New Zealand in May

[WAcoyotehunter]

shoot the animals early in the trip to leave time to flesh and salt your capes and get the skulls cleaned up.  I would 100% recommend flying back with your animals as checked baggage. 

[Torrent50]

I used Coppersmith in Seattle as my importer.  They seemed to know the taxidermist in New Zealand who prepped my capes and antlers.  The taxidermist made a crate for everything and shipped it over.   I used Tyron Southward Taxidermy in Christchurch.   

Jennifer House is who I dealt with at Coppersmith.   She was awesome to deal with and made it easy.   I will say that it ended up costing more than I anticipated to get everything back, but it all made it without trouble.

[RatRodMike]

Thank you for all the great info guys.   

I'm a bit wiser now and hopefully I'll be bringing back some cool critters.  Will post pics for sure.

Thanks again

[JBG]

NZ is awesome.  Stuff down there is super cheap compared to what we pay here. For instance a coffee that costs $5 here is about $1.50 down there, go figure. 

[bearpaw]

I used Coppersmith in Seattle as my importer.  They seemed to know the taxidermist in New Zealand who prepped my capes and antlers.  The taxidermist made a crate for everything and shipped it over.   I used Tyron Southward Taxidermy in Christchurch.   

Jennifer House is who I dealt with at Coppersmith.   She was awesome to deal with and made it easy.   I will say that it ended up costing more than I anticipated to get everything back, but it all made it without trouble.

I have used Coppersmiths to send cats to client's taxidermists in Europe, they were very easy to deal with and knew what they were doing.

[pd]

Re-read both Skillet and BearPaw above.  I am also a known shipper, and I lived in NZ for several years.  Their information is spot on!

My strong advice is to try to prep your skulls and take them back with you as personal luggage.  Yes, you will pay extra, but the amount that you pay to do this will be significantly less expensive than having a freight forwarder ship them for you.  The added benefit (and this is huge) is that you get to speak directly with US CBP at the airport upon arrival.

If you do your skull prep correctly (...no flesh..., completely dry, &c.), then your chances of getting through Customs at the U.S. port of arrival are very good.

I will also hunt the South Island, maybe next year.  Somewhere around Te Anau.  I would really like to do an extended trip to Secretary Island, but that is a bit of a stretch.  The mountains around Milford Sound are also enticing.  But you don't have to go that far.  The South Island (the north-south spine of the Southern Alps) are great.  Find a local guide--they are cheap!!

DM me with questions anytime.