Taxidermist costs

[Steve Franks]

Prior to hunting in RSA, I check into having my animals mounted in the U.S. or having them done in RSA. My local taxidermist who has hunting all over Africa for 40 years advised me to have them mounted in RSA. He does great work, but like he said, if you were from RSA hunting in the U.S., have a taxidermist in that country (RSA) mount an American animal? It cost him a lot of money for this advice! It cost me $450 to have my Kudu mounted. For all my trophies the cost was $2600 for 10 animals. Shipping via sea, delivered to my home was $2350. This was shipping cost was split with my father in law who had 8 trophies crated with mine. My PH took me to a local taxidermist's shop prior to the hunt to see what the animals "really" looked like, where to aim at different angles, and to see this man's artistry.

As for your choice of calibers, my PH said to use the rifle I could shoot the best with a heavy bullet. I used a .375 H&H for everything (plains game) with a 300 grain Swift A-Frame. My nephew used a 7MM Remington Magnum with Speer Grand Slams. We never recovered any of my bullets and only one of Ryan's and it was from a Zebra.

Make or buy a set of shooting sticks, tripod is the best, and practice, practice, and practice. Good luck and I hope this helps.