That's $900 worth of an impala pedestal mount trophy. Note the shards of bones, brittle probably from being boiled too long. No, it's not a world record impala, or even a particularly great impala. But it was the result of a long, hot stalk and a long shot that I was proud of.
Sorry for the crummy pixs, but I's sort of running out of the house.
My plan now is to take the remnants of the impala and the kudu (where I'm having trouble remounting the horns to the skull) to a really highly recommend local guy in Ft. Collin who specializes in horn and skull mounts and pay for his hep. I think the impala can be remounted as simply a horn mount.
The packing on these trophies was simply terrible. The trophies were wrapped in "bubble wrap," the the wrap was old or reused and had apparently lost most of of its "bubbles." In effect, it was like wrapping the trophies in multiple layers of Saran Wrap. The trophies were then dumped in a cardboard box and cover with shredded paper...shredded paper! The pedestal mount is fragile...it should have been crated, not tossed into a box!
That really stinks, Michael. I hope your trophies can be salvaged.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this on the podcast today and it scares me a bit since I am planning on a trip to Africa this Spring. Especially since I know how much the shipping is for this kind of stuff! I am thinking about just taking pictures and saving the taxidermy money for a 375 h&h for the next trip.
ReplyDeleteYou went to africa and saw how jacked up things are there and you assumed thet the wrapping of your trophies would be any different? epic
ReplyDeleteMichael: I assume you will not be using the same outfitting service on the next trip?
ReplyDeletewere the mounts done there or back in the states? I'm planning a trip next year and will pay the higher taxidermy fees here if it gets my trophys back in better shape!
ReplyDeleteYEP, won't be using any of the same people. I opted to have the trophies done in Namibia.And Anon, your point is well and ruefully taken.
ReplyDeleteMy tentative plan for future trips — oh please, let there be future trips!!! — is to have the trophies done here in the U.S. Kevin, if you decide to go the Africa route for trophies, make sure you get a COMPLETE accounting of what it will cost to get them to your doorstep. Shipping was TWICE the estimate. Customs fees, estimated at $50 were actually $338. It added up pretty quickly, and hey, what can you do?
My local guy who specializes on skulls and horns is pretty optimistic, so I do feel good about it…
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This is one of the reasons that I didn't want to take the chance with my taxidermy being performed in Africa. I figured that I'd have way more control if it was done here in the States. Sure the outfitter and others will say that it's cheaper to get the work done over there but after seeing this, is it really?
ReplyDeleteOn our second trip to RSA, we allowed a taxidermist over there do our dip-and-pack. While we can't blame him for certain, several of our hides had slippage and unfortunately turned out some disappointing mounts. On the first trip we used an outfit that specialized in only horn and hide preparation.
On a positive note, our hides and horns were packed in custom wooden crates when air-shipped from Jo'burg, not cardboard and bubble-less wrap.
Sorry to see what happened to your stuff and I would have come unglued if that had happened to my trophies given that my trip might have been my a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Fortunately, I've gone again and am planning an other on a couple of years. Still, there's no excuse for such carelessness.
I need to grab the names in your article and check them out to see if they make an appearance at the upcoming Dallas Safari Club show in January.
Sorry, I can't seem to find the names who did this to you. I thought that in the podcast that you said that they were listed, or is it in another post? Thanks.
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