SOUTH AFRICA: NB Safaris In SA - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (Hunt Report)

[Speedster]

It's a shame that this happens way too often. I have been a victim of this scam, and paid a bunch of money for some piss poor taxidermist work, that even me without any experience could have done much better.

I just finished reading all 7 pages on this post. On the bright side, I think that NB is learning from all this, and he is trying to salvage some of his reputation by now trying to work with the customer. Late or not, I'll have to give NB the benefit of the doubt, and that he is being genuine about reimbursing the cost of the taxidermist to the customer. I believe the OP should get a couple of quotes on what it would cost to fix these animals, and have NB pay for those repairs. At the end, everyone is happy.

I wish Highveld Taxidermist would have suggested that to me. Highveld's fix to their piss poor taxidermist was for me to ship the animals back to him (on my on own dime), so his business could fix them, and then I would have to pay for those mounts to come back to America. Yeah, that really made a lot of sense.

For anyone new here who is reading this post, my recommendation for your trophies would be to bring them home, and have someone in the states do the work. If the work is piss poor, you are in the same state/country to fight back and get your stuff fixed. Learn from all this, like some of us have learned the hard way.

Good luck to both parties, and hope you guys can reach a satisfactory fix to this nightmare.

Well this post makes me feel a little better. My outfitter has all of his clients work with Highveld. After reading comments on here I decided to have them dip and pack and send everything back here for mounting. They are currently at the tannery in the US.

 

[PARA45]

@Speedster, smart move sir. I didn't want to highjack this post, please check your inbox I sent you a picture of the "work" Highveld did for me.

 

[ActionBob]

Man what a bunch of crap. We all understand no one in the service industry can make all clients happy, it’s just a fact. The Taxidermy work from pictures is very hard to determine. Good ole photo shop does wonders. I’m sure there is much more to the story. Simple solution going forward.....book a hunt with one of the many outstanding outfits here on AH. Taxidermy well....just bring it home!

Sounded to me like he wanted to bring it home but got a slew of excuses why that was not doable

 

[Gater]

To put some closure to this saga, I’d like to say that Neil has made good on the offer he proposed and sent my dad and I both a check to refund part of our taxidermy bill. As he posted earlier, he sent me twice what I originally requested and has connected us to White Lion Safaris where we’ve been offered 7 days of hunting, including a gemsbok, at not charge. I’m still waiting to get the specifics from Ricus, the owner of WLS, but everything I read and hear about him and his operation point to him being a stand up guy. So, I’m confident that we’ll be able to work out a highly satisfactory deal with him. My dad and I are currently discussing taking them up on the offer and heading back to SA in the future.

A lot of lessons were learned here, and although we took a wide detour to this final destination, I’m happy that we were able to resolve the issues in the end.

 

[Hogpatrol]

@Gater, Thanks for the follow up.

 

[Mekaniks]

To put some closure to this saga, I’d like to say that Neil has made good on the offer he proposed and sent my dad and I both a check to refund part of our taxidermy bill. As he posted earlier, he sent me twice what I originally requested and has connected us to White Lion Safaris where we’ve been offered 7 days of hunting, including a gemsbok, at not charge. I’m still waiting to get the specifics from Ricus, the owner of WLS, but everything I read and hear about him and his operation point to him being a stand up guy. So, I’m confident that we’ll be able to work out a highly satisfactory deal with him. My dad and I are currently discussing taking them up on the offer and heading back to SA in the future.

A lot of lessons were learned here, and although we took a wide detour to this final destination, I’m happy that we were able to resolve the issues in the end.

Thats great news! Thank you for updating us and glad their was an amicable resolution

 

[Neale]

You will enjoy your hunt with Ricus and crew

 

[mark-hunter]

I was reading this story with interest, and I congratulate both - to have reached satisfying solution!
Well, done!

 

[IvW]

Well good then talk to your client and come to some arrangement. I am sure he will not be unreasonable, that is evident from his first post when he just posted the trophy's. But evidently things went from bad to worse....what can it take? Be open with him, ask him what will satisfy him which would be acceptable to both but yet be reasonable, he is on this thread and we can resolve this here without third

@Deleted member 15212
What will fix this for you? What would be an acceptable fix for you? Realistically of course as the trophy's are already with you so come lets see if we can somehow get this resolved here as a first on AH....
otherwise this will just end up in a lose lose situation....guaranteed.

There we go, I told you it could be resolved here...well done...

 

[PARA45]

Outstanding news. That is the difference from a professional outfitter who cares about his client, his reputation, and future, vs. those who only care about the $$$ they make today and not stablishing long lasting friendship. Well done gents, glad this work out.

 

[Hank2211]

This seems to have worked out well, and I'm glad for all parties. And as part of the bargain, AH seems to have gained a few more members, at least one of whom has posted a pretty interesting hunt report. So good all around.

 

[BRICKBURN]

 

[sestoppelman]

All's well that ends well! Would like to commend NB on taking a fair amount of abuse and taking it well.

 

[Neil Barnard]

All's well that ends well! Would like to commend NB on taking a fair amount of abuse and taking it well.

Thank you very much!

 

[Neil Barnard]

Outstanding news. That is the difference from a professional outfitter who cares about his client, his reputation, and future, vs. those who only care about the $$$ they make today and not stablishing long lasting friendship. Well done gents, glad this work out.

Thank you.

 

[Neil Barnard]

To put some closure to this saga, I’d like to say that Neil has made good on the offer he proposed and sent my dad and I both a check to refund part of our taxidermy bill. As he posted earlier, he sent me twice what I originally requested and has connected us to White Lion Safaris where we’ve been offered 7 days of hunting, including a gemsbok, at not charge. I’m still waiting to get the specifics from Ricus, the owner of WLS, but everything I read and hear about him and his operation point to him being a stand up guy. So, I’m confident that we’ll be able to work out a highly satisfactory deal with him. My dad and I are currently discussing taking them up on the offer and heading back to SA in the future.

A lot of lessons were learned here, and although we took a wide detour to this final destination, I’m happy that we were able to resolve the issues in the end.

Hallo Jeff,
Only a pleasure. Please keep in touch!
Thank you to all the participants in this thread. All of you helped. Even the Trolls and then the people who really wished for a good outcome, who I would commend most. I will never just turn my back. I have never been known that way and I do not plan on doing so in the future.
Happy hunting to all of you!
Below a few fun photos from the hunt currently on the go!

 

[OkieCajun]

This post was a great one! So my wife and I just won a NB Safaris 7 Day Hunt through a NWTF Event. As a businessman I can see both sides of the coin. It makes me feel better seeing the last few posts by Neil and Gater. I have several buddies that have made the South African trips with other outfitters and came back excited and raving about the experience. I am hoping our experience will be nothing short of spectacular considering that my Wife was the one that took the initiative to win the hunt. I tend to do my research and no offense take about 1/2 of what I read on Forums and dig in on experiences from talking to others. This post by Gater was great he gave the positives and negatives and felt like his point of view was honest. As I was reading I will say I started to get nervous and thinking what are we getting ourselves into! At the end of the day we donated our money to the NWTF for a good in state cause, we look forward to our trip to SA to see and hunt animals that most only dream of getting to hunt, we are hoping to bring home some beautiful animals whether we get them mounted in Africa or mounted state side by my local taxidermist that has experience in mounting African game. I want to thank the OP for posting this and look forward to meeting Neil and his team in the future in person.

 

[Dawg2019]

OkieCajon,
Like you my wife purchased this hunt at a local fundraiser (NRA). I was skeptical at first, flying half way around the world and spending $$ on a hunt. I mean I have hunted around the states, how much different or more fun could this be? I will tell you that it absolutely blew all my expectations out of the water!! I explain it like this, it is fast pace action all day like a good quail hunt, but your hunting things the size of a freaking horse. Seeing countless game everyday. Go ahead and get in contact with Neil and Luke, they will walk you through the whole process. Feel free to shoot me any questions as well. If you find yourself in GA let me know and we can talk it over some cold beer. Best of luck, you won’t regret it!

 

[MT Griz]

Good on you Neil! You will be ahead in the long run by making it right! Best of luck.

 

[Neil Barnard]

This post was a great one! So my wife and I just won a NB Safaris 7 Day Hunt through a NWTF Event. As a businessman I can see both sides of the coin. It makes me feel better seeing the last few posts by Neil and Gater. I have several buddies that have made the South African trips with other outfitters and came back excited and raving about the experience. I am hoping our experience will be nothing short of spectacular considering that my Wife was the one that took the initiative to win the hunt. I tend to do my research and no offense take about 1/2 of what I read on Forums and dig in on experiences from talking to others. This post by Gater was great he gave the positives and negatives and felt like his point of view was honest. As I was reading I will say I started to get nervous and thinking what are we getting ourselves into! At the end of the day we donated our money to the NWTF for a good in state cause, we look forward to our trip to SA to see and hunt animals that most only dream of getting to hunt, we are hoping to bring home some beautiful animals whether we get them mounted in Africa or mounted state side by my local taxidermist that has experience in mounting African game. I want to thank the OP for posting this and look forward to meeting Neil and his team in the future in person.

Thank you Okie, we had a specially great day today with 3 amazing hunters from Kentucky! Let’s work on setting your dates and lining up a hunt worth writing a report on!!!
Attached a photo of the Warthog late this afternoon SA time.
Be in touch!