NZ Trophy Export costs

[Buzzy]

Heading to NZ in a few weeks to hunt a 360-400" red stag, Arawapa ram, and feral goat. I talked to the taxidermist that my outfitter uses asking them for an estimate to have the 3 animals euro mounted and shipped to San Francisco International airport. Below is a breakdown of the costs in US dollars:

These costs are known and accurate
Euro stag - $240
Euro ram - $190
Euro goat - $190
travel documents - $220
Trucking to Christchurch airport - $350

These costs are estimates as we don't know the size of the crate or wt
Crate and packing - $450
Air freight - $1350

Total costs would be $3K and this is we me clearing the shipment thru customs and picking up the crate at SFO. I'm finding these costs to be dang high but haven't shipped anything from NZ before. I was afraid of these costs but others have said the prices were a lot more reasonable as of late.

If anyone has any recent knowledge of costs for shipping of trophies from NZ please let me know what your thoughts are. Or if you have a recommendation for a taxidermist in the Christchurch area that is good or more reasonably priced please let me know. For the first time I am seriously considering just taking photos and leaving the horns behind or maybe just splitting the skull cap and trying to take the stag horns back with me for just a horn mount.

Thanks

 

[HappyCamper]

I wouldn’t have the slightest clue but best of luck on the hunts! Sharing this cost stuff is really useful, I had no clue it was that significant.

 

[glass eye]

I’ve been there 5 times and always diy.
I’ve only exported small horned game (tahr and chamois) waterfowl and small game (wallabies and possums)
The first time I used a taxidermist next the Christchurch airport to process the export permits and later learned on my 2nd trip that I could do it myself right across the street from the taxidermist for 1/2 the price; $40nz
After that trip it changed and now for big game there is no export permit fee and you can print it for free online.
I always brought my salted skins and even whole frozen birds home as checked baggage.
The USDA is not concerned with animal products coming from NZ.

 

[Letthemgrow]

I brought back all my stuff as well.
If you are only doing euros it would be easy.
I would just cut one antler off for easier shipping and have a taxidermist pin it when you get home.

 

[Kiwi]

I haven't shipped NZ - US but have shipped US - NZ and those cost look about the same as post COVID quotes I have got.

I suggest you look at what you can take back with you. For example cut off the antlers, clean them and check them in. I did this with two sets of elk antlers, and two sets of pronghorn horns, and got them into NZ no worries, so into USA should be much easier. I plan to buy a plastic skull and make euros. For the antlers I wrapped them and put hose tube so the points didn't show.

I'll be passing through SFO airport late Sept if you wanted to get a skin tanned and I can bring over for you.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

I brought my tahr salted cape and skull/horns on the plane with me. The cape had only been salted a day. It was super wet and I rolled it up full of salt. No one cared.

It was one of the biggest benefits of hunting NZ. Shipping it back would have been more expensive than the hunt for me.

 

[rjthehunter]

I’ve been there 5 times and always diy.
I’ve only exported small horned game (tahr and chamois) waterfowl and small game (wallabies and possums)
The first time I used a taxidermist next the Christchurch airport to process the export permits and later learned on my 2nd trip that I could do it myself right across the street from the taxidermist for 1/2 the price; $40nz
After that trip it changed and now for big game there is no export permit fee and you can print it for free online.
I always brought my salted skins and even whole frozen birds home as checked baggage.
The USDA is not concerned with animal products coming from NZ.

Great advice!

 

[Bluffgruff]

Heading to NZ in a few weeks to hunt a 360-400" red stag, Arawapa ram, and feral goat. I talked to the taxidermist that my outfitter uses asking them for an estimate to have the 3 animals euro mounted and shipped to San Francisco International airport. Below is a breakdown of the costs in US dollars:

These costs are known and accurate
Euro stag - $240
Euro ram - $190
Euro goat - $190
travel documents - $220
Trucking to Christchurch airport - $350

These costs are estimates as we don't know the size of the crate or wt
Crate and packing - $450
Air freight - $1350

Total costs would be $3K and this is we me clearing the shipment thru customs and picking up the crate at SFO. I'm finding these costs to be dang high but haven't shipped anything from NZ before. I was afraid of these costs but others have said the prices were a lot more reasonable as of late.

If anyone has any recent knowledge of costs for shipping of trophies from NZ please let me know what your thoughts are. Or if you have a recommendation for a taxidermist in the Christchurch area that is good or more reasonably priced please let me know. For the first time I am seriously considering just taking photos and leaving the horns behind or maybe just splitting the skull cap and trying to take the stag horns back with me for just a horn mount.

Thanks

You can bring it with you on the plane all the way to your destination (if you live where I think you do).

I had an expediter ship my stuff a few years ago and it cost me a bunch of money, almost $2k total. I could have brought it back for the price of baggage.

Clean and boil the skulls, salt the hides and seal them in plastic right before you leave, then they can be imported on a 3-177, which you can pre-declare if you want.

eDecs

I hear you can bring meat back this way if it is well sealed and labeled.

Only thing you need from NZ Doc is the attached PDF.

You can call the usfws officer at your local airport, used to be a nice woman named Tracy who was very patient with my comedy of errors.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Just bring them home with you as checked baggage. Clean the skull. Split the skull plate on the stag and put it in a big duffle with the capes frozen. All you need is the paperwork from the NZ government saying what you have. It's like $35 I think. Its crazy easy. They can print the paperwork out for you pretty quickly. NZ is a disease-free country. At customs they make a copy of your paperwork and tell you to have a good day (ducks from NZ are a bit more complicated). If its frozen when you leave it'll be completely fine when you get home. I've done it multiple times from all over. Have your local taxidermist mount everything up for you. There is zero reason to spend all that money to get it mounted and shipped to the states.

Fly through Houston. They're easy to deal with.

 

[Buzzy]

Thanks everyone for the information. Since I want to do a euro mount splitting of the skull cap is a no go. I wasn’t planning on being back any hides but if I do I will try to bring them home frozen as we have some time after the hunt to travel the island and then pick up the hides on the way out of town.

It seems like it would be difficult to find someone to boil everything for me and crate it up. Then I would have to hope the crate is small enough to come back with me as luggage. From what I have seen from Air Fiji I don’t think this will work. I’m thinking of asking my outrigger if he would boil, crate and package and ship if I pay him half of the estimate of what the taxidermist is quoting me. We will see.

 

[Buzzy]

I haven't shipped NZ - US but have shipped US - NZ and those cost look about the same as post COVID quotes I have got.

I suggest you look at what you can take back with you. For example cut off the antlers, clean them and check them in. I did this with two sets of elk antlers, and two sets of pronghorn horns, and got them into NZ no worries, so into USA should be much easier. I plan to buy a plastic skull and make euros. For the antlers I wrapped them and put hose tube so the points didn't show.

I'll be passing through SFO airport late Sept if you wanted to get a skin tanned and I can bring over for you.

Thank you very much. If I decide to leave a few capes to be tanned I may take you up on that. Again than you for the great offer.

 

[SC Living Outdoors]

Thanks everyone for the information. Since I want to do a euro mount splitting of the skull cap is a no go. I wasn’t planning on being back any hides but if I do I will try to bring them home frozen as we have some time after the hunt to travel the island and then pick up the hides on the way out of town.

It seems like it would be difficult to find someone to boil everything for me and crate it up. Then I would have to hope the crate is small enough to come back with me as luggage. From what I have seen from Air Fiji I don’t think this will work. I’m thinking of asking my outrigger if he would boil, crate and package and ship if I pay him half of the estimate of what the taxidermist is quoting me. We will see.

Boil the skull, cut the antlers off and reattach them when you get back home. That’ll allow them to fit in a duffel. Pretty easy to do. My best friend is a taxidermist and that’s what we did with the stag I killed in May bc I just wanted to do a euro mount on that one. Put a couple marks with a sharpie on the pedicle to line it back up (you don’t have to but it helps).

I’ve never flown Air Fiji, but it shouldn’t matter if it’s just a regular extra bag you shouldn’t need a crate. Just take bubble wrap and clinge wrap with you and wrap the tips of the points along with the skull and put it in a big duffel. Take the extra duffle over with you in your checked luggage. In terms of boiling the skull just tell your outfitter you need a burner and a pot. Cut the antlers off throw the skull in, cook it for 3hrs and clean it off. Or you can get a red stag skull off Etsy for like $75 and any taxidermist worth his salt can put your antlers on the skull with an couple screws, some epoxy sculpt and make it look very good in a few hours.

Obviously, you can do what you want, but the outfitters over there make it seem like you have to get the animals mounted over there or prepped and shipped home and that just isn’t the case. Trophies can be brought back very easily and affordably with minor complications.