Taxidermy woes

[Nyati]

18/08/13. End of our hunt with Elandsbosch Safaris. Four hunters, 29 trophies taken. Taxidermy to be done by Oberholzer from Lephalale.

04/11/14 Received e-mail from Oberholzer taxidermy, asking for a copy of my passport for the exporters.
At that moment, more than a year has gone without any news whatsoever from the taxidermist, despite several e-mails from our customs agent asking for an update, no reply.

01/03/15 I e-mail Oberholzer asking for an update of our shipment. No reply.

06/03/15 Received an email from EMIAC (shipper) they confirm they have my crate and are in the process of applying for the necessary export and veterinary documents.

On the same date, our customs agent contacts EMIAC and asks when they received the crates, as Oberholzer does not answer.

09/03/15 EMIAC informs our customs agent that they have the crates since 14/05/14.

Another e-mail is received on the same date where EMIAC says they received the crates on the 06/11/14 ????

25/05/15 EMIAC informs still waiting for export documents from Nature Conservation.

16/07/15 EMIAC informs trophies have left JHB.

There is no error on the dates, it took them 23 months to ship my trophies. As I did not know how the situation would develop, I did not make any plans to go to Africa this year, so maybe next year...

 

[bluey]

hope there worth the wait , oldmate.
atleast you know there on the way . better late than never .....
looking foreward to admiring them , when they get to your place ........

 

[Royal27]

Sorry Nyati....

That just sucks! Is this the first time you've ever had an issue and had you used that taxidermist before?

I'm fine with mine taking a while, in fact I asked Paul not to get in a hurry so that I could pay later, but that is ridiculous!!!

 

[Nyati]

hope there worth the wait , oldmate.
atleast you know there on the way . better late than never .....
looking foreward to admiring them , when they get to your place ........

Thanks Bluey, They are already hung on my walls, european mounts, overboiled

 

[Nyati]

Sorry Nyati....

That just sucks! Is this the first time you've ever had an issue and had you used that taxidermist before?

I'm fine with mine taking a while, in fact I asked Paul not to get in a hurry so that I could pay later, but that is ridiculous!!!

I had an issue with another taxidermist Trophex, also from Lephalale who did not disinfect properly a Blue Wildebeest and did not clean warthog tusks !!!

This Oberholzer was supposed to be very competent !

 

[Wheels]

Thanks Bluey, They are already hung on my walls, european mounts, overboiled

I hate that for you.

Overboiling euro mounts happens way to often. Not sure if that's the lowest paid guy at the taxidermy or not, but it certainly has to be the least caring guy. When the overbook the small stuff they just fall apart.

Sorry for the delay as well.

 

[Royal27]

Blows my mind that this happens as often as it does....

My hippo ended up with some chips to the ivory and a couple of missing molars, which I'm pretty sure was due to over boiling. And to be really clear, that was done at Chifuti, not Relive.

 

[harden]

Nyati sorry to hear this makes it bad for all taxidermist. It turns all hunters OFF to taxidermy
Next time try me..6 months at most, usually 3- 4 to get into US .... 6 months to do them and 2 months time ship to you.

Just ticks me off what you have dealt with, your hard earned money, your hard earned trophies and now tarnished memories.
Sorry for all the stress you dealt with from this business.....

 

[ROCKET]

I so sorry to hear this Niaty......for things like this I keeped my old way to do my stuff.........taxidermy back home......I dont want to deal with anybody 15000 Km away from home with my taxidermy work......this issue never stop to be a dark shadow for us...........two years waiting for your trophies.....???.......no way.......I really hope you are able to get them back home........!!!!!

Y dicho en criollo, una tremenda cagada mi amigo.....espero puedas solucionarlo y lo digo de todo corazón......!!!!!

I wish this have a good end whith the trophies in your wall where they should allready be......!!!!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Muppets!

 

[enysse]

Overboiling, every hunters worst nightmare.

 

[bluey]

ive over boiled skulls and they've dried brittle , then ive under boilt them and theve smelled or turned yellow , some have had natural oils secrete from them .
I always put some dish washing liquid in the water or degreaser .
is there a set rule for bringing them up trumps ?
do you boil them for a certain time per weight ?
or is it like getting a pavalova perfect , you must strand by and continually watch it ?

 

[Nyati]

Nyati sorry to hear this makes it bad for all taxidermist. It turns all hunters OFF to taxidermy
Next time try me..6 months at most, usually 3- 4 to get into US .... 6 months to do them and 2 months time ship to you.

Just ticks me off what you have dealt with, your hard earned money, your hard earned trophies and now tarnished memories.
Sorry for all the stress you dealt with from this business.....

Thanks Dennis, but I live in Spain, so it would be a logistical nightmare for you to deal with my trophies.
Concerning taxidermist, it has been bad luck having to deal with these two. I have had excellent work done by Life-Form Taxidermy in Mpumalanga RSA, and could recommend several top notch guys in Spain. And according to the pics I have seen, you are among the best

 

[Nyati]

I so sorry to hear this Niaty......for things like this I keeped my old way to do my stuff.........taxidermy back home......I dont want to deal with anybody 15000 Km away from home with my taxidermy work......this issue never stop to be a dark shadow for us...........two years waiting for your trophies.....???.......no way.......I really hope you are able to get them back home........!!!!!

Y dicho en criollo, una tremenda cagada mi amigo.....espero puedas solucionarlo y lo digo de todo corazón......!!!!!

I wish this have a good end whith the trophies in your wall where they should allready be......!!!!

Problem is, even if you only dip and pack, the skulls still have to be boiled.

Así es , tremenda cagada ! Pero bueno, ya están colgados en casa.

 

[johnnyblues]

I hear more and more stories about taxidermists in Africa all the time. This is why it's so refreshing to hear about folks like Paul from Relive Africa taxidermy. I've heard nothing but good reports on him , from communications to quality of his work to promised completion date. For my hunt in September I'll ship back my leopard (hopefully) and again hopefully some plains game back home only because I want the cat done here. I do plan to return in 2017 for buffalo and plains game and if the reports are still good with Paul I'll have complete confidence in leaving them with him. Sorry you had such a miserable experience.

 

[harden]

Thanks Nyati, I appreciate the compliment.
As for Life Form I don't have or would give them the time of day for dip pack
A year on average to get dip pack out of there.
THEY do it on purpose to U S taxidermists to make themselves look good.
Cripe, I just got a dip pack crate for one of my clients from them, and another guy on his his hunt shot same animals and get his mounts shipped in a month ago DONE from them. They are not good at all.

Enysse, .....Taxidermist nightmare we have to FIX them ! Explain that one to the client, he spends big dollars to get them cleaned and dip pack and they come broken and fried.

No nightmare to deal with overseas stuff...ship it in thru my brokers and ship it out. No big deal.
Cites and paperwork handled. Thanks

 

[UKHunter]

ive over boiled skulls and they've dried brittle , then ive under boilt them and theve smelled or turned yellow , some have had natural oils secrete from them .
I always put some dish washing liquid in the water or degreaser .
is there a set rule for bringing them up trumps ?
do you boil them for a certain time per weight ?
or is it like getting a pavalova perfect , you must strand by and continually watch it ?

For deer in the UK I have found that 2 hours on a gentle simmer or 40 mins in a full on boil does the trick. Washing liquid is very helpful as it removes the grease/oils on the skull. Then secure the head and take a pressure washer to it as to remove any remaining flesh and to clean out the nasal and brain cavity. Then, while the head is still wet apply cotton wool pads soaked in Hydrogen Peroxide (35% food grade available on ebay) for 4 hours. Wear gloves when doing this and avoid get any on the antler as it will stain.

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Thanks Dennis, but I live in Spain, so it would be a logistical nightmare for you to deal with my trophies.

Since you are in Europe, have you looked at Martin Berndt from Berndt Taxidermy in Germany?

 

[Nyati]

Since you are in Europe, have you looked at Martin Berndt from Berndt Taxidermy in Germany?

There is no lack of good taxidermists in Spain, the problem lies in the mandatory preparation done in SA.
My Veterinary Health Certificate says that the skull has been "boiled for a minimum of 30 minutes and treated in formic acid".
I am afraid it was more that 30 min !

 

[UKHunter]

I had my heads mounted as Euro's also, luckily mine were done correctly. Hearing stories like this makes we wonder if it possible to have the skulls boiled at camp in between hunts, at least then you can make sure they have been done properly.