REPORT: Disappointed with Taxidermy by Wild Africa Taxidermy

[James.Grage]

I have come to conclusion to either do no taxidermy or dip and pack to the USA or Euro Mounts.

I do believe that you will need to use "dip & Pack" out of Africa.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I've been screwed twice by RSA taxidermists. I've given up on using them. Right now i'm fighting with a taxidermist to get my trophies from 2009......

Tell me this is not from M*****a?

 

[accipiter]

I've been screwed twice by RSA taxidermists. I've given up on using them. Right now i'm fighting with a taxidermist to get my trophies from 2009......

2009! Wow! That is one long fight, I hope you get them.

 

[Royal27]

I do believe that you will need to use "dip & Pack" out of Africa.

I think he meant "or" as in dip and pack and sent to the USA

 

[enysse]

I agree with James, he is usually very thorough.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Sent an email inviting Wild Africa Taxidermy to comment.

 

[harden]

Sorry to hear your plight. It's a shame when a great hunt and memories are tarnished forever because you look at your trophy every day for the rest of your life and are disappointed with the mount.
I have been to many taxidermy studios in Africa, Zimbabwe S. A. Namibia and a lot do work that is substandard in my opinion. Some do work that is good but it matters WHO is mounting IT ! But that is one man's opinion.
Most all have hired help as many of the large studios in the U S. Some have dozens and some have hundreds of employees.
It's more about WHO IS MOUNTING YOUR TROPHY. The artist himself. In big shops your a number, a tag, on a horn dropped on any number of employees work bench in the back room for their daily production quota. I know I've been one of those guys in those big studios.

The guy mounting your trophy..... you've never talked to him or seen him and you don't know his skills, In Africa maybe he's making a couple bucks an hour as an employee in the back pushing out hundreds of heads. Is he learning on your piece, being apprenticed, a new employee on your trophies? Taxidermy is an art and when you make it a production / assembly line you loose all that.
Please ask every taxidermy company WHO IS REALLY mounting your work.
No need to here. I mount Every Piece that gets shipped or walked in to my studio, Every one of them .
And each of them is sewn and finished by Jamie Outman. No One touches any clients trophy except the two of us.
Also deal with a U S taxidermist and you have recourse, legal means to decide an outcome like this.
I like to see U S hunters support U S business , YES ! Hunt the World , HUNT AFRICA!! Support your PH in any country !
I've hunted Africa many times , 10 safari's myself.
But support U S taxidermists they are hunters and conservationist also. Be U. S. proud!

sincitynut I don't know you at all but feel for you.
I'll give you a cape FREE. I have a few springbuck capes around here , and ship a completed mount to you for $125.00 anywhere in the lower 48. My price is probably more than you paid for the first mount $595 but you get this or any other pose. Then you have something you can look at everyday and enjoy your memories. The offer stands call the studio or email me.
Dennis

And this is what you WILL receive in quality.

 

[Andrew Denson]

View attachment 28881 View attachment 28879 View attachment 28878 View attachment 28878

This is what my Springbok looks like, I have been able to get anyone on the phone at WAT

Can you post better pictures as they are very small, why is the stitching around the shoulders as im sure the taxidermist did not do this as it is far more work for him, was it damaged or was there a large bullet hole to repaire, the stitching on the back of the neck looks as if it is skew wiff because of bad caping by the tracker, i get this all the time, i have had many dealings with wild africa taxidermy over the years from the previous owner Don Holt to the new owner Karl human who do all my clients dip and pack and some mounts and have never had any problems.
Andy Denson (Taxidermist/Safari Agent UK)

 

[TOM]

No Brick, I'm dealing with a south African taxi. The M group has been fine....just expensive.

 

[BRICKBURN]

No Brick, I'm dealing with a south African taxi. The M group has been fine....just expensive.

Alright. I can not go along with "fine" but at least it has not gone as far as the first one.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Sent an email inviting Wild Africa Taxidermy to comment.

I got a reply to my invitation email to Wild Africa Taxidermy this morning.
I will PM the reply to the OP.

 

[arizona]

Nice offer Dennis, is it very disappointing having the memory of the hunt ruined every day by looking at a poor representation of the animal.

 

[sincitynut]

Andy,
Those are the only pictures I have at the moment. I sent an email to Wild Africa and am waiting on a response. This is not even close to the work that they had on display in the shop, that is why I am so disappointed.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Nice offer Dennis, is it very disappointing having the memory of the hunt ruined every day by looking at a poor representation of the animal.

+1

 

[RickP]

Dang, sorry to hear your problems. That is why we chose to have our taxidermy done domestically just so something is wrong or screwy, you probably have some recourse.

Though we didn't get our taxidermy done over there we let Splitting Images taxidermy handle our dip and pack. Not good. We had quite a bit of hair slippage. My reedbuck turned our horrid and I'm pretty peeved about it.

On our first trip we had great results using Trophy Solutions Africa (dipandpack.com) and will be using them again if at all possible on our next trip after this recent debacle.

 

[CAustin]

The response you have received from KMG is what one should expect from an outfitter that you have spent a lot if money with. They have far more pull with the taxidermy folks than a single customer. Hats off yo the folks at KMG for taking up the cause.
As I have mentioned before African Sky Safaris helped me with the shipping agent that I had trouble with. I think this kind of response shows a total commitment to the client as it should be.

 

[harden]

You have picked a winner RickP. Johan runs a great operation, and his business "IS" DIP and PACK not taxidermy. I have had many safari's handled by Trophy Solutions and IF I see any slippage or dermis loss it's usually the failure of prep guys in camp not turning ears all the way, not salting twice or leaving to much meat on the capes. I Highly recommend using an establishment like Johan's that only deal in the Dip / Pack and shipping part of your trophy care. Johan and Trophy Solutions is just one of many of these specialized companies.

 

[RickP]

You have picked a winner RickP. Johan runs a great operation, and his business "IS" DIP and PACK not taxidermy. I have had many safari's handled by Trophy Solutions and IF I see any slippage or dermis loss it's usually the failure of prep guys in camp not turning ears all the way, not salting twice or leaving to much meat on the capes. I Highly recommend using an establishment like Johan's that only deal in the Dip / Pack and shipping part of your trophy care. Johan and Trophy Solutions is just one of many of these specialized companies.

Yeah, we'll be using them again and paying for them to travel to pick our stuff up.

Since you're in the taxidermy biz when our guy says that the Trophy Solutions Africa did a good job you can trust him, he's Jerry Huffaker.

 

[harden]

Jerry is a very good friend of mine. We have known each other for years. Besides both is us being taxidermists we are both Black Belts tho his is now 3 rd degree. I retired.

 

[PARA45]

I feel your pain, and understand what you are going throug. Check out my post, and you'll see what I'm going through. Hopefully, you can get everything fixed. .

http://www.africahunting.com/thread...th-highveld-taxidermists-oxi-logistics.16027/

I'm totally screwed because now the trucking company is only paying $42.20 for the damages they did to my mounts. Contemplating taking ESTES trucking to small claims court to see what can be done.