Post by sixshot on Jan 26, 2024 2:08:54 GMT -5
After waiting 2 1/2 years we finally got the call to come & pick up our mounts from our last trip to Africa. To say we were excited would be a huge under statement, Yikes! We were in a big rush to get back because it was senior night for one of Larry's daughters so we quickly got our mounts in Utah & headed back to the safety of Idaho. When I saw both of our Kudu's I thought mine looked smaller than I remembered but we quickly loaded everything up, two Kudu, a Sable, two Nyala, Wildebeest, two Zebra, two Gemsbok, two Impala, my Cape Buffalo skull & several hides & headed north. Today, when I got my Kudu unloaded my heart sank. Here is some photo's of my Kudu when I shot it in 2021, it wasn't as long as some others but it was very heavy at the bases as you can see in the photo's.
This is what I got back, I almost cried when I started looking it over, no way was this my Kudu. It was much smaller, the horns had a big hole in them & several cracks & they actually appeared to be from 2 different skulls after looking them over close. I had a friend come over & he said the same thing & he has seen a lot of Kudu. I sent the 3 photo's of my bull to the taxidermist & he said, no way was those the horns that came with your skull & hide, somebody in Africa has made a huge mistake. He said, no wonder we had such a hard time trying to fit the horns onto the skull, they just wouldn't fit. I reached out to the "middle man" here in the states that handles all the contacts between US clients & the owner in Africa & he happened to be in Hawaii but said he would get in touch with the property owner & get back to me. He also wanted me to send him the photo's of my Kudu with me in the photo & then of the mounted head when we picked it up. I will do that tomorrow. They have been very good to work with in the past, this has just been a bad mistake on someone's part in Africa when the packed & shipped & I'm very hopeful this will all work out well.
My question will certainly be, how do we make this right, it's been 2 1/2 years, my horns are long gone! Thoughts???
Dick
This is what I got back, I almost cried when I started looking it over, no way was this my Kudu. It was much smaller, the horns had a big hole in them & several cracks & they actually appeared to be from 2 different skulls after looking them over close. I had a friend come over & he said the same thing & he has seen a lot of Kudu. I sent the 3 photo's of my bull to the taxidermist & he said, no way was those the horns that came with your skull & hide, somebody in Africa has made a huge mistake. He said, no wonder we had such a hard time trying to fit the horns onto the skull, they just wouldn't fit. I reached out to the "middle man" here in the states that handles all the contacts between US clients & the owner in Africa & he happened to be in Hawaii but said he would get in touch with the property owner & get back to me. He also wanted me to send him the photo's of my Kudu with me in the photo & then of the mounted head when we picked it up. I will do that tomorrow. They have been very good to work with in the past, this has just been a bad mistake on someone's part in Africa when the packed & shipped & I'm very hopeful this will all work out well.
My question will certainly be, how do we make this right, it's been 2 1/2 years, my horns are long gone! Thoughts???
Dick
