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

@Neil Barnard The taxidermy pics you posted are taken in the most favorable light ( in this case rather lack of) but it still doesn’t address the slippage issues which most probably resulted from poor care during the skinning salting phase. That is your area of responsibility, As for the quality of the taxidermy I will not comment being a taxidermist myself.
There are bigger issues here at play than the feild care. The area booked, the accommodations, the lack of cooperation in finding a dip/ pack company, the apparently reasonable request to cover replacement capes for the two mounts most in question. I’m not sure what the OP proposed as to replacement costs but a kudu cape in the US will run $450-500 and waterbuck about the same.
Since you have waded into the conversation with good cause I understand, it is your reputation at stake, please address all the issues. I shall reserve my opinion until all sides have been heard
Respectfully a future Africa hunter

 

I'd like to hear from @Neil Barnard why Oryx was included in a package when they weren't readily available to hunt? Is it true that an 8 hour drive was the option given to the client?

If @gator mentioned how important the Oryx was to him before the hunt it seems a lack of availability should have been mentioned. And even if not why was the animal included in the package if huntable numbers aren't available on the farm?

The devil is truly in the details and there still appear to be some missing.

 

I hunted with NB Safaris and everything went very smoothly.
I did get the hunt at a Wild Turkey Federation Banquet. It was not an over priced operation at all and everything seems to be in order on getting our hides “dipped and shipped “.
NB Safaris is a top notch operation

 

Is there a reason you quoted my comment with no reply? Seems you're a very very new member here and it's quite convenient you ended up in this thread. Tell me, how did you end up here in the first place?

 

According to his profile, his outfitter told him about AH.

 

I know Jeff personally. I also know Neil personally.

I am the one that got Jeff this hunt in the first place.

Now with that said, I have hunted at NB a few times over the last however many years and with my knowledge and experiences in this department I will add that Jeff is truthful. I've talked with him over the phone numerous times about this.

Make a long story short I will contribute to this thread with an experience I had last year on my hunt with NB safaris.

Last year I hunted and was very successful in taking reedbuck, bushbuck, civet, badger, genet, serval, jackal, and my boy shot impala, monkey, duiker and springbok.

Now quickly I'll add that I have imported numerous animals from South Africa and Namibia, including lions and leopard. So I am pretty dang educated in the whole process.

So when I mentioned that I wanted some of my animals mounted through Karen (Neil's ex wife, aka African expressions broker) in which burns taxidermy is the actual shop..

So I mention that I want some mounted there and the rest, mainly my cats, to be dip and packed to be mounted by my taxidermist in the states, Phil Soucey.

Mind you this was after I had already left the country. Anyway.. I'm then told by Neil and/or Karen that I can't do that because I cannot ship a finished product with dip and pack.

Now... I know this to be complete BS because I have in fact actually done it before. Hahahah. Well as Jeff explains how he was treated and fed ridiculous excuses, they did the same to me. So after arguing the fact on that and me even showing them the regulations written out, they still made me out to be the idiot and then told me "that they recommend I just dip and pack it all." Well yeah... obviously! So that's what I did.

With that all done then a new problem arose... my cats being frozen whole apparently... because the taxidermist (burns) recommends he does the skinning. And since they weren't skinned yet, Neil was actually trying to charge me for skinning the animals! After a battle of what has been included in a contract hunt, I was able to get my cats skinned at no charge "cause he so graciously "paid" to have them skinned... uh huh...

Anyway... since Neil likes to put personal business out there, I'd expect him to do so here. We shall wait...

 

Welcome!

I hope you'll post a complete hunt report in your own thread. But since you bring up some of your experience here...

I take it you chose to ship your hides home to have taxidermy done here in the states. Did you use Neil's company for dip and pack? Was your taxidermist here in the states pleased with their condition? Any mention of hair loss, bugs or any other issues?

 

This is an interesting thread. First off the there is no doubt in my mind the waterbuck has severe hair slippage. Second, if you go back about a month there is another thread concerning this outfit with lots of new members extolling them when several members questioned their pricing. Third, out of curiosity I did a little web surfing and ran across another thread in a different forum from several years ago. The same discussion; high prices, extreme pressure to have taxidermy done in SA, and the lack of gemsbok. Some things never change I guess.

 

Ok, I missed that thread and so went back to find it. If anyone else missed it do yourself a favor and go read it. It's a hoot!

Multiple new members who joined on the day they posted, posted, and then the last time they were ever seen here was that same day. LOL! Now in fairness, a couple of those one hit wonders have been back to AH, today, and they were last seen viewing this current thread.

It's almost like they were alerted on a WhatsApp group and came running as good minions should.

https://www.africahunting.com/threads/south-africa-has-anyone-hunted-with-nb-safaris.43392/

 

I also missed that. Haha very good find. Wow! Such good little followers trying to manipulate.

 

another reason I don,t hunt trophy animals, lower prices with no hassles and i spend my money on large color pictures I take or had my hunting pardner take to put on my man cave walls.

 

It's one of my biggest pet peeves here on bad reports.... it's so obvious when it happens and yet it happens quite often.

 

Interesting thread indeed! I would be as concerned about the quality of the animals shown. Very small examples, especially the kudu which might make about 38"!

 

Thank you for posting the link, it cheered me up reading that load of bull.

It's more of a red flag to see that happening and all the single post members blowing sunshine as soon as something negative gets reported than a bad hunt experience.

Such an obvious ploy that makes the outfitter and the cheerleaders look bloody stupid for trying to make everyone else look stupid.

I hope the OP didn't get shafted out of thousands for a kudu and then have it ruined......

 

even I passed up 38" kudu,s and as I said I,m no trophy hunter, but my hunting pardner likes bigger animals, a 56" kudu he took in RSA.

 

OP, I hope you didn't pay trophy prices for those animals.

 

That other thread has more one hit wonders than I have ever seen before or since.

 

That's a beauty!!

 

I think if you took the pictures with a white background you will the devil in the details. There is plenty of hair slip, very poor quality and bald spots! The kudu is a cull! It’s not a trophy animal and the horns are very black (not natural color). Gemsbok can be found in the Limpopo but they are more of a desert animal found in Namibia in large numbers. They can handle many different environments or ecosystems.

 

My boy got his oryx on a separate ranch from our PH's in Limpopo. It was a couple hours drive both ways, but he got a nice one in one day. I knew going in we would have to do it that way. It should always be up front. Same thing when I was hunting hyena in Namibia last time over. We traveled several hours to have a go at them and my PH even paid for all the extras involved even though I offered to help with them.