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.

[bsterns]

Steve, thanks. That was tremendous information. I hope I can get by as frugally as you with the taxidermist. I am using a 338-06 with 250gr. sierra boattails that are very accurate in that gun. I also will bring a 280 Remington using 162 hornady boattails, equally accurate. I have not practiced with the shooting stix yet. I don't know if I have time to order them. I leave in less than 2 weeks.

[BradC]

Hey Bob,

Had my six trophies mounted in RSA as well. i used Taxidermy Africa and was very pleased with both the product and service.

Look on ebay for sticks. I ordered some a few months ago and had them in just a few days.

Good luck on your hunt. I'm sure you will be planning your return before you every get off the plane in the US.

Brad

[grayghost]

Bob:
Should be no problem to move any extra capes you ship home. Do not have them tanned in SA; ship them raw/salted (flint). They will have to go to a Taxidermist who is licensed with the US F&W due to import regs and will need to be re-disinfected, but this is no big deal. You'll have an average of 6-8 months for delivery on raw skins/skulls (save up more $$$) or as much as a year or more if their mounted in SA. Any capes you do not mount will sell. No red tape unless you take a CITES animal or Primate (you mentioned neither). SA Airlines flies out of Dallas, next trip give me an email and I'll pass along a company in TX that has served us well. We're flying out of Atlanta to Dulles (DC) but only because after we booked a direct flight (Johannesburg) SAA dropped their direct Atlanta route. They paid for our DC flight, no cost to us. I leave in mid July. 10 day hunt; 13 animals. May sub a few due to my desire to only take mature trophy's. I'm not interested in anything with milk on its lips or a "representative" of the species. All of my game will be shipped here (TN) and turned over to Foster Butt (Wildlife Taxidermy). I left an Antelope and Whitetail with Foster this past fall and both are hanging on my wall already. Return time was less than six months, and quality is on par with the big names in the US. Having been a professional Taxidermist myself for 17 years, I consider carefully who does my mounts today. We're also using an expediter since this is my first trip to SA. Forms are there and we will be met at the airport and escorted through all the red tape. Fee was well worth it and not expensive. Let us hear all about your trip when you get back. Stay safe and good hunting, grayghost

[John Duarte]

Bob,
I just got the shipping bill for my trophies that I took last year. The shipment contains two shoulder mounts ( springbok and blesbok ), two oryx and two kudus each mounted on plaques, and two skins. The total came to $1227.25 That gets them to the customs broker in New York ( Fauna & Flora ). There will be a few hundred more for customs clearance and forwarding to Maine.
Hope this helps.
John

[bsterns]

Grayghost, that is good advise. I will let you know the outcome of the trip. Just one week from tomorrow. I am supposed to take gemsbok, kudu, eland, impala, and warthog. I could substitute blesbuck, springbuck, steenbuck, or duiker for the Eland if desired for the same money amount of the package. I could add more to the list for more moolah.
John Duarte, that bill sounds very reasonable for all that much game. On the plaques are they mounted with just the top of the skull plate or the whole skull and are the skins just salted or tanned? Which skins did you keep? That price sounds good. I will have to check Reiser out for sure.

[John Duarte]

Bob,
The skulls are whole except for the lower jaw. I kept a kudu skin and one from the blesbok. They are tanned and I drape them on chairs or hang them on beams.
I'd be curious as how you do with kudu. There is a rabies outbreak among kudu and I wonder how it has affected them. We hunted near Wilhelmstahl where rabies has been reported in the kudu population. I didn't see any problems with numbers. Anyway let us know how you do. Have a great hunt.
John

[grayghost]

The skull mount John refers to is called a European skull mount. It can vary from using the entire top section of the skull (upper teeth included) or having the top portion sawed in half (removes the upper jaw and teeth). This allows the skull to attach flat to the plaque. Best of luck on your hunt Bob. I'm interested to hear how your ammo performed. Good hunting, grayghost

[bsterns]

Grayghost, my ammo performed great with my 280 rem.. I shot most with 162gr. Hornady BTSP. I shot one springbuck at 360 meters moving. I also shot a kudu offhand running. All game never got more than 35 yards or more after I shot them. I shot a macehog(sp?) which is a little weasle type of creature that is very small. It hit him behind the front shoulder. His front leg was hanging by 1/4" of skin and the thorax was completely gone. His guts were hanging out of the hole where his lungs once occupied. He ran 25 yds before collapsing. I thought I had missed. He ran off and I thought he had gone down a hole but he just had fallen. Several hours later someone found him and said I didn't miss after all. I could not believe that he ran so far. He is tougher than any of the big game I shot. I had lung shots on most of the game and the kudu and gemsbox ran the fartherest after being shot, no more than 35 yards. They were quartering away and the lung shots were also heart shots or clost to it. The black wildebeast dropped like a rock with a shoulder/neck shot.

[grayghost]

Sounds like you had a great trip Bob! I'm glad to hear your .280 performed so well. I'm going to be using Federal ammo loaded with 160 gr Nosler Accubonds with my .280 and hope to do as well as you did. For mid to small antelope I'm using my .223 with 60 gr Nosler Partitions. Should be the ticket. I leave Monday but I've been too busy to get excited yet. I'm sure that will change when we land on the dark continent Good hunting, grayghost

[bsterns]

Grayghost and John Duarte... RE the taxidermist in Africa(Nyati Taxidermy);
I instructed him to shouldermount the kudu, gemsbok, and steenbuck. I am going to make European mounts of the springbok and Wildebeast. The PH is going to take him the trophies and he will let us know when they are finished. The payment will be made at that time. I thought that was pretty neat since most require 50% up front. The three of us will share a carton or crate. I have awhile to save up my money.

My hunting friends, Larry and Doug, met our PH, Johan, in the United States about 4 years ago. Johan was just getting started with a 50,000 acre ranch in Namibia and invited them to come over. Johan had just gotten his PH certification. He and his brother buy goats in Namibia auctions and sell them in South Africa. He turns over 1000 goats a week. Besides the goat business they are primarily in the game capture business. They have a helicopter and round up game in different areas in Namibia. They then sell them to game management farms. I was hoping to watch them but we did not have time. They advertise in African magazines as Undiscovered African Game LTD.. Johan only guides about 10 parties a year. He keeps the best captured game for himself resulting in a very nice genetic pool. Larry has hunted with him 4 times, Doug three times, and this was my first year. He has one place southeast of Windhoek near Mariental and another in the mountains near the Namib desert which is southwest of Windhoek near the ocean. We hunted 10 days in the Kalihari and 3 days in the mountains.

The taxidermist also has a very large ranch which they call a farm. He is quite wealthy but likes to do taxidermy. He is a friend of Johan hence the no money down.

I do not want to bore you with a lot of trivia but since this thread is about taxidermy then I felt it was apropo. I do tend to ramble at times. I can't wait to see the mounts.

[John Duarte]

Bob,
One of the nicest things about having your work done overthere is the unpacking of the trophies when they arrive via a freight truck at your door. It's like Christmas in July.
John

[Andrew McLaren]

grayghost,

You are so right! [Or correct?] In almost any business where there is a free market system you get what you pay for! Well, mostly you get what you pay for and mostly you also don’t get what you don’t pay for!

I am really unsure of what to advise my clients: To use a trusted local taxidermist, of which I know quite a few, or to just have trophies Diped-'n-Shiped and use a Home Country taxidermist. Your insight has me now leaning more towards advising the latter. The fact that mountings can be scheduled by arrangement means better budget control, AND you can surely stop all work the moment you see that the chosen taxidermist is not doing a good job. I like that, and I don’t think that any of our South African taxidermists are capable of doing that for an overseas client. The admin and shipping costs would be prohibitive. But I suppose that the wise South African Hunting Outfitter will only venture an opinion when actually asked in such a manner that a direct reply is required.

Could you please help some more and provide me with the e-mail address for John Mehan of Fauna & Flora in Jamaica as there are quite a few things about shipping Dipped only trophies to the USA.

Thanks a lot.

[John Duarte]

Andrew,
Fauna and Flora can be reached at customerservice@faunaandflora.com. Their web page is: www.faunaandflora.com. Hope this helps.
John

[grayghost]

John gave you the email so here's the address:
Fauna & Flora CHB Co., Inc.
c/o John Meehan III
152-31 135th Ave.
Jamaica, New York 11434
John has done an excellent job for me and his information before and after my last hunt was extremely helpful. What he said could happen: happened. He took care of a concern in a flash, so we're back to smooth sailing. Just awaiting my CITES permit. As for the Taxidermy query; there's always options. Some must leave their trophies in Africa, as that is a stretch financially, the savings amount to having shoulder mounts done as opposed to skull or european mounts. Not all US Taxidermists, in fact not many are certified by the US Gov't to import and house foriegn game. You must have a US Fish and Wildlife permit (Federal); USDA and Dept of Agriculture to receive and store/mount game that could possibly carry disease. All primates and swine fall under USDA and require special handling. All other game must be dipped (skins) and boiled (skulls/horns). Our Gov't now insists this be repeated upon entry into the US Taxidermists shop. Those that omit or aren't done properly overseas run the risk of importing Ebola virus, Anthrax, and a host of other dread diseases ect. Personally, I won't take that chance. It is a great event to see and hunt Africa. Those of you that have been there understand. I want be able to return. That aside, US Taxidermy of quality costs more. Why? Several reasons. 1. Materials: we have a tremendous choice of forms today. Anything from Bush Baby to Elephant. Forms are made of polyurethane and this is increasing daily (thank you big oil companies!). Glass eyes: Highest quality. Some German; some US made. Tanning (home or commercial) is excellent in the US, some of the best. Everything down to thread and needle. 2. Skill: today's Taxidermists, the top ones are Artists. They no longer "stuff things." They bring game back to life, at least if they're good. Top artists charge top artist pay. I would tell anyone returning from safari to have at least one mount done here. Pick their favorite animal. 3. Cost of living in the US. It costs more here than Africa. However, I do not mean to disrespect Africa or those that live there. I wish I lived in Africa. I'd be quite happy. So, if you want to have control over your Taxidermy work; have the option of mounting one animal at a time (some studio's may not offer this, but most will if you ask. Keep in mind to be responsible. If you say "mount one every two months" then pick up your mount when they call and don't leave them hanging for six months) ship your capes and skulls home. If you can't afford this, keep in mind it is not cheap shipping home completed mounts either. Your savings might go out the window. If anyone has questions or concerns, I'll be glad to address them. You are welcome to email me direct, or get my work phone off my web site. Good hunting, grayghost