REPORT: Karoo Taxidermy in Graaff Reinet

[RolandtheHeadless]

Has anyone dealt with or heard about Karoo Taxidermy? I'd be interested in hearing any info, good or bad.

 

[bluey]

they did our 2014 hunting trophies
they have been most pleasant to deal with
ive waited to import them m , so everything could come back at once , but it doesn't look lkike Australia is going to let lions into oz , even prebann , ones , so the plains game will be on there way shortly
while the lioness is going to Zambia
the taxidermy was done with in 7 months , and ready to shipthen aswell
we went to look at the mounts in janurary this year while in south Africa
and asked to see them
they pulled them out of storage , opened the crates so we could look them over , all with out fuss or complaints
they havnt complained once that the threy are still at there facility or anything like that
im more than happy with the quality o0f there work
and will be sending a lot of my Zambian trophies from last year there aswell

 

[farrokhrt]

I have 3 trophies that were done by them and am very happy with their work and timeliness. Great communication as well. Shipping boxes were first rate and all got here (Tampa, Florida through Atlanta import facilities) in perfect shape.

 

[enysse]

If their mounts look like the pictures on the webpages, it's great work.

 

[CAustin]

I have 3 trophies that were done by them and am very happy with their work and timeliness. Great communication as well. Shipping boxes were first rate and all got here (Tampa, Florida through Atlanta import facilities) in perfect shape.

Well there you have it a happy customer!

 

[LDK]

Communication was good, crating was good, but our mounts were not what expected. All finish work (eyes, nose, lips) were painted with a small hand brush (airbrush is far superior), my Caracal rug looked awful (paws looked like they had lumps of clay pushed up in them helter skelter) and the face was hideous (open mouth was reminiscent of 1930's India work) ears standing straight up instead of lying down; Kudu's ears reminds you of a frightened Jack Rabbit. Habitat bases were very simple but that's what you expect in most cases and I had no issues with those. Their brochure pictured mounts that resemble good, high quality and detail, however our large group of mounts did not represent this. Their pricing was comparable to other RSA studio's but we were unfortunately unhappy with the work. You get what you pay for. Understand that I spent 17 years in this profession so I'm more critical of taxidermy that most that only hunt. My choice to leave my large group of trophies was made due to both of my clients with me wanting a good deal on price and used the brochure to lean towards leaving them in RSA to be mounted. That choice has never been repeated. This was 8 years ago so take this with a grain of salt if your happy with average mounts. There are some excellent taxidermists in RSA but they do the work themselves and their prices are comparable to US studio's.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Communication was good, crating was good, but our mounts were not what expected. All finish work (eyes, nose, lips) were painted with a small hand brush (airbrush is far superior), my Caracal rug looked awful (paws looked like they had lumps of clay pushed up in them helter skelter) and the face was hideous (open mouth was reminiscent of 1930's India work) ears standing straight up instead of lying down; Kudu's ears reminds you of a frightened Jack Rabbit. Habitat bases were very simple but that's what you expect in most cases and I had no issues with those. Their brochure pictured mounts that resemble good, high quality and detail, however our large group of mounts did not represent this. Their pricing was comparable to other RSA studio's but we were unfortunately unhappy with the work. You get what you pay for. Understand that I spent 17 years in this profession so I'm more critical of taxidermy that most that only hunt. My choice to leave my large group of trophies was made due to both of my clients with me wanting a good deal on price and used the brochure to lean towards leaving them in RSA to be mounted. That choice has never been repeated. This was 8 years ago so take this with a grain of salt if your happy with average mounts. There are some excellent taxidermists in RSA but they do the work themselves and their prices are comparable to US studio's.

Pictures?!?!

 

[LDK]

None taken as I never cared to show anyone but I'll see if I can get one of the caracal rug as an example. I do however show photo's of work I've had done by The Artistry of Wildlife (Michigan).

 

[Beans]

They do good work. They have experience in all of Africa's animals and receive from the whole of Africa to mount and then ship it out.
Will highly recommend them to you

 

[LDK]

BRICKBURN, apologies for the slow reply, I was away on a fishing trip. Let's start with my Caracal Lynx; these photo's should answer any questions concerning my ordeal with Karoo Taxidermy. I'll add text if needed but these photo's speak for themselves.

Rear foot (all 4 feet looked and felt like some form of clay had been poked up inside with no attempt to smooth into shape. They are lumpy and look ridiculous)

Bad sewing job is evident; located in the center of the back (about 5 inches behind the head and quite visible)

Much hair is missing on the top of the tom's head. Note the left & right ear and the top of the head; apparently the use of some sort of epoxy was used for some unknown reason: gluing down unruly hair?

Side view of front foot; odd shape is obvious.

My Cape Grybok life size

More bad looking eyes (all mounts had these eyes...and noses

One of two life size Genets that were mounted on sculpted wood (artificial wood)

Feet of Genet; note how they "melted" into the wood

My 18.5 inch White Blesbok; oh joy!

 

[CAustin]

Ouch the last pictures look terrible!

 

[tedthorn]

Ouch

 

[enysse]

That caracal makes me want to cry

 

[cpr0312]

Oh man, feel bad for you, that's unfortuante

 

[Boela]

Yoh! I have seen better looking props in horror films!

Sorry about the poor quality taxidermy work, I feel for you.

Regards

 

[enysse]

The genet is not good either

 

[harden]

So sorry David..your not used to that kinda workmanship. PS there website is not even up and running...HMM wonder why?

 

[rookhawk]

@The Artistry of Wildlife when you see work like this, is there anything that can be done? Can world class taxidermists unravel bad mounting or is it permanently "set" once it's been treated and glued to forms?

 

[harden]

This is gone it can't be fixed....I can do miracles when remounting and have done a lot of them and DLK is a friend an client but this I wouldn't touch....

 

[Brandon Ryan]

Brickburn sorry to see your negative results from dealing with Karoo Taxidermy in Graaf Reneit, RSA. But I told you so, from our original post warning everyone a year prior. As I review the post I see you commented numerous times, we warned everyone to possibly save people the same frustration we had experienced dealing with this shop, but was surprised at the few members here in that wanted a trial or defense attorney assigned for Karoo taxidermy. If you don't head the warnings you get to go through it yourself. Your pictures are representative of some of the trophies we seen there. Also I had previously mentioned another guy received his bushbuck back from Karoo taxidermy on a springbuck form, noticeably smaller. Again, I really am sorry you experienced such terrible service from them. Maybe your post will help some other guy.