry has been through recently.

Marcus, there is no telling what kind of experience one might have at CBP anymore.
When we came home in June from Moz, I didn’t get the big “X”, Qatar had notified CBP that I had a firearm and facial recognition let them know I had arrived before I even went to the kiosk.
CBP guy called me to his station by name when I went to clear immigration, told me their system alerted when we disembarked.
Boarding Qatar at DFW has facial recognition where your boarding pass is scanned, too. They gave you look at a screen and it will show a green check mark and display your name.

quote:

Originally posted by K Evans:
Lane, we also booked the 10:50 flight and arrived early, same plan as you. Had to wait until 7:30 pm to check in. We also had copies of everything they needed, but a Qatar supervisor came up to us (and the other hunters in line) about 10 minutes before the ticket agents arrived asking for passports, she had our approved firearms carriage paperwork with her and was verifying those with gun cases had proper clearance. Check in took about 15 min, walked down to TSA oversized baggage and the gentleman swabbed my case and sent us on our way, literally less than two minutes.
I wondered if CBP was going to quiz me at the gate since I had a bit of a problem going thru security. They didn’t quiz me but they stopped Rebecca and asked lots of questions regarding final destination, and some financial questions. Weird how they do that. They also stopped another guy going hunting in Zim.
Who knows why they do what they do?

The above was the experience I was looking for. Hope for next time. Maybe mine made yours better as Gracy complained to them on our behalf.

Came through CBP in Houston last week on my way home from Mongolia and had a "different" experience. I went through Global Entry, noticed new kiosks. They have changed with some regularity over the past two years. Facial recognition, scan passport, light flashes red. I head to the officer... he asks where I have been, I tell him Mongolia, he asks what I did there, "hunting", asks if I have a rifle checked, answer "yes". Instead of letting me go to the right to collect my baggage like I have done every time, I am sent left to an escalator straight down to Customs. Given a number in exchange for my passport and held in a big room for fifteen minutes until baggage comes out. I am then "freed" to go get my baggage and come back into the room where I am sent to lane 1 to have my 4457 paperwork checked and gun serial number reviewed. All fairly courteous, but definitely a different experience... anyone else flying through IAH have this experience?

Also traveling is getting to be such a bloody hassle with or without firearms. When we landed in Mongolia for our shikar, out of 6 hunters, 2 got their rifles. 4 of us got luggage. Our rifles were left in Istanbul and we didn't get them until the last day of the hunt! Coming home, even with a horribly tight connection, everything showed up... you just shake your head and wonder how bad it can get.

quote:

Came through CBP in Houston last week on my way home from Mongolia and had a "different" experience. I went through Global Entry, noticed new kiosks. They have changed with some regularity over the past two years. Facial recognition, scan passport, light flashes red. I head to the officer... he asks where I have been, I tell him Mongolia, he asks what I did there, "hunting", asks if I have a rifle checked, answer "yes". Instead of letting me go to the right to collect my baggage like I have done every time, I am sent left to an escalator straight down to Customs. Given a number in exchange for my passport and held in a big room for fifteen minutes until baggage comes out. I am then "freed" to go get my baggage and come back into the room where I am sent to lane 1 to have my 4457 paperwork checked and gun serial number reviewed. All fairly courteous, but definitely a different experience... anyone else flying through IAH have this experience?

Also traveling is getting to be such a bloody hassle with or without firearms. When we landed in Mongolia for our shikar, out of 6 hunters, 2 got their rifles. 4 of us got luggage. Our rifles were left in Istanbul and we didn't get them until the last day of the hunt! Coming home, even with a horribly tight connection, everything showed up... you just shake your head and wonder how bad it can get.

Russ like we talked about...
I came through CBP in Houston last week from Zambia and the process was normal for me. Global Entry, collect my rifles and bags, go through CBP on the way out and all was quick and painless.

quote:

Came through CBP in Houston last week on my way home from Mongolia and had a "different" experience. I went through Global Entry, noticed new kiosks. They have changed with some regularity over the past two years. Facial recognition, scan passport, light flashes red. I head to the officer... he asks where I have been, I tell him Mongolia, he asks what I did there, "hunting", asks if I have a rifle checked, answer "yes". Instead of letting me go to the right to collect my baggage like I have done every time, I am sent left to an escalator straight down to Customs. Given a number in exchange for my passport and held in a big room for fifteen minutes until baggage comes out.

Not in Houston, but much the same scenario in Seattle a year ago returning from British Columbia. They had us sit in a room across from a row of CBP officers. My rifle case was sitting on the floor in front of the officers. After a few minutes one of the officers called me up and said we are clear to go. Didn’t even look at the rifle.

When I cleared CPB last week at DFW. I was amazed. No rifle. The Global entry kiosks had a waiting line. The regular entry kiosks had no line. More amazing, the agent didn’t ask to see our passports. He took our picture, compared it to a data base, and welcomed us home. The whole thing took under a minute……

.

Your stories make Germany look like a walk in the park - passport control, luggage off the belt, walk to customs office and wait there, baggage handler brings gun case to cutoms office, you present your hunting licence / Jagdschein, case is then either sent thru x-ray or you open it and show whats in the case and off you go.

On exiting Germany, airport police will check your case and call in the serial number of the gun to run a check on it and if all good then off you go. Maybe 10 mins 15 max.

No paperwork at all .....

.

Sounds to me like Dallas and Houston are quickly going the same direction as Austin..

You guys better get it together soon or you'll be living in a blue state...