Missing Trophies

[Spearhead]

Perfect illustrations right here:
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/better-questions-to-ask-when-looking-for-a-hunt….23825/

Thank you.

 

[Spearhead]

This shouldn’t make you slow your planning way down. It should make you ask better questions. These negative threads do more damage than good when it scares people away for something that has not happened to the vast majority of us.

Agreed.

 

[Philip Glass]

This scares me enough that I have slowed my planning wayyyyy down. I’m doing homework, but these keep popping up and are ruining the excitement. Swapping hides , missing trophies, exchanging skulls....

If you hunt with a reputable outfitter it should be less of a problem. It has been my biggest frustration on safari. This is one reason I am hunting with Frontier Safaris again. They have their own tannery and taxidermy on site and guarantee finished taxidermy in 6 months. I am tired of it being 3 years from the day I pull the trigger to the day the trophy is on the wall!
Regards,
Philip

 

[Philip Glass]

Unfortunately I too have an issue with the taxidermist Pawprint ( Pieter) recommended. I shot a very nice bull giraffe in June 2018 with them. A huge specimen. After receiving the crate last fall I was struck by how small the hide had become, a product of processing I suppose... I didn't think about it too hard, but recently I got around to comparing photos with what I have and it quickly became obvious I did not receive the right hide. I didn't have much hope anything would be resolved so I didn't pursue it. But here are some photos. Note the small marking in the centre of the large orange patches on 'my' giraffe. Not on the hide I received. Also the hide I got is very poorly done. Very disappointing.
I will say however the mounts I received are fine.View attachment 333805View attachment 333806

That’s a shame. Giraffe hair slips easily in the tanning process. My first one slipped and it was a he said he said as to who’s fault it was(US vs RSA taxidermists). My outfitter Aru Safaris in Namibia gave me a free giraffe hunt due to this trouble. If I were you I would demand an explanation and a replacement hunt.

 

[Philip Glass]

One of the reasons, that I would only deal with an outfitter that actually owns the property and not leases in RSA.

This is so true and my advice as well.

 

[Philip Glass]

Johnny,
I did not write a hunt report after our 2018 trip with Paw Print, maybe I should have, but honestly it never felt like a "hunt". It seems a bit ill on my part to do so now considering Pieter's passing. I had no problems with him, he treated us fairly and all our animals arrived here in the states just fine. Our problems came with the hunting, or maybe what I should call shooting fish in a barrel. Just not my style and it did not sit well with my wife. The accommodations were so so. The cook, Claudius was a great guy from Zimbabwe and was thrilled that I could speak a bit of Shona. Dogs barking all night long made it hard to sleep. When we arrived in camp there was already a group of people there from Norway, really nice folks. The first moment they had without any of Pieter's people around, they gave us the low down and were not happy with the outfit and would not be back again. Small properties, being asked if I wanted to shoot animals in small enclosures. A tracker that, though a great guy that I got along with, could not track a Mastodon in a fresh snow.
The items that really made me uneasy about Pieter and our so called PH were the issues concerning our interactions with Stephen our tracker. I would get out and open gates, speak to Stephen as if he was a human being, laugh and crack jokes, generally treat him like I would anyone else. That did not sit well with the PH, to bad I gave no shits. When I was first introduced to Stephen he was wearing tattered tennis shoes. One day coming back to camp I had our PH stop at the sporting goods store and got Stephen a decent pair of boots. I found out later that the PH told Pieter that Stephen had pestered me to buy him the boots, that was an outright lie, he never knew what we were doing. Pieter took the cost of the boots out of Stephens pay. Fine give the money back to me, don't stick it in your damn pocket.
Our PH never sent us the photos he took, like he promised. I too had seen many good reports here and even spoke with Paw Prints US rep and all sounded good. It just was not hunting by my standards. The final straw was being driven around and around the property surrounding Pieter's new home for 3 days in a row chasing the only 2 Gemsbok on the property. Drove the same roads endlessly, saw the same 6 Zebra several times a day, it was like Groundhog day. We did work our asses of and finally on the last day caught both Gemsbok out in the open.
Best thing that came out of our trip is our continuing friendship with Stephen. We Whats app each other weekly and last year in Johannesburg he and his family were able to come to the City lodge hotel and spend the evening with us on our way to Zimbabwe. We got he and his family a couple of rooms and took them to dinner. It was a treat to see his kids really enjoying the meal, their reactions told me it was something they did not do often. The trip was not a total write off, but if I could go back we would have spent the money elsewhere, as long as I could have still crossed paths with Stephen.

John
P.S. The reason I keep referring to the PH, as the "so called PH"was his constant bragging about how good he was. Told me of the time he spent in Zim, and Moz. as an appy. Then promptly turns around and brags how he has never had to carry a gun while being a PH. You show me an appy PH in ZIm or Moz that does not have to carry a gun. I got a talking to on our first trip to Zim for walking away without my rifle. Sorry if this is off topic for this thread, just finally got to the point where I needed to get this off my chest. I have never referred to this particular trip as a hunting trip when talking to others about it. I call it a shooting trip.

It is important that you and others share their bad experiences like this. So many go on safari and don’t know any better until someone tells him they’ve been had. What a shame.

 

[PARA45]

It is important that you and others share their bad experiences like this. So many go on safari and don’t know any better until someone tells him they’ve been had. What a shame.

I agree with this 100%, and I share my bad experience in every taxidermist post I see. I don't do it to set fear or for you not do your safari. I do it for your awareness, and that sometimes even those who claim to be the "best" taxidermist in Africa, do not care about you the customer. Once you pay, you the customer become less than a second class citizen to them. They got the money, and they are done. Exactly what happened to me, beside the piss poor quality of the workmanship. My next safari taxidermy will be done here in the US.

 

[VertigoBE]

If you hunt with a reputable outfitter it should be less of a problem. It has been my biggest frustration on safari. This is one reason I am hunting with Frontier Safaris again. They have their own tannery and taxidermy on site and guarantee finished taxidermy in 6 months. I am tired of it being 3 years from the day I pull the trigger to the day the trophy is on the wall!
Regards,
Philip

My taxidermy will also be done on site, by the outfitter himself on the property. Let’s hope all goes well ! I should be receiving everything by January/February next year

 

[Rick Cox]

That’s a shame. Giraffe hair slips easily in the tanning process. My first one slipped and it was a he said he said as to who’s fault it was(US vs RSA taxidermists). My outfitter Aru Safaris in Namibia gave me a free giraffe hunt due to this trouble. If I were you I would demand an explanation and a replacement hunt.

No can do @Philip Glass . The owner of the company (Pawprint) died a couple of years ago, the PH's dispersed and "know nothing about it', the taxidermist (Jan Els) split for parts unknown and no one can find him. It sucks because the giraffe I shot was an outstanding specimen.
I doubt I'll be able to afford another trip to Africa but if I do, giraffe will be on the bag list.

 

[Spearhead]

It is important that you and others share their bad experiences like this. So many go on safari and don’t know any better until someone tells him they’ve been had. What a shame.

Good lord what a cluster of an operation. Thank you for posting this . You made a life friend (Stephen) from it. What a shame with the whole boot incident. I realize it’s not everyone, but it’s almost enough for me to keep Africa a dream only.

 

[JimP]

Good lord what a cluster of an operation. Thank you for posting this . You made a life friend (Stephen) from it. What a shame with the whole boot incident. I realize it’s not everyone, but it’s almost enough for me to keep Africa a dream only.

Just remember that for every horror story there are hundreds if not thousands of successful hunts and trophies hanging on the walls of the hunters.

Stuff happens, and all we can do is to hire a importing agent and repeatable shop to do the dip and pack or mounting of our trophies. I hired Safari Specialty Importers for my first hunt. One of the owners was known as a bulldog when it came to getting things done and your trophies home. They used to be a sponsor here but no longer but I am sure that Tom at Trophy Shippers a sponsor will do just as good of a job.

Right now as I plan my second safari I am on the fence on what and who I am going to pick to import my trophies along with either having the work done in South Africa or here in the US. Decisions decisions, I only have 6 months before I need to make them for my June 22 hunt.

 

[Philip Glass]

Just remember that for every horror story there are hundreds if not thousands of successful hunts and trophies hanging on the walls of the hunters.

Stuff happens, and all we can do is to hire a importing agent and repeatable shop to do the dip and pack or mounting of our trophies. I hired Safari Specialty Importers for my first hunt. One of the owners was known as a bulldog when it came to getting things done and your trophies home. They used to be a sponsor here but no longer but I am sure that Tom at Trophy Shippers a sponsor will do just as good of a job.

Right now as I plan my second safari I am on the fence on what and who I am going to pick to import my trophies along with either having the work done in South Africa or here in the US. Decisions decisions, I only have 6 months before I need to make them for my June 22 hunt.

June will come around before you know it

 

[JimP]

June will come around before you know it

I was asked just last night if I was getting ready. I just told them I won't get too serious until this coming January or February.

However my ammo is loaded and all I need to do is to check to see that it chambers into my rifle with no problem. I'll get that done when I head to the shooting range here in a couple of weeks.

 

[Proneshooter]

Good lord what a cluster of an operation. Thank you for posting this . You made a life friend (Stephen) from it. What a shame with the whole boot incident. I realize it’s not everyone, but it’s almost enough for me to keep Africa a dream only.

Don't let my bad experience stop you from going to Africa. I've done 3 other trips to Zimbabwe, all with the same outfitter, and they have been first class trips. The trip was not bad and we had no problems getting our trophies back. It was just the things like driving past a 2 or 3 acre enclosure filled with Blesbok and being asked if we wanted to shoot one, ah no I'll pass on that challenge. I also just cannot get used to the ear tags in seemingly everything over there. Like I said it just did not suit my idea of what a "hunting" trip should be when you just drive around in circles looking at the same small property over and over.
And to those that feel I should have written a "hunt report" about our experience, sorry I am not going to open myself to that shit storm. Seen it too many times, beside Pieter was not bad to us in any way, nor was anyone else. It was that his so called hunts were not what I fit my ideas, and I did not get along with our PH on a personal level. I did not find out about the incident with the tracker and the shoes until much later when Stephen spilled the beans.
Oh and I still keep in touch with Stephen to this day, Covid has hit him and many others in Africa hard but he keeps plugging along. I was sad I could not see him when I went to Zim. in Nov last year but I texted him daily updates and pictures of the hunt.

 

[Philip Glass]

I was asked just last night if I was getting ready. I just told them I won't get too serious until this coming January or February.

However my ammo is loaded and all I need to do is to check to see that it chambers into my rifle with no problem. I'll get that done when I head to the shooting range here in a couple of weeks.

Yes you surely want to do that and run quite a few rounds through your gun. My video for those who have a safari far in the future:
Thread 'Safari Planning - 3 Things'

Safari Planning - 3 Things

Here is my latest Safari Planning video. As most of us are just planning and not getting to hunt this year I though it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on what is important to do ahead of time. These videos are not meant to answer all possible questions on Safari Planning but more to...

www.africahunting.com