I had a PM alluding to some nasty cost and paperwork headaches trying to get trophies home from our Southern Hemisphere. I would mainly want skulls and antlers/horns. Anything I should be aware of as I begin putting together a budget for a hunt in say, Argentina?

Can't give you any info on what you're asking about.
But, a month ago I mailed two small books to Juan and the US postage was $23. I just about filled my shorts to hear that much.

Wish you well, hope you get what you're looking for without breaking your bank.
George

COst me about $1,500.00 to get two Buffalo skulls to Texas from Argentina.

Pretty high in my book!


.

Last week I paid $986.00 (US) dip, packing, and shipping the hides, skulls, and antlers of a red stag and a fallow deer buck from BA to LAX. I was surprised how much more the costs were compared with shipping trophies back from Tanzania two years ago.

It cost us a little over $3k for 8 animals from Argentina.....pretty much on par with African shipments. Watch for scams though. On two occasions we had other brokers tell us they were taking over the shipment when they really weren't. Of course they wanted money. I suspect the taxidermist gave them our information.

Bill,
The final number will depend on the number of items and therefore the crate size.
We always advice our clients to aside 1,000 to 1,500 usd for an export containing a stag skull plus a couple of small skull trophies (ram/blackbuck/fallow.. ).
Paperwork at argentina plus dip & pack can go up to 800 usd, then u will have to cover the airfreight which can go from 500 to 900 usd depending wight and size and time of the year, and after that the import clearance costs at US plus the ground shipping which are minor costs compared to the airfreight and argentina's side costs.
Dont know if u are coming with other pals. If so, be aware that some ranches/brokers tend to group several items from different hunters to lower the total cost of papaerwork (1 paperwork, several hunters game under 1 single hunter name). You should avoid large grouping and more precisely with red stag trophies. Having more than 2 stags under same hunter's papaerwork will fire and alert at US fish and wildlife. They know that getting a Stag is ok, having 2 can also be possible. But having 3 by a single hunter will definitely bring their attention on the crate, they can stop the impo and start asking clarifications to ur import broker.
We know about this because we deal with different brokers at the US like Global Hunters (FL) . They suffer and handle such grouping issues so u should talk to ur selected broker for more details on that aspect.
Hope this helps. U can PM for more detailed info regarding the export process and papaerwork.

Good luck and good hunting.

I hunted in March of this year and still don't have the trophies. Next week, next week, next week is a common refrain.

Once you leave you have very little leverage.

Speaking of costs, how about $27.50 US for one quart of Mobil 1 motor oil!!! This is the current rate in Chile! Talk about thieves!!1

This is enough to make me reconsider a hunt in SA next year.

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
This is enough to make me reconsider a hunt in SA next year.

I wouldn't worry about it, you can only drink so much Mobil 1.

Gato... you have not met my old Chevy pickup.

From my hunt in March of 2014 I am about $1700 to get 2 blackbuck from the outfitter in Santa Rosa to the taxidermist in Texas.

My Trophy shipments from Argentina were more expensive per size/weight than any of my African safaris. Poitahue did a fantastic job of keeping everything straight and was upfront about 1-man, 1-box for shipping trophies. They even sent a replacement hide (Santiago is a good guy). I still have 5 sets of stag horns in limbo (not Poitahue, another ranch) because I refuse to pay $1600.00 a piece to import them back to the USA. This is nothing new for Argentina trophy shipments, so plan ahead and try to work as much as possible through the hunting operation.

Hi John e.
Thanks for the mention. You are right when pointing that Argentina´s airfreight to US are more expensive than Africa route. Unfortunately, we are over the Africa avge. The trophy volume freight from Africa to US is ten times the amount of trophies we ship from AR. Airfreight and handling from Africa are way less expensive than AR route due to a simple matter of volume. We are trying to improve the costs but its difficult to get better deals with our nowadays volume.

My friend and I paid a total of approximately $3,000 to get 1 buffalo trophy each from our Argentina hunt shipped to the US. They were to be shoulder mounts.

This was from a hunt with Juanpozzi. He used a shipping agent named Federico Testa.

When we finally got the trophies to Best Stretch Fur company about a year later, a Mr. Greene called me to report that they were ruined.

My trophy skull was completely crushed!! Both skins were ruined from lack of preparation. The hair had slipped.

Equally bad was the amount of skin left. There was barely enough to do a head mount rather than a shoulder mount...and that was assuming the hair had not slipped.

Best Stretch reported that the trophies were just thrown in a cardboard box and shipped.

When we got them home just before Christmas our taxidermist refused to mount them. We threw them into the garbage bin.

We contacted Juan to see if he could get just our shipping cost reimbursed but he replied that it was Testa's fault and Testa is evidently not being responsive.

If you hunt Argentina just go for the hunt. Don't expect to get a trophy from the hunt mounted - at least that is our experience.

Sadly Palmer is totally correct export trophys from here to USA costs aprox 1500us each VER EXPENSIVE COMPARED WITH THE HUNT and lately we have had some exportation problems but this is corrected with a new broker.
I offered Allen -palmer -a free safari .The safari was great hes a great hunter and at least in his previos reports Allen said we have had a great safari.To destroy a buffsalo skull is very difficult but it was done .....never happened before they can ruin the furs but destroy a skull i even thougth that was on pourpouse some ecologist in an airport or just accident ...

This is how my buffalo skull arrived

Is there anything to keep you from bringing your trophys with you? (If you have time to prep them)
I see people bringing there Ibex trophys from Asia with them on the return trip. I brought my mtn. goat back with me from Canada.

Sounds like stag hunt in Europe might be bargain then?
Or Texas?

Yes you can take the trophies with you if they are well preparedand a broker made your papers .

13 months from the hunt and still no shipment on the way. The excuse is always "the government is slow".

Is it really THAT slow?

It is safe to say that I plan hunts with the idea that I will never see the animal again.

I have had problems a couple of times, sometimes you can do a better job setting things up on the front end.

Sometimes there is nothing you can do.

quote:

Originally posted by sheephunterab:
It cost us a little over $3k for 8 animals from Argentina.....pretty much on par with African shipments. Watch for scams though. On two occasions we had other brokers tell us they were taking over the shipment when they really weren't. Of course they wanted money. I suspect the taxidermist gave them our information.

I had that happen to me in Namibia. I couldn't tell you up from down, and who ended up with what at the end. I just know it wasn't me.

I know hunt for experiences, meat and trophies are a lot more interesting to bring home. Sometimes you get screwed and sometimes you don't.

A friend of mine in Australia used to say he never saw a coffin with a strong box.

I'd put it this way, taxidermy and trophies are nice, but I don't think I'll have room for it in my coffin.

quote:

Originally posted by Thunder Head:
Is there anything to keep you from bringing your trophys with you? (If you have time to prep them)
I see people bringing there Ibex trophys from Asia with them on the return trip. I brought my mtn. goat back with me from Canada.

My friend who guides in Argentina brings his back with him on the plan as checked baggage. Obviously prepped and papered correctly.

Now I here this makes my put a trip to Argentina on the back of the list

I hunted with Santiago. Came home with great memories and pictures. Have always shipped trophies home but decided not to from Argentina.
Roland at Trophy Shot Prints took my pictures and made them art. Feeling great about the decision.

Ski+3

It's pretty darn expensive. The shipping quote I got for my buffalo skull was nearly $1,000.00 and the actual shipping cost portion was only about $170.00...... Not cheap.

Gentlemen ,i sent trpohies 2 months agao everything worked perfectly ,i sent 4 trophis in a package to USA for 1300us .I used Federico Testa broker .The cost is for package you can send several trophies in your package .

Juan asked me to post a photo of my buffalo, so here it is. Also a link to the online version of the article for anyone interested. Sorry for the thread hijacking!

http://www.americanhunter.org/...uth-american-safari/

Thank you sir . Currently on buffalo safari on herseback for several days .