Traveling with trophies on airlines

[snider6464]

Me and a friend are hunting in new zealand in a couple months and are planing on bring some heads home. Tahr, red stag, and chomois hopefully. Just was wondering if anyone has any advice on procedures on getting them home. Was just planning on boiling out skulls and then packing them in checked bags. Any advice would be great thanks

 

[jwb300]

Where is home? You may need a vet certificate, capes salted and dried, skulls clean and free of all organic material.

 

[84toyota]

Maybe call and speak with the airline you're flying with.

 

[CA Karen]

Check with "Customs" on what the requirements are for importing into the USA!

 

[snider6464]

Colorado usa is home. Looks like we can get an exporting permit from the nz doc, to help with the usa end of things. I emailed customs and they stated a couple different forms that usfw may use to authorize importing.

 

[ozyclint]

i hunt there every year and have found it much cheaper and easier to have the skins and skulls tanned and cleaned in NZ then expedited home. the tanner i use tans the skins ready to mount by your taxidermist and cleans the skulls and horns. he organises all the paper work such as nz vet certs, cites permit (stating it's not an animal of interest to cities), and supplies a tanning cert (this is a statement outlining the tanning process and that the contents are not harbouring anything of interest to quarantine.)

i have had shipments of skins and horns sent to me from NZ that haven't even been opened by australian customs and quarantine because they know they don't have to.

you will have to check import regs in the USA.

i would be atleast be getting a DOC cert in NZ to say that they came from NZ. the last thing you want is to say "himalayan tahr" and have a customs officer who knows nothing say, "they live in nepal" (where they are protected to a degree) leaving you with no proof it came from the NZ tahr herd.

 

[snider6464]

Would you be willing to share who you use? I have looked at a few different taxidermist, but most information online suggest to bring it home in your baggage for cost reasons. I am willing to look at any options, especially if it eases paperwork and head ache. Thanks for the info and experience!

 

[jwb300]

I'm all for salting skins, boiling heads and bringing them home myself. I have been raped by taxo's in NZ far too many times. Once they have you gear and you are out of the country watch the price go up and the shipping costs are BS!

 

[snider6464]

Thanks for the advice. I have heard that shipping is crazy. Do you have any pointers on boiling the heads? I take it they are like antelope, as in you can take off the horn sheaths. Also have you had any issue with importing? Just need exporting certificate and fill out some forms when you enter?

 

[jwb300]

Thanks for the advice. I have heard that shipping is crazy. Do you have any pointers on boiling the heads? I take it they are like antelope, as in you can take off the horn sheaths. Also have you had any issue with importing? Just need exporting certificate and fill out some forms when you enter?

If you are doing a shoulder mount I usually just take the skull cap (enough to hold the horns together). This saves a lot of fiddly stuff in the nasal cavity and brain that you have to clean for a euro mount. Try and cut it nice and square with a hacksaw or fine toothed wood saw. They are just boiled out like any horned animal and the horns pop off. Just make sure to get the flesh/sinew out from under the horns. I cut everything I can off with a knife then give it a quick boil followed by a scrub or blast from a high pressure washer and repeat until clean.

I import into Australia so I don't know what the requirements are for importing into the US. The vet and DOC (CITES) certificates aren't hard to get. If you have a guide they will know where to get it locally. Have a read of this link http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/indus...mekill-game-wild-foods/taking-trophy-home.htm

Firearms permits when you arrive in NZ are easy. You pre-register online and then find a cop at the airport to issue you the licence. It helps to have cash ($25NZ) for the licence especially if you have a connecting flight. Sometimes there aren't any cops around and you have to call them to help you on the police phone at the airport. They usually come within 15 mins.

Good luck with the trip. Who are you hunting with?

 

[snider6464]

Thanks for the detailed info! I will probably do some Europeans and some shoulder mounts. Only horned animal I have much experience with is antelope so sounds like it's not to hard. This is true with chamois as well?

Have you gotten one from the vet or just the doc? It sounded like the doc may take a couple of days because they need to ship it, due to the fact we are not near a regional office. We will be in invercargill. We also are leaving on a Sunday and I know that the doc isn't open on weekends. So just trying to get back up plans.

We are just doing it diy, but we do have a friend down their who is helping with some of the logistics. We got everything pretty much in place, leave at the end of march so should hit the roar just right. Hopefully we are successful. And if we are I just want to make sure we get them all home with out trouble, or busting the bank.

 

[jwb300]

Chamois are actually an antelope of sorts and like all horned animals they have a horn that will slip off the skull when the tissue is weakened (i.e. through boiling and tapping gently). Seeing you are going DIY your mates can probably help you out with reasonable postage if you cant get everything sorted out before you leave. If your mates have a cordless drill that you can borrow I would use that to clean out all the nasal cavity. A 5mm and an 8mm bit will do the job.

As long as you take any red deer antlers with you on the plane the cham and tahr skulls aren't that big and postage shouldn't be more than a few hundred $. They can also be split down the centre so they are more compact if you plan on having a shoulder mount done. Again a nice straight cut.

Have a good read of the link in my previous post. You can probably have the Vet Certificate sent to Invercargill. The Vet certificate is just a statement of the country of origin. You can get a Certificate for all species to cover you just in case.

You may not require a DOC (CITES) permit - it is only required if the country you are importing the hides/skulls into requires it. This you will need to check with US customs.

DOC Info
http://www.doc.govt.nz/cites-permits

Permit Application
http://www.doc.govt.nz/Documents/about-doc/role/international/ties-application-form.pdf

You should probably email them and see if you can do them in advance?

Don't forget NZ is only small so you could drive up to Christchurch if you have to. Good way to see the country too!

 

[snider6464]

Thanks for everyone's helps!

We made it back to the states with all of our animals with no problems. We ended up just boiling them all out as best as possible, and putting them in checked baggage. Before we left we ended up sending money to the New Zealand DOC and all our information except for the quantity of each species. Then just before the end of the trip I was able to text my wife who then emailed them the quantities. They then mailed the exporting documents to us. When we came into the USA we told them that we had hunting trophies and they quickly x rayed them and then looked at one of the heads to see if it was dry. They really had no interest in the documents, but I am still glade we had them. I learned a ton from this trip, most of all is that TSA and Custom officers have no idea what is going on.

I highly recommend just putting the heads in your checked baggage, as it cost very little for extra bags. Also I left some hides at a taxidermist in New Zealand and it has been 9 weeks with out hearing anything from him. Not to mention the cost in shipping.

I will do a write up on our trip in another section when I get time. Very enriching, difficult, and successful trip

 

[jwb300]

Good to hear the trip went well. I've found taxo's in NZ very difficult to deal with and expensive. I always salt hides and bring them back with me now. Looking forward to seeing your pics.

 

[elkguide]

WOW! I paid an expediting service in NZ to prepare and ship my heads back last year and while I didn't think that the NZ costs were out of line, the US costs for F&G, Customs, Dept. of Ag and storage and handling once here in the states was ridiculous. Anxious to hear and see the results. NZ is truly an amazing place!

 

[TCUHunter34]

Thanks for everyone's helps!

We made it back to the states with all of our animals with no problems. We ended up just boiling them all out as best as possible, and putting them in checked baggage. Before we left we ended up sending money to the New Zealand DOC and all our information except for the quantity of each species. Then just before the end of the trip I was able to text my wife who then emailed them the quantities. They then mailed the exporting documents to us. When we came into the USA we told them that we had hunting trophies and they quickly x rayed them and then looked at one of the heads to see if it was dry. They really had no interest in the documents, but I am still glade we had them. I learned a ton from this trip, most of all is that TSA and Custom officers have no idea what is going on.

I highly recommend just putting the heads in your checked baggage, as it cost very little for extra bags. Also I left some hides at a taxidermist in New Zealand and it has been 9 weeks with out hearing anything from him. Not to mention the cost in shipping.

I will do a write up on our trip in another section when I get time. Very enriching, difficult, and successful trip

Can I PM you on this? I am going back this year and looking to bring home last years tanned hide and euro skull caps.