Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Deposit in!! Namibia 2021

nah, he doesn't deserve the "you suck" moniker.....but a hearty GFY would work, I think....but I will add
that I am jealous as Hades and therefore my own...."I HATE YOU!"

ok, upon further review......you suck.

Have fun and take lots of pictures. When you think you have enough, take more and share!

My wife & I went to Namibi in 2011. We hunted about 40 clicks out of Windhoek. Took 6 plains game animals, kudu ,2 gemsbok, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest & a steenbok. I had all 6 euro mounted on wooden plaques plus we had 3 hides tanned & made into flat rugs. You will have a fantastic trip going over with the adrenal kicking in, then the actual hunt with guides & trackers with unbelievable eye sight, both spotting game & tracking. Our only negative was the trip back, with planes leaving late and missing connections we spent 44 clock hours in airplanes or airports before we walked back into our home and died. Several have already said you need to start saving for the next trip and that's what you will want to do. There is something magical about Africa. Take a LOT of pics, they will bring back memories.

I guess I suck!
I am very open to other species, but for sure want a kudu, gemsbok and impala. I may commit to a Hartman's zebra, seeing they are indigenous to Namibia.
In general, not decided yet on taxidermy or not, I was thinking about having it done in the US, over a longer period of time, if I decide to proceed with it. At this point, I don't really have a place to put it up anyway, but would hate to want it after the trip and not being able to. I am still at point in my life in which I prefer more shooting than not.

M3taco - thanks for the advice on ruggedness of skins
No planning on making things complicated, and advice here is always well considered.

Sponxx:

You REALLY need to make up your mind about skins and taxidermy BEFORE the skinners put blade to hide.

The reason is where and how they will make their cuts. For example on a zebra flat skin for a rug, they will make the main body cut up the mid-line of the belly from the tip of the tail all the way up to the underside to the bottom lip.

IF you want a head/shoulder mount, they will use a string around the circumference of the body behind the shoulders and make their initial cut around the body following that string line. Then they will cut up along the mid-line of the mane. This way when the hide is put back over the poly "frame" the stitches will be hidden in the mane. You'll also have a "back skin" that you can have made into something else.

Once the hide is cut for one or the other, it's pretty much too late to change your mind. The skinning process for all PG regarding head/shoulder mounts vs flat skins pretty much holds true to this. Just used the zebra as the best/easiest/most obvious example.

One more species that make very good flat skin rugs are red h/b. Very soft on bare feet. We've got one on each side of the bed on hardwood flooring. No felt backing and they've held up VERY well for nearly 10-years due to just mostly bare feet on them.

M3

You should consider adding an Eland to your trophy list. Hunting them by tracking is as close as you can get to hunting Cape Buffalo, except a fraction of the price and better tasting.

In addition to all the great recommendations on trophy animals, you really need to spend a couple of days in Etosha. If overnighting in Windhoek, the #1 rated restaurant according to Trip Advisor is the Stellenbosch Winery. I ate there in May 2019, and a Fillet Mignon dinner with a Tafel Lager beer cost $18.00 US. It ranked up there with Ruth Chris Steakhouse or the Capital Grill.

My two cents. Don't do taxidermy except for skins (and don't get the black felt lining no matter what someone tells you). Put an 8x10 photo of each animal on your walls instead.

As for animals. Impala and warthog are inexpensive so I would do both. Kudu and Gemsbok have spectacular horns so I would do those. Hartmann Zebra and Blue Wildebeest for the skins and because they are iconic Africa.

Costco offers an 11” X 14” Acrylic print for $44.00 that is just outstanding. It comes with a hanging bracket and takes less than a week to process. You just email them the JPeg image, select your closest Costco and pick the desired size.

Another inexpensive tip is DIY Warthog tusk mounts. First fill the tusks with paraffin wax to prevent cracking. Next do a Google/ EBay search for “Warthog plaques”. I found one for $27.00 from a source in Latvia, postage paid. It turned out very nice and looks like it was professionally done.

What is an acrylic print?

This! Wish I would have had several thousand more when I was there. Ended up passing on a giant Kudu and i'm still trying to kick myself in the ass for that! Good luck!

Ohh and I'm using Cade Taxidermy just outside of Dallas for my trophies. Saw some incredible pictures of his work here on the fire.

Ingwe - I am already saving, I now measure everything I save/spend $$ in "extra game"
M3Taco - Thanks for the details. Even though I have not committed to taxidermy or skins, I do know that my decision has to be very clear prior to skinning. Fortunately, I have over a year to decide.
BulletBud, thanks for the tips. Impressed by Eland, in general, but will depend on availability and costs. Not sure what and acryclic print is either

Post Oak and Sponxx: Do a Google search for “Costco Acrylic print” and you’ll see what it looks like. Instead of printing on photo paper, the image appears on rigid acrylic (plastic). It should last a lifetime and requires no frame.

Thanks, those *do* look nice.

Excellent recommendation.