TROPHY SHIPPERS - Tom Kelly

Mitchell Greenwell

AH member
Joined
Mar 13, 2016
Messages
30
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34
Location
Alpine Wyoming
Media
10
Hunting reports
Africa
2
Hunted
South Africa
I wanted to write this to leave a somewhat detailed review of @TROPHY SHIPPERS because I know I was looking for information before my first safari and couldn't find a great amount. The contact there is Tom Kelly, Tom was (and still is) the best and easiest person I had dealings with throughout my whole Safari. I let him know all the details, he had me sign some forms and other than that I just kept him updated with what the taxidermist had told me and Tom and his team did the rest. I highly recommend using Trophy Shippers for all of your shipments. In the end my crate did take some damage because It was mixed up with another crate and delivered to South Carolina, it then had to come back to Wyoming and in the process was rammed with a forklift. One Kudu horn fell off the side and landed on my Impala Skull, breaking the nose off and damaging the base of the Kudu horn. I sent all of the pictures to Tom after calling him that night and after 48 hours he has submitted an insurance claim for the damage and also got me a credit for the initial headache of turning the crate around. I have had no contact with anyone other than him and he has been working very hard for me.

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Thanks for the info!!! I'm probably going to use them in 2022. Sorry to hear your stuff got damaged. That's definitely my luck too lol
 
No question. Tom & Trophy Shippers is who we’re using for our 2021 hunt
 
I used Tom to get my animals back from my safari in 2019. Great guy and company to work with, all went as planned without any issues.
 
I used Trophy Shippers for 2019 hunt. Tom made this the easiest part ever of getting trophies back. Will be using them from now on.
 
Thank you all for the kind reviews. When a trucker picks a shipment up from us we lose physical control of it and Mitchell's shipment was the very rare case where something went wrong between the pick up and the delivery. To me it appears a careless forklift driver ran into the side of it. It hurts to see these pictures as we all know how much time, effort, emotion and money went into getting these memories home! We will follow through with the claim to make sure he is taken care of and can either have the taxidermy repaired or replaced!

Tom
 
I too, want to express my sincere appreciation to Tom Kelly and @TROPHY SHIPPERS!

In 2018, my wife and I had a very enjoyable first African hunt with Henry Griffiths (another sponsor on this site). I harvested a beautiful kudu and impala, and my wife shot an impala (which was her very first big game animal).

I reached out to Tom to coordinate the shipping of my trophies (consisting of 3 euro mounts and flatskins).

In 2019, I won an SCI auction for a “10-Day Plains Game Safari for 2 Hunters and 2 Observers” with Somerby Safaris. My brother-in-law and I were the hunters, while my wife and my sister acted as observers.

I shot a Burchell’s Zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Black Wildebeest, Blesbok, and another exceptional Impala. Similar to my 2018 trophies, I decided on euro mounts and tanned flatskins.

I again contacted Tom who had his shipper pick up and consolidate my two sets of trophies from two different Taxidermists (Highveld Taxidermists in Gauteng, SA for my 2018 trophies, and Universal Trophy Services in Pretoria, SA for my 2019 trophies).

I planned on having my trophies shipped to my house in the Philippines. Unfortunately, the complicated bureaucracy in the Philippines caused a lot of problems and headaches! We needed to get different permits and licenses from several Philippine Government Agencies (i.e., Department of the Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, Bureau of Customs, and various offices within these Agencies)!

This was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After filing numerous paperwork, a lot of follow-up, run-around, and frustration, I reluctantly conceded that having my trophies shipped to the Philippines was not practical.

I finally decided to have my trophies shipped to my house in Chicago instead.

Tom immediately went to work to have my South Africa documentation corrected to reflect the new shipping address.

Tom made all the necessary arrangements and my trophies were shipped through Turkish Airlines to O’Hare Airport on July 20. It took Turkish Air more than 2 weeks to “break down” their cargo, but yesterday, I finally received word that my crates were ready for pick up.

Since I live close to O’Hare, I told Tom that I wanted to pick up the crates myself. I figured I’ll be able to save on delivery charges, and I will have a reason to get out of the house! I called my brother-in-law and he was happy to join me.

I have to admit that I did not realize how huge an air cargo warehouse is, and how big a mess their operations currently are!

A lot of the truckers who were there to pick up their shipment are probably familiar with the slow process, and came prepared with their folding chairs. We all had to check-in, then wait while the warehouse people looked for our cargo.

After patiently waiting for 4 hours, I was advised that they could not locate my crates!

I called Tom. He contacted the warehouse, and within 30 minutes, my two crates were loaded on my brother-in-law’s pickup!

My beautiful and memorable trophies are now home!

And to top it off, Tom honored the “$50 Off Customs Clearances For AH Members” that he offered for 2019 & 2020 shipments!

Thank you so much to Tom Kelly and Trophy Shippers!

Cheers!!!
--Lem
 
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Thank you for the great review Lem! I am glad your trophies are FINALLY home and look forward to working with you again!

BR

Tom
 
I’ve also dealt with Tom .., seeing as how he recently parted with Trophy Shippers I’d like to find out if he is still in the import business ,,,, would greatly appreciate it if anybody has any new info about Tom ,,,,
 

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