Here are the excuses sent to my by the laywer of the taxidermist.
We have now consulted with our client, and our client instructed us to respond as follows:
1. Your hunt took place during summer, with temperatures up to 35ï½°C;
2. No field preparation was done on your trophies, as is normally required after any hunt, especially since you hunted during summer;
3. Our client pointed out to you that because the field preparation was not done, the possibility of hair slip and a poor trophy, was highly likely;
4. You also were not willing to pay the normal fee, and pressured our client for the local fee and our client specifically told you that he will not be doing the taxidermy work himself, but that one of his workers will do it, to which you and the æ’¤H consented;
5. The gemsbuck skull perished after the cooking process and our client replaced it, free of charge, with another gemsbuck skull, to mount it according to your specifications. This is something that normally happens with skull mounts where the animal was taken down with a headshot, which means that our client actually did you a favour;
6. The caracal is indeed the caracal shot by you and the poor state, that you claim it is in, is due to the fact that the initial field preparation was not done;
I wrote the laywer that his client should state his name on the hunting form and start this discussion with the readers of the forum. So far, he does not dare to do it, but we will see.I can only give you the facts, facts which can if needed be confirmed by the people who were with my during the hunt, the films and the pictures made.
The rooikat was shot at 17.00 hours. In less then 20 minutes, it was put into the freezer and it was transferred in a totally frozen state to the taxidermist one or two days later. I payed 3950 RAND for a full mount. This was on his own list of prices which i still have and will scan and post if anybody wants to see it. I did not get a bill. My oryx was shot right between the eyes with a .300 win mag 168 grain Barnes TTSX Bullet from a distance of about a 100 metres. I was especially proud of the shot cause i know that in SA everybody shoots between the eyes, but we european hunters are not used to it.
Can anybody help me with the following questions:
1. If an animal is put within 20 minutes into a freezer, is that a totally wrong way to treat a trophee? In Europe, i have done that a lot of times and i never had a bad result.
2. The story that a skull desintegrates in the cooking proces when it was shot between the eyes, is that a plausible story?? The fact remains that is was replaced without me knowing it and i paid full for it, but let's start with the facts first.