Headed out Tuesday

[Hunting Hitman]

Good advise, I did see a lot of delays in clearance of shipments recently but many, not all, we’re on the left coast for some reason and the majority of them were in California.

It does seem to happen more on the left coast of this great country. I almost exclusively use Houston, Texas when importing animals.

HH

 

[gizmo]

Hello sir, I own Top of Texas Taxidermy and I would love to mount your animals. We have done a ton of work for fellow AH'ers and please feel free to reach out if we can help you.

 

[Justbryan]

First trip to Africa is special! Enjoy it to the fullest and take lots of photos.

Regarding Houston area taxidermist, I've used David Major (https://www.majorcreationstaxidermy.com/ ) in Cypress (NW Houston area.) for several animals with great results and usually 6-8 months turnaround. It would have been good to contact a preferred taxidermist earlier and get some laminated tags with your name, address, phone, email, etc and then also either the taxi or tannery shipping info. For Houston area, I would suggest using Coopersmith to handle the shipping and import.

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Good advice. Get plenty of tags like @375 Ruger Fan suggested, i.e. one for horns & one of hide. So 8 for horned animals and 2 for animals with just hides. Add in a few for extra animals. Get at least 18 to 24 tags from Coppersmith in Houston. Contact Coppersmith and get a packet sent to you and complete the info, request tags before going, and sign a Power of Attorney. Give the tags to the PH for putting on each animal. The packet will have all the steps for before the hunt, during the hunt, and after the hunt. They also have a video giving shipping details.

Coppersmith will save you money on the storage fees that other are getting hit with especially with warthogs, baboons, etc. It is better to use Coppersmith's tags than taxidermist's tags in my opinion. Coppersmith has an approved warehouse so it can be stored in their facility until cleared. Check this for Houston but I believe that is true for Houston also.

 

[Justbryan]

Gizmo does great work also and has done some mounts for me. If using someone like Gizmo check with that taxidermist about which port of entry to use. You want to ship from port of entry as short of a distance as possible. Sometimes you can pick up items at Coppersmith yourself (will say some shipping cost) if not required to go to an approved taxidermist from shipper. Coppersmith has a database of these taxidermist. Gizmo is on the list and probably most of the larger taxidermist in Houston area.

 

[Justbryan]

Just be careful with any import company. My friend used Coppersmith coming into San Francisco and it sat for 2 weeks in a warehouse. He fought the extra charges and eventually negotiated a fairer price.

The important thing is do your homework but stay on top of them.

HH

It is all about whether the port of entry has a Coppersmith warehouse than can hold the items till inspected by all the appropriate agencies. My last shipment sat in Dallas for a week at Coppersmith and there was no storage charge. You are not shipping to California so ask about storage fees in Houston. It is a real problem that can add lots of money to your bill.