REPORT: Taxidermist Eastern Cape Port Elizabeth Johannesburg

[Diamondhitch]

Hi Diamondhitch, please provide your "bosses" name.

Pm me your email address and I will pass it along to him if you would like any additional information.

 

[Christina Nyczepir]

Okay....I don't have the time to read everyone's comments on this post. LOL! So....do NOT use Wild Africa out of Port Alfred as your taxidermist. Their work stinks. Plain and simple. Thankfully....they only dipped and shipped my animals to the states. Their staff are wonderful, but their artistic skills are lacking. Based on the work I saw they were shipping out (which was on two occasions), I would have cried had they been my trophies. If you are here in the states and want to know of a very talented and gifted taxidermist, then I HIGHLY recommend using Grafton Cromwell.

 

[Kevin Boucher]

H

Pm me your email address and I will pass it along to him if you would like any additional information.

He should have my email address from what you said in your previous message. His name please then we can resolve this issue. I pride myself with a good reputation all round and if there are any issues I would like to deal with them.

 

[Diamondhitch]

He should have my email address from what you said in your previous message. His name please then we can resolve this issue. I pride myself with a good reputation all round and if there are any issues I would like to deal with them.

Since you do not want to provide contact info, but seem to be affiliated with H&C, I will let him know that you would like to discuss the matter further. Although I will not release the name of a 3rd party on a public forum, I can say he hunted in 2011 in the EC with an outfitter that, although I cant remember the name off hand, walks everywhere barefoot and has pet cheetahs that he will take hunters along on occasion when he is "feeding" them by allowing them to take down an animal. I will get the outfitter name from him as well but Im sure not many match that description. His African experience was ruined and he swore to never go back so if there is resolution I'm sure he will be thrilled, he gave up long ago.

 

[Kevin Boucher]

Since you do not want to provide contact info, but seem to be affiliated with H&C, I will let him know that you would like to discuss the matter further. Although I will not release the name of a 3rd party on a public forum, I can say he hunted in 2011 in the EC with an outfitter that, although I cant remember the name off hand, walks everywhere barefoot and has pet cheetahs that he will take hunters along on occasion when he is "feeding" them by allowing them to take down an animal. I will get the outfitter name from him as well but Im sure not many match that description. His African experience was ruined and he swore to never go back so if there is resolution I'm sure he will be thrilled, he gave up long ago.

I am the owner of Hunters and Collectors and my email is… kevin@huntersandcollectors.co.za.
You don't want to mention his name as he is a 3rd party. Meanwhile you happy to smear my name and yet you don't even know the whole story! At least give me his 1st name then I will check on my side to see what I can find out so long!?
Thanks

 

[Diamondhitch]

Doug from Alberta Canada.

 

[Kevin Boucher]

Thanks ! Ok I have checked out my 2011 file and come with good news from my side. I only had one Doug for 2011! He definitely hunted with the PH you mentioned and is from Canada. We received his trophies on 12 May 2011. It was bleach skulls with horns, and tanned capes.
Once complete, we handed these over to our shipper on the 9th November 2011 ! (6 months later)
I see that there may have been some payment delays as there was actually a group of 3 Hunters.
With this there were Cities permits which expired and then reissued on the 15th March 2012. It was then shipped. Some months later we had correspondence from Doug on email, on the 30th December 2012 with regards to the rehydrating of the capes. We answered these on the 2nd of January 2013. No further correspondence was received. There may have been some shipping and permit delays, but these were out of my control.
So I really do not know what you base your accusations on, but clearly you owe "Hunters and Collectors Taxidermy" an apology.

 

[Diamondhitch]

I left that company in mid 2012 and at that time Doug had not received his trophies and according to him had not been able to get a response from you for many months, he was certain that he would never see his trophies again, mostly because of his inability to get anyone to answer an email. According to him his PH had also tried to sort things out with no success and told him there was nothing more he could do, as far as I can remember he didn't take any CITES species but am not certain of that.

I am awaiting a reply from Doug and if true I will certainly revise my statement to reflect that conversation.

If he has indeed received his trophies and the problems were as you stated, why was there such a lapse in communication? Doug had no reason to lie but this does not reflect what I was told at the time whatsoever? At any rate a year and a half is way too long to wait for trophies, if not you then whoever is responsible should be ashamed.

I will keep you posted when I hear from Doug.

 

[Bill Thompson]

Oh boy. Anyone heard anything about Splitting Image, Karoo, Wild Africa, Hunters and Collectors or Taxidermy Africa? Too many choices.

Gutterdoc,

A friend and I used Karoo for Dip & Pack. They did not follow our instructions and it ended up costing us almost double than our 2011 trip. We made several attempts for them to address and they ended up ignoring us. I spoke to some African PHs at SCI Chapter Show and they recommended African Wildlife Artistry (Eastern Cape). Also threw AWA out to AH and had a positive response. Good Luck and do your homework.

Bill Thompson

 

[gutterdoc]

Thx. I have done extensive research and I am narrowing in on a decision. Sorry about your experience.

 

[Brandon Ryan]

Oh boy. Anyone heard anything about Splitting Image, Karoo, Wild Africa, Hunters and Collectors or Taxidermy Africa? Too many choices.

We just used Karoo taxidermy for our dip and pack my friends caracal skull came crushed they did not ship ours together as requested and we incurred higher shipping bills as a result. and were unhappy with their service and have started a feed recently here. I would not ever use them again. As far as their work on mounts I found that the walk through their warehouse was enough for me not to consider them, very inconsistent work. A SCI chapter member showed us a bushbuck that Karoo mounted on a springbuck form. I am currently looking for a good dip and pack company in eastern cape.

 

[Dave D.]

I used Paul Smith at Relive Africa in Port Elizabeth last year for 10 trophies. All mounts turned out extremely well. His prices are 15-20% less than quality taxis in the U.S. I went back to him with 4 animals this year including a very nice sable. Also, my mounts were completed and shipped six mounts after my hunt last year. High quality work, good prices and quick turnaround. Added bonus: Paul is a very nice guy!

 

[bassasdaindia]

in most cases your PH uses a taxidermist , if I am not mistaken you hunted with Marius @KMG Hunting Safaris .

I can assure you that whoever Marius suggested in his area will be the best one to use .

 

[Bruce]

Hello all,
Looking for advice on choosing a taxidermist on the Eastern Cape near Port Elizabeth. Is there one that you preferred or disliked and why? I have some info on Wild Africa Taxidermy and Highveld near Johannesburg. Any others would be great. There does seem to be a large price difference between some and I don't know why. Any news on Bullseye or Splitting Image. My PH/Outfitter will deliver within a reasonable range. Just trying to find one who offers a clean, detailed representation on the animal. We have all seen some bad work.

Hi,
I have done a lot of taxidermy work via Bullseye, Buck 'n Bass ( Western Cape) , Lifeform ( Whiteriver) and Karoo Art Taxidermy ( Beaufort West)... I changed from LIFEFORM purely because of delivery time.. they are very busy and you wait a long time ,,EXCELLENT work
BULLSEYE - when I hunt Thabazimbi/ Limpopo areas, then I send all trophies to them... EXCELLENT work and quite quick.
Buck 'n Bass in Durbanville ( Western Cape).. I am now living down in Cape Town and these guys are close by and ALSO EXCELLENT work. The taxidermist is a woman who is also a PH with her PH husband.
Bullsye and Buck 'n Bass have done EXPORT trophies for Brazilian hunter friends of mine.. hassle free and excellent back up service... as is LIFEFORM.

 

[AB2506]

My work was done by Taxidermy Africa. Adequate. Nothing special. Prompt and courteous.

 

[Beans]

(AWA) African Wildlife Artistry in Somerset East and Splitting Image in Port Elizabeth are the two taxidermists that I believe in. Both have great operations and I will back them 100%. Communication with clients is great and clients are always happy with the work. Never a problem.

I do know both of the owners and they are honest people with no bs.

Both of them will pick up from the Outfitter.

 

[EddieWalker]

My outfitter told me that they use two different taxidermist. One was Taxidermy Africa and another that I forget the name of. My taxidermist has quite a few mounts at his place with the better ones being done by Taxidermy Africa, so I said that's who I want to handle my dipping and shipping of my mounts.

Communication was fantastic. I got regular emails telling me of where they where in the process, and while waiting for a permit for my common reedbuck, updates on the progress, or lack of it from the authorities issuing the permit. Everything about them was quick, prompt and professional.

Unfortunately, when my hides finally made it to my taxidermist, it was obvious that they where butchered at Taxidermy Africa. I overlooked and helped with the skinning of all my animals. I bring surgical scalpels with me, along with ear splitters to make sure its done right. The capes left my outfitters skinning room well salted, dried out and in perfect condition.

What my taxidermist has found is that the ears have been chopped up, and in the case of my steinbok, one of them is destroyed without any of the inner ear left at all. Every cape has issues from missing pieces to multiple holes and random cuts. I have no idea what it takes to prep a cape before shipping it off, but in this case, it was brutal what they did to them.

 

[JimP]

Are you sure that you got your capes and not someone else' s?

I used Hunters & Collectors in Port Elizabeth and had my own tags for each item that they got and I had no problems. My taxidermist here in the states was actually surprised at how well packed and taken care of they were.

 

[EddieWalker]

Are you sure that you got your capes and not someone else' s?

I used Hunters & Collectors in Port Elizabeth and had my own tags for each item that they got and I had no problems. My taxidermist here in the states was actually surprised at how well packed and taken care of they were.

Not sure if that was directed at me, but in my case, I don't know for sure if they are all mine or if they where switched. I have the correct animals, and the correct half capes. The horns all seem to match my pictures and measurements. Taxidermy Africa drilled holes in every horn and ran a string through them, connecting each pair. He also put a tag on the string, which is something I didn't see when I hunted in Namibia.

 

[Savage Hunter]

We got our hides in a few weeks ago from dip/pack.
My wife is hugely disappointed because of her caracal hide.
All 4 feet have huge holes above the feet in the front.
hand sized patch of no hair on the side of the belly.
quite a bit of slippage all over, but especially on the belly.
The face isn't too bad. the ears look really good.
My taxidermist has been looking forward to getting the caracal skin and do a $5000 mount for $1500 if he could use it for competitions.
He looked at the hide and said it's barely worth mounting, if that.
What to do about it?
Is it the skinning and salting or the dip and pack company.
I don't know.

I just know that taxidermy ruins my hunt memories.
Taxidermy on the 1st trip was horrible.
This one was only dip/pack but half my stuff doesn't look too great, but the main animal was awful.