Head was boiled and clean, and the skin was salted and “hard” as any other capes I’ve received from international hunts.
0 issues checking it as luggage, going through customs and just make sure you make an appointment for Fish and Game to come and “inspect” your trophy and paperwork. In SF the f&g rep literally has no idea what he was supposed to do. He asked me if I had the correct forms and what he was supposed to do, I told him I did (and showed them all to him, with a blank stare) and he said “ j think I’m supposed to take this in?” And I told him I was informed I was clear to take it home after inspection and he said OK and I walked out to my car with my trophy back in the bag.
If you are hunting Argali the rules might be slightly different due to the CITES status of the sheep. Your hunt broker or host should be more than up to date on US requirements for importation of your trophies after shelling out that much dough. Obviously, I would suggest you listen to their guidance or hire a trophy import specialist to help you with the process. To bring my Ibex home it simply cost me the extra piece of luggage (which Turkish absolutely took advantage of me on.)