Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Taxidermy question.

Just received my mounts and skull mounts back from SA. I had told the taxidermist to leave all horns natural. Of course, when I opened the crate the Wildebeest and Kudu horns have been "painted black" or whatever. I realize there is not much I can do now, but why do they do this? Their own invoice says to leave them natural....but....

I don't want to open up a long distance case of
he said she said or griping but with all the overall beauty, I will always look at them and get p'oed just a little.

The funny thing is they left the Eland and Impala horns natural!

Any information would be appreciated.

Reminds me of the time I had a bear rug made. I explicitly asked for closed mouth. Of course, I got the open mouth . . . Prolly the standard practice for the two species you mention.

They do whatever they think best -- convinced you are mistaken in saying what you want. Also, once their help/business partner gets your order, whatever happens is never anyone else's fault. The way they take care of one another we think of as kickbacks -- just how they do business. You have to find a way to live with it.

I've had horns burned to charcoal, finished rugs covered in their Sevin-dust (Carbodust), shields with broken things I fixed with super glue, ...

Hope you didn't get double-dipped on freight. There's always next time, too. Getting mad simply changes not one thing, my friend.

Thanks agazain.

Always thought closed mouth was better on bear rugs and actually the majority of mounts...

That's why I had capes and horns shipped home for my local taxidermist to do the work, even still my impala cape arrived missing 1/3 of an ear...3 rd world country 3rd world help

I've had to deal with some of that when I did taxidermy. Soured me even more that you had a hard time getting a really good hide back from over there.

HAS to be someone over there that does top notch either mounts or hides to mount...

Last Kudu I did a few years back for a friend, that hide was good, but I bought it off a campfire guy, as the one I was given sucked beyond belief.

There's a balance both ways for where to have the taxidermy completed. If you do have a problem with it being done in RSA you really have little recourse as the distance makes sending it work back. I do agree with the above comment that they will try to convince you that you really don't want it that way. And at times they do what they want regardless of your direction. Lately I have all my work done in RSA, but I have over the years developed a relationship with the taxidermist and know what questions to ask to make sure I get what I want.

I had Big Buck Taxidermy in South Africa send my horns back black and sent dermestids with the hides. My Nyala had a 10X4" bare spot on the shoulder, my Blesbok skull was powder, and I got the wrong Impala.

There is NO recourse, and as agazain so correctly put it, getting mad simply changes not one thing, my friend.

The experience transformed my idea of taxidermy. I now only do European mounts except in very special cases. I never want to be as disappointed as I was with my African animals.

And I want to write one more time, just so a google hit might save someone else: Big Buck Taxidermy of South Africa sucks.

Go in the back room of an African taxidermy business and see who does the majority of work on the mounts and then you will understand.

Mike

Thanks for all the comments....I went in the back room and just wandered around for quite awhile....and was impressed with how the
guys working there were taking their time. I have no qualms about anything done except for the color of the horns. And now that I have been educated on that subject, I may not like it but do understand. I would and will use them again. But I will look into other ways of doing the horns if possible. And I will look into just dip/pack and have it done here.

I think you do want the wildebeest horn somewhat darkened because they tend to fade with time. Do your kudu horns come off? The ones I had done there can just slip off, they were off when the crate arrived to save space. If so, you could set them out in the sun a few days and see if they lighten up to your liking, just make sure an animal doesn't run off with them!

It is possible that the horns are black from fat in the water when the skulls were boiled. In any case, about all you can do now is find a good, experienced African animal taxidermist here and have the horns touched up with paint to look natural. It's commonly done to correct this very problem.

The horn issue, may have started in the skinning shed of your outfitter. The skulls are boiled to remove tissue and also allow for removal of the horns from the skull. If they skull is boiled too long with the horns still on they are discolored which requires painting to bring them back to some semblance of natural color. The taxidermist may well have been trying to adhere to your original instructions of "leaving them natural" by painting them.

The issue could very likely originate with your Outfitter/PH when the heads/horns actually start being "processed" depending on how close your Outfitter lives to the taxidermist and/or how often they deliver client trophies/hides there and climate/conditions (country) your hunting. i.e. hot/humid vs dry cool.

For skulls/horns one method is to just leave them lay out in the open sun to naturally have the flesh rot off/out of the skulls and bleach the bones. Not usually used because it takes time and increases the "possibility" of insect or scavenger damage. In humid climates there is also the possibility of mold/fungus staining the bone.

Probably, the most common method is to "boil" the skulls. Up side is it is quick. Down sides are that if the skulls are "over cooked" the bones can become brittle and later can develop a "powdery" surface. Second issue is as mentioned above - "fat" from the boiling process gets on the horn causing discoloration.

Another method commonly used is called "maceration", where the skull is put into plain water and allowed to soak until any residual flesh/tissue simply rots off the bone. The skulls are normally placed/positioned in the water so that only the skull itself touches the water while the horns remain above. Once the flesh/tissue is off, the skulls are put in the sun to dry and "bleach" for a few days. Downside is that it can take 30-45 days for all the flesh/tissue to rot off the bone and the "smell" is....not pleasant. Upside is the bone is not damaged and retains a smooth surface from not being "over-cooked" or cooked at too high of heat and the horns always maintain their "natural" appearance since they should not come in contact with the water and even it they do any fat/oils are unlikely to cause any stains since they are not heated.

It might me a very good idea to talk to your Outfitter/PH about how they do the initial cleaning/trophy prep before they take it to the taxidermist.

On a tangent, I even considered having a replica made of my kudu horns. That's the long way around (and I didn't). Horns and skull have to "fit" so there's no point ordering up a pair. The other option was to do ebay and try to find a similar matching pair -- also the long way around. I'd opt to try again and hope that luck of the draw would yield a kudu and cape you'd like to match up and hang on the wall. Kudos to kudus!!!

You don't need to have a taxidermist from the RSA to give you a mount with less than a full ear. I had one in Calgary send my mount back with half the ear missing. He claimed it must have been all scarred up and the scar disintegrated in the tanning process, or it got caught in a roller. He claims the ear came back from the tanners shredded, so without asking me, he trimmed the ear in a concave semi circle without asking me. He offered to provide another cape or replace the ear (I was so pissed off, he should of asked me before the mount was finished). I did not take him up on the offer as I did not think he was sincere, or he would have called me when the cape came back "shredded" and asked me what I wanted to do. This whitetail is pretty big, and uniquely coloured. It would have been impossible to match an ear to the cape. I lust paid my money and left with the mount. Other than maybe a badger rug, he has never done anymore work for me, I wonder why?
I still haven't killed another whitetail with a body even remotely close to that body size (hoping to get another cape).

I have been lucky so far besides a missing wildebeast flat skin. That being said, I am on the tangent of taking really good pictures and saving the taxidermy money for another hunt.

Consider yourself lucky. I'm dealing with a nasty nightmare, in which I purchase insurance, just to find out that what I purchase was coverage from SA to the port of entry. Which I know if a bunch of BS from the shipper. Now I have a three damaged animals & a damaged shield. Read my post:

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...oblems_with_Highveld_Taxider#Post8922065

I'm passing the word for other hunters do not make the same mistakes I did.

Well mine was lost, 16 animals. After a year and 3/4 finally got some stuff back. Bushbuck and Impala were delightful, just different ones. Horns on eland, kudu, wildebeest,gemsbok, etc all cracked and black, even crumbly. Tried permanganate, but it didn't help much. Finally just coated the horns with casting resin..awfully shiny, but the crumbles are controlled, and they're at least representative. Bones are fragile, but, Oh Well.