Zambia trophies from 2023 hunt are in the house!

[375 Ruger Fan]

Earlier this week, I received a phone call from my taxidermist in Cypress, TX (northwest Houston area), that my trophies were ready to pick up. I decided to make the four hour drive on Friday morning. Since heavy rain was in the forecast, I rented a small U-Haul trailer. Upon arrival at David Major's shop (https://www.majorcreationstaxidermy.com/ ) and seeing the size of a sable mount, my immediate thought was:

I was picking up a puku, lechwe, two sable shoulder mounts and another sable in pedestal mount, plus the oak cabinet pedestal. These were from my 2023 hunt with @spike.t in Zambia.

Thread 'ZAMBIA: Classic Sable, Classic Caliber Hunt With spike.t At Takeri Reserve Zambia'

Jul 19, 2023

One week from today, my daughter and I are heading to Mike Taylor's (aka @spike.t ) Takeri Game Reserve in Zambia. We'll be hunting with @PeteG


We hope to get a couple of these:

Using a 404 Jeffery for me and a 7x57 for my daughter, Elise.

While enjoying a few of these around the fire each evening

• 375 Ruger Fan
• Replies: 106
• Forum: Hunting reports Africa

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[375 Ruger Fan]

My hunt was in September, 2023. It took about 10 months for the dip and pack and shipping of trophies from Zambia to Houston, via Turkish Airlines. The tannery in Houston took about six months. Once the trophies were at the taxidermist, he turned them around in about 3 months.

Last minute touch up on the puku. The taxidermy shop had lots of interesting trophies!

Sable are really large. A lot of mass in the horns. The shop guys did a great job loading, padding, and tying down the trophies. I wish I rented the next larger size trailer. The pedestal mount sable was too tall for the trailer, so it took a lot of effort to lay it down and pad and tie it in. The puku and lechwe fit on the backseat of my truck.

Two of the sable are mine and one belongs to my daughter. We're not sure which is which. I told the taxidermist to pick the best one for the pedestal and the other two are shoulder mounts for up on the wall. I have a spot picked out for each, but will likely need a helper to place them. The pedestal mount has a 30 inch tall, octagonal cabinet made out of oak.

The puku and lechwe seemed light as a feather, compared to the sable. Both of these were taken by my daughter. The lechwe is probably large enough to make Roland Ward. All in all, I am very happy how they all turned out. Expensive, but really nice.

 

[LWood]

Beautiful trophies.

 

[spike.t]

Happy you have got them home .. ...and my drinking implement photographs well .....

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Moved the pedestal inside. Looks great. Did I mention sable are large? The high point of the horn is right at 6 feet.

 

[Rare Breed]

please repost your hunt link

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

please repost your hunt link

I did at near the top, see “Thread ZAMBIA: Classic…….”

 

[Doug3006]

Excellent trophies sir!

 

[BryceM]

Wow, nice Lechwe. Gorgeous sable too. In the top 2 or 3 of all PG animals IMO.

 

[Fatback]

Those look fantastic. Looking forward to seeing them on your wall.

 

[davidg8480]

Absolutely Stunning!
thanks for sharing

 

[Pablo]

Outstanding!

 

[MontanaPat]

Congrats Dave, they all look fantastic

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Great trophies, congrats!

 

[cpr0312]

Beautiful, know you are happy! Christmas in May!

 

[roverandbrew]

@spike.t has some amazing Sable. Your trophies look great!

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

@spike.t has some amazing Sable. Your trophies look great!

If I recall correctly, at least 3 AH members hunted with @spike.t in 2023 and you took a very nice sable. I looked forward to seeing it in the near future. And I agree, Mike’s Takeri Reserve is a great place for sable and other PG.

 

[roverandbrew]

He ended up being 47.75". I was incredibly happy. The 170 Grain Oryx in my 7x57 did a great job on everything there.

 

[roverandbrew]

 

[Nyati]

Congrats, they look great !