Bad Taxidermy - What To Do?

I have been extreemly sad and angry this past week after receiving my much aniticipated trophies from SA. My hunt was in June of 2011 in the Limpopo Region and was both good and bad. The good news is the hunt was successful for the most part. Through all the troubles during the hunt I managed to harvest the animals I wanted. The bad news during the hunt is that it wasn't managed in a professional manner. My wife was supposed to have an outing to Vic Falls, but the arrangements were never made. This left her sitting at the camp, ignored by both me and the staff, for ten days. I paid for a one on one hunt and ended up with a two on one hunt. The staff only responded to my and the other hunters needs when the outfitter was in the camp. Other than that they were on their own program. We were subject to thier internal arguements the entire time I was there. Arguements between the PH and the Trackers, trackers and trackers, other staff and PH etc... The only happy animal in the camp was a couple of stray cats. However, even through all this I managed to keep a positive outlook and at the end of the day, I was successful. I decided to let my frustration go and just not book any more hunts with this outfitter in the future. BTW this was my second hunt with him. The first hunt went as one would expect so I had no reason to believe the second hunt would be any different. Then came the Taxidermy. The same outfitter owns his own taxidermy business so I decided to use him for my mounts. My mounts arrived on Monday and with much excitement and anticipation, I opened the crate. Inside I found some of the worse taxidermy I have ever seen. My Impala looked like it got in a knife fight and lost. Holes in the ears, around the eyes and on the body, Kudu looks like Kojack, hardly a hair left on it. Warhog is equally as bald and the skin is loose from the form. These are just a few examples, waterbuck, gemsbok, hartebeast, etc are equally as bad. After spending 25K for the hunt/taxidermy/shipping/tipping/etc.. I have very little to show. I haven't mentioned the outfitter, yet, because I want to give him the opprotunity to make it right. The problem is I don't know what he can do to make it right. I am looking for suggestions on how to handle this.

If it's as bad as it sounds then you're going to need new capes. Properly taken care of capes..... You might see if your outfitter can supply those. Then you could have the them reworked here... Not going to be easy. Otherwise you'll have to ship them back to him and I wouldn't do that. You might never see them again. Hope he makes it right. Best of luck. Bruce

Bruce has got it right about the only thing you can do is get new capes and have them re-done close to home of course thats going to cost you even more money. hope you got some good pics you can always have the horns put on plaqes with a good picture to go along with it. Sorry it didn't work out any better hope he does the right thing by you. Bob

Sorry for your luck! as others have said. Sounds like you will need some new capes. Thats quite a few to try and get. As far as the problem of bad mounts? It could be all the Taxis fault. If outfitter did as he was supposed to do? All the skin problems could be the taxis poor work. If the taxi was good, they would have contacted you and said the skins were bad. They could have also just wanted the money?? Either way I dont know there is much you could do.

That seems like a long time between the hunt and getting your trophies back as well? What country did you hunt in? And is the Taxi in the same country? I know some taxis can take a while, but I would say avg is about 1 year total.

Sorry, I hate to see this happen.

OMG! This is the nightmare we are all scared of.

If you do not mind sharing some pictures of these mounts. I'd like to see... well, I do and I don't.


New Capes possibly.
Likely create some kind of Euro mount.
These were some cool mounts done with tiles.

Originally Posted by Bobpuckett

Bruce has got it right about the only thing you can do is get new capes and have them re-done close to home of course thats going to cost you even more money. hope you got some good pics you can always have the horns put on plaqes with a good picture to go along with it. Sorry it didn't work out any better hope he does the right thing by you. Bob

This really is the best bet if you want to salvage your trophies and have the money to spare. A good taxidermist will be able to make it right. Best of luck buddy.

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Here are just a few of the impala and the kudu. I was just comparing my pictures to the mounts I received and am now convinced the warthog tusk are not from either of the warthogs I shot. This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. I guess a lot of these outfitters think people just have money to waist. I personally spent 20 years in the navy, raised a family, and put my kids through school before I could afford a trip like this. Now I'm going through all the stages of grief. First sad, now angry. I guess at some point I will be ok, but that day seems to be a long way off.

I hunted in south africa and the outfitter is the taxidermist. There is no third party to blame here. One guy was responsible for it all

Ouch! Sorry for the position you are in.

Depending on the response you get-confront them at DSC or SCI and stay in their booth until you get $$$

I would talk to a state side international taxidermist that specializes in African mounts.

Find out what the added cost would be to have your taxidermy work redone and see if they will cover or share in the cost.

Do not send your mounts back to the African taxidermist. ...

from the looks of things you will have a hard time recovering anything...to hire an attorney would be like throwing gas on a fire.

I would look at putting your horns on a shield and trying to find a cap for 1 or 2 of your animals.

Yip, SHIT WORK!!!

Did you received any response from the Outfitter / Taxidermist yet?

Originally Posted by jsmcgregor

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Here are just a few of the impala and the kudu. I was just comparing my pictures to the mounts I received and am now convinced the warthog tusk are not from either of the warthogs I shot. This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. I guess a lot of these outfitters think people just have money to waist. I personally spent 20 years in the navy, raised a family, and put my kids through school before I could afford a trip like this. Now I'm going through all the stages of grief. First sad, now angry. I guess at some point I will be ok, but that day seems to be a long way off.

Hello,

Who was the outfitter ?

regards.

Originally Posted by jsmcgregor

IMG_0348.jpgIMG_0349.jpgIMG_0350.jpgIMG_0351.jpgIMG_0352.jpgIMG_0353.jpgIMG_0357.jpgIMG_0361.jpgIMG_0362.jpg

Here are just a few of the impala and the kudu. I was just comparing my pictures to the mounts I received and am now convinced the warthog tusk are not from either of the warthogs I shot. This whole thing just makes me sick to my stomach. I guess a lot of these outfitters think people just have money to waist. I personally spent 20 years in the navy, raised a family, and put my kids through school before I could afford a trip like this. Now I'm going through all the stages of grief. First sad, now angry. I guess at some point I will be ok, but that day seems to be a long way off.

WOW!!!! Absolutely terrible!!! I hope this outfitter somehow compensates you. Does this guy take you or any other hunter for a fool. How could he possibly send something out looking like that and continue to operate a business????? You should really release the outfitters name so others are not subjected to this.

As previously mentioned by myself and others, you can salvage your trophies. A really good taxidermist may even be able to salvage your original capes. Some of these guys can really work magic. Good Luck!

A 2009 safari of mine went in a much similar way. I didn't have the taxidermy issues as I use an excellent dip and pack mob in Pretoria and do all my own mounts here at home. MY PH/outfitter had failed to apply for a couple of the permits I needed making those species not exportable as there was no permit issued to hunt them. Other trophies were simply lost, while others where attached by borers as they lay in sheds for a year while the PH owed landholders money and they held my trophies to ransom. This was my second trip with the same company so I had no reason to be concerned, but there was a change in ownership and management from when I booked to when I hunted.

In the end the following species never made it home - Sable, Warthog x 2, Baboon, Nyala, Spotted Hyena. There might have been others, I've forgotten - these were taken in RSA and Zimbabwe. We discussed it, then argued, then made friends again and discussed it some more. I could ring today, 3 1/2 years after the safari and the guy would still be "...ya Dan I'm just waiting on word of your new sable cape, it should be any day now..." Total bullshit!

Tear them apart and organise some European mounts. See if you can get full skulls so you can do a proper European mount - someone here might be able to help. You could ask on Taxidermy Net and if all that fails I know a guy who might be able to help. Enlarge a few photos so you can remember the colors and the hunt some more.

Then book another trip and do enough research to ensure you hunt with someone reputable. After 2009 I swore off hunting in RSA ever again, but I couldn't keep away, I did my research and I found an excellent outfitter.

Let me tell you now that you are NOT going to get anywhere pursuing this matter further. Hopefully he was a member of PHASA and you can report him. Did he do anything while you were hunting that would allow you to make a formal complaint to Nature Conservation? Best you can hope to do is screw him some, if that'll make you feel better. I let it go as I figure I don't need any bad karma. But I did message him to say hello when I was over in August hunting elephant!

Take lots of photos, you never know when it'll all go to shit!

This just sucks to no end!! I am sure you will release the name of the outfitter in time. At least give him a fair shake. Keep all your communications with him. It may help you prove his guilt. And good luck! Sorry you have to go through this. It just sucks!!

Thanks for posting.

Absolutely terrible cape care.
Slips, holes, etc.

Painting the holes!! Really?!

We will not be mounting everything from our upcoming hunt so I'll be happy to donate some capes to the salvage effort.
Not much, but ...
Like James said maybe a couple of the favourites can be redone and euro the others.

Originally Posted by BRICKBURN

Thanks for posting.

Absolutely terrible cape care.
Slips, holes, etc.

Painting the holes!! Really?!

We will not be mounting everything from our upcoming hunt so I'll be happy to donate some capes to the salvage effort.
Not much, but ...
Like James said maybe a couple of the favourites can be redone and euro the others.

I may take you up on the offer.

Originally Posted by jsmcgregor

I may take you up on the offer.

PM sent and we'll see what we can do about your supply side problem anyway.
Merry Christmas.

I hate that it is an RSA outfitter that has screwed you and Daggaboy, as hard as we try as outfitter here in RSA to keep our industry clean, rotten apples just keep appearing! This new trend of Outfitter/Taxidermist is just another way guys are trying to squeeze every dollar out of their client by saying "oh I do the taxidermy, it will save you a bunch", its total BS, taxidermists are artists and it takes years to become a good one. If he is a member of PHASA, report him!
I am terribly sorry that you were treated this way and will ask around my area if anyone has a few extra capes lying around that we can somehow get shipped to you. I will PM my progress.

Terrible taxidermy work. Patrick you are 100 percent correct.