Getting Skull and horns back, nothing else

[Dave Zimmerman]

Greetings all,

I have been lucky enough to have the chance to hunt with Numzaan Safari in South Africa in March 2018. One of my best friends won a 6 day trip with them at an NRA banquet and asked that I go along with him. March 20th-26th, 2018 I will be in South Africa and am starting to plan things out now.

Based on my budget (limited because went through divorce last year and back to living by myself for first time in 9 years), I am planning to shoot an Impala as it seems to be the best bang for my buck in terms of trophy and size. Ive done European mounts back home in KS for whitetail and rams we have shot hunting stateside, so I am comfortable mounting it myself once I get skull and horns cleaned and shipped.

My questions to all of you is this: What is an average cost to have a skull and horns cleaned, bleached, dipped, and shipped to US? I know a lot of factors go into this and I apologize for anyone who is confused. I just need the skull and horns (or skull plate and horns if cheaper) cleaned and sent to me in US so I can mount them myself. I heard skull plates vs entire skull is cheaper and this is fine by me, as plans don't require full skull but if its not that much more expensive im fine with it. Just need the skull cleaned of meat, bleached, and whatever else they need to do to ship it to US.

Trying to get a ballpark price on just this 1 trophy, as budget for trophy fees is limited...especially if estimates for getting it back to US is where im seeing. Ive started to request estimates from taxidermist and shippers in South Africa already, but they aren't 100% clear and hard to get an overall total cost.

Any assistance would be appreciated on my first trip to South Africa and likely last for many many years.
Dave Zimmerman

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

It might be cheaper to have the euro mount done in South Africa and shipped directly to you as a finished product. The dip and pack is around 75-100 usd, but then you have to go the route of crating, importing raw trophies, fees, etc and has to go to a tannery or taxidermist with an import license. If you only take one animal, you could perhaps ship it in your buddy's shipment.

 

[Witold Krzyżanowski]

Welcome to AH.
Good luck and all the best.
Witold

 

[Mekaniks]

If your not going to bring back your hides, tell the skinners to cape and salt them anyway. Then negotiate them with your SA taxidermist or dip/pack. The hides are worth $ and they could save you some money on trades for euro mounts or dip/pack.

 

[IA Monsterbuck]

My advice, save money, borrow money, use a credit card, but shoot more animals. How often are you going to hunt in Africa??

I was just there. Shot 5 of my 6 target animals. Only one I didn't get was a warthog which was the cheapest animal. So pretty much came in right on the budget I set for myself. My biggest regret? Not shooting a couple more animals while I was there. There's time to pay for more animals, more taxidermy, etc. But it may be years before I get back to Africa if ever.

 

[Bert the Turtle]

Here's a dip and pack list for Reisser in Namibia. Should give you a ballpark figure:

http://www.farm-nomtsas.com/Reiser - RAW Euro.pdf

 

[GA Hunter]

I agree with IA Monsterbuck, do all you can to take more animals. Consider taking some cull animals if they are offered. If you do not see them on the price list then ask the outfitter if they are available.

If it is simply not in the cards for you to do more then talk to the outfitter about having your trophy included with your friends. This way the taxidermist will treat all the trophies as if they are one order. There are hundreds of dollars of fees for permits ,shipping, and clearing costs in the US that are tacked onto each individual order and these would be eliminated by doing this. You can work out The who pays what with your friend.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

BD

 

[sierraone]

I agree with IA Monsterbuck, do all you can to take more animals. Consider taking some cull animals if they are offered. If you do not see them on the price list then ask the outfitter if they are available.

If it is simply not in the cards for you to do more then talk to the outfitter about having your trophy included with your friends. This way the taxidermist will treat all the trophies as if they are one order. There are hundreds of dollars of fees for permits ,shipping, and clearing costs in the US that are tacked onto each individual order and these would be eliminated by doing this. You can work out The who pays what with your friend.

Good luck and enjoy your trip.

BD

You can do this depending on the outfitter. My son just combined his with another two months ago.

 

[tedthorn]

I went on a low cost hunt in 2014

I maximised the hunt by taking out a 15k loan

This allowed me to kill 10 different species of African game and bring my wife

With the loan nearly paid off now I have no regrets in doing so

 

[CAustin]

Welcome to AH and enjoy the hunt and take lots of pictures!

 

[enysse]

Just have European done, you won't save much if at all doing dip and pack.