I hunted in Limpopo Province, South Africa, in May 2013. I am still awaiting my trophies. The shipping company says there was a crash in the game department's computer system causing the delay in getting export permits. Is anyone else still waiting because of this, and is a seven month and counting wait reasonable?

BTW, these are scalp and horns, not mounted.

Unfortunately Limpopo and North West provinces are having a tough time with their Dept of Environmental affairs, so much so that PHASA (professional hunters association of SA) has given them a vote of no confidence to National DEA.

In the Eastern Cape we looking at 3-4months for dip and pack and 8-9 months for taxidermy

I hunted the NW province in SA in May of 2013 also. We got our dipped and packed skulls and hides just a couple of weeks ago.

Hunted Sept 2012 and capes and horns cleared customs end of May 2013

Dip, pack, crate, a year or so. Trophies done over there, 1 1/2- 2yrs.



maddog

Sheesh 2 yrs that's excessive. Hope that it doesn't take that long with yours DHN.

REMEMBER too that the time starts at the date of deposit. I had a guy moan to me about his shipment taking 2 years but he only paid his deposit 18 months into it.
Good luck with your shipment

I wait for deer shoulder mounts on average a year from the taxidermist that lives on the same road I do! I hunted the Eastern Cape this past April and have not even thought about the 7 trophies coming yet. I figured dip and pack along with crating and shipping from the other side of the world would be at least 12-18 months if not longer.

Hunted Limpopo in May, '13. Told in July by taxidermist they would be in my hands within 12 months. I know the Kudu is done as they have sent a picture but don't know the progress of rest. Only other mount being done is Warthog...rest are just skulls and skins so....we'll see. I will send an inquiry though......

Do you mind me asking who's doing your dip an pack here in the EC ?

Two last hunts, hunted in Zim and had the trophies mounted in RSA. Almost one year to the day from dirt to my wall..

Jorge, you should have allowed them time to take the dirt off :-)

I hunted the Limpopo province last June-July,buffalo,kudu,zebra,warthog & impala. The trophies went to Swift Dip and then to Zingela Forwarders.We received the shipment to our US taxidermist about Dec.10.Everything was in good condition although the taxidermist remarked the shipping box was "beat up".All the above resulted in a cost of about $2250.Swift Dip and Zingela were very good to work with.Also was told these people take a fairly long holiday break.
Good Luck

Thanks for all the replies. It sounds like it's not out of line, yet. I was a little worried because it took a little less than three months to get them from Namibia.

Mankazana Safaris has a dip and pack on site. They did ours. Kevin

Seems long from what I've been told.
I also hunted the Eastern Cape but in August. From what I've been told mine should be January. This could be wrong.
Taxidermy Africa is handling the pack and dip for me.

Biebs, I think they used a pressure washer for that See you at Michael's or Ken's booth at DSC?

I use Highveld Taxidermists and stuck with them when you waited almost 2 years for your trophies. These days from delivery and deposit paid to your doorstep is about 11 months for taxidermy. Skulls and skins should not be less than 3 months and not more than 7, even from both North West and Limpopo where I do most of my hunts.

I've hunted in RSA a number of times, and in three other African countries. Except for one zebra skin, haven't had any taxidermy done over there, and have had the stuff here between 4 and 8 months--except for one time when a dipschidt guy in San Francisco decided he'd hold up a warthog for no good reason. That delayed getting the shipment to my taxidermist for another two months, and cost me another $650 in "storage fees."

On my last big game safari went to Tanzania and had all the stuff at my taxidermist in 6 months. They usually get stiuff done in 6-8 months, but that was right after the hunting season here in Montana so my stuff was behind a bunch of elk, deer and pronghorn. They got a couple skull mounts back to me soon enough, but just got word they finished up the remaining pair of shoulder mounts and another zebra rug.

Shooting something on another continent can vary considerably in the time it takes everything to be ready here!

The wife & I left Namibia on Sept. 30 of 2011 and I went to Dallas on May 12th 2012 to pick up our 6 euro mounts plus 3 tanned hides.

See you at the DSC Convention, look me up at booth 3348, Klawerberg-Namibia, Jan Visser is the outfitter & owner.

Well before I could send High Veld a message as to when my stuff
would be ready, I got an email from them telling me they are ready and to send the rest of the $$$$! So shot in June and ready for shipment in January! 2 shoulder mounts and 6 skulls and tanned skins.

So now the question is: what do I do when they get to Atlanta?
Can I go pick them up? How do I get them through customs, etc.?
Never having dealt with this I am totally lost. Any info would be
appreciated.

You can hire a broker like Coppersmith, or if you have a whole day to do this, you can easily clear them yourself. It's a time consuming process, but not complicated and not a secret. Customs and F&W will walk you through it.

When they arrive you will be called by the shipper to come get the crate. When you arrive to get the crate they will hand you the file with the import documents. You then take this to F&W........... Oh forgot to mention this. The shipper will begin charging you storage almost instantly. If you cannot get there for a week you will have additional charges for storage.

Okay, so you make an appointment, or simply walk into the Federal F&W office and tell them what you are doing. They will hand you a pad of Import forms. You will need to fill them out. Nothing awfully complex. You have all the answers on the documents provided by the shipper.

Example: flight number, date, carrier,
then: Species, Latin name and common name, amount, Country of origin, License numbers. All this is included with the import packet from the Taxidermist/Dip Pack and shipper. On a very rare occasion they did not include latin names. If you don't know all the latin names of the game then bring that info with you. You know what's coming and can sort that out now.

After F&G signs off and stamps the import doc's for you. The next stop is US customs. Hand them the Federal F&W forms. They will ask you if everything is yours, and what the value is. You may want to have a conversation with the Taxidermist to come to an agreement on the prices shown on the invoices in dollars, not rand. I have had very tough assertive near arguments with Customs on this. When the amount shown is simply a number US Customs defaults to American dollars. If it's in Rand it could be 7-10 times that amount.

If the Taxidermist lists US dollars for the amounts you agree to with him then you will pay tax on this amount. He wants to list it for the insured amount. You want to have it listed as low as possible. You will pay tax in finished goods. There is no Tax on dipped and packed raw product.

After you pay the Customs debt, they will stamp your papers "cleared" and you go pick up the crate.

The Union workers on the dock at the freight terminal will not be much help to you. They will set the crate on the back of your truck......... that's it. They will not uncrate your trophies to help you fit them into an SUV, nor will there be a place to do this in the shipping area. You need to have a pickup truck that they will simply place the crate for you.

If anything in that crate is owned by another person you cannot do this. Multiple owners in the same crate must be done by a Broker. You cannot clear customs with items you do not own. That requires a Brokers License.

I have done this 50 times or more now in the Seattle Airport. It's gone the way I describe it almost every time. The times it has not, have been nobody available at the F&W office on the day I show up, or some problem with the paperwork once or twice. Also one single time, federal F&W went to inspect the crate personally. That was with a 20 something girl F&W officer and her Mentor so he could teach her some of the process. I was actually asked up front if they could do this as part of her training. I agreed straight away, knowing that that I could use favors down the road someday!

Any other questions let me know.

My trophies from July 2013 in the Northwest are sitting at the warehouse in Jo'burg ready to be shipped. Found out this week one of the permits hadn't been issued yet. As soon as that's ready, will have them sent.

I used Fauna & Flora for brokerage.

My four shoulder mounts and back skins fully mounted and tanned from June 2013 arrived Atlanta on Dec 25. They are currently at F&W awaiting licenses which should be done next week and pick up later in the week. 6 1/2 months from bullet to wall ain't bad.

Coppersmith called today for payment of $400 and they will be picked up tomorrow. In the box are a Buffalo, a red heartbeest, a waterbuck and a warttie plus all the back skins and a zebra rug for my booking agent. These are all head and shoulder mounts so it should be a big box.

I hunted in the Limpopo this past late July. My trophies landed in Chicago about three weeks ago. The skins went to a Michigan tannery and my taxidermist has the horns, in Minnesota. He sent me a pic of the horns last week.