Shipping taxidermy trophies

[hogpatrol]

Killed a nice pig in TX over the summer and had it mounted down there. Got a call it was done and shipping was $344. That sound a little excessive so asked him how it was being shipped. Told me through a UPS Store. I balked and insisted he go directly to a UPS customer center/depot to get a price and he came back with $68.00. Bottom line, I'm in the wrong line of work. ;D

 

[shoot4fun]

Most taxidermists would rather be working on mounts instead of carefully packing your finished product. They take your mount to the UPS Store un packed and the UPS Store people do all the work. They charge a lot for the service, boxes, bubble wrap, peanuts, etc. Then they always upcharge shipping costs too. Thing is, if UPS Store packs it then UPS can't say it was packaged improperly when they wreck it on the way to you. It's our fault for not knowing some idea about how and how much it will cost to ship the mount. We never (at least no I) ask those questions.
For that matter, I've used taxidermists a couple of times, based on recommendation, that turned out to be real stinkers. They did very nice work but were just totally unreliable and sometimes totally dishonest. One, as it turned out, was a convicted deer poacher. Yes, that left a bad taste in my mouth about knowing I paid a poacher to mount my trophy.

 

[jonbearman]

Most of those stores do a sub par job of packaging. They sent a pacnor barrel in a tube with one piece of tape on either end with a 6 inch square piece of bubble wrap and by the time it got to me it was rolling around on the metal floor.

 

[284winner]

My thought is anyone that you chose as a Taxidermist would properly pack a box with your trophy safely, securely and take it to either UPS or USPS office for rate info. He would then for the most reasonable rate have it shipped . I would not care about shipping time of delivery but rather fair pricing and insurance. I order forms for taxidermy all the time and the cost isn't a weight issue but size issue. Mounts do not weigh very much but can be bulky. My advice would be to deliver it to a tannery in the state you harvest the trophy and once they finish the tan, send it to your home. Then you can choose a Taxidermist in your area. Sounds like alot of work but piece of mind goes a long ways. Hope that helps future issues.

 

[th82457]

Myself and my hunting partners have had deer/elk/antelope mounted in the area where we hunted and shipped to us in the Midwest. We have had one disaster where the taxidermist did not package the deer head properly and it arrived all busted up. Fortunately he replaced the cape and it came out fine. I usually will try to confirm shipping charges and how the mount will be packaged prior to committing to an out of state taxidermist. I have also went back a year later to hunt the same area and picked up my mount personally for safety sake. The main reason we let a taxidermist in the area we hunt do our mounts is that they do a lot more elk. mule deer & antelope per year than our guys in the Midwest - so the mounts look much better (realistic) than when I have brought them back and had a local taxidermist perform the work. My local guy is great on whitetails and bear, not as good on western species.