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.

[Mr Mykiss]

Hey mate. Good on ya for NOT getting an outfitter!! Don’t hunt high fence, I used to be offended when my mates would say “those places are just for rich Americans” but alas it’s so true. I’m at the top of the South Island, only been here 3 years, but have been around a lot of the South Island. I’m zero help on trophy management as I hunt for meat and to reduce the populations of deer/pigs/goats/chamois/tahr. Message me if you think I can be of help. I’ll know if the snapper are still on in Tasman Bay then so if’n you’re in the neighborhood

[RatRodMike]

I just flew in from New Zealand and boy are my arms tired.

[RatRodMike]

Had a great time in New Zealand and definably planning on going back.

So, to answer the question that I started this post with I'll try to break down what I did to get the cape and horns back home.

I skinned the head out the day after packing him home. I cut the skull plate off a boiled it for about 40 minutes. Scraped everything off the best I could. We had a wood stove in the house we rented so it was easy to get it completely dry. I then fleshed the cape, split the lips and cleaned up the eye areas. I gave it a good coat of salt and folded it up for the night. Then next day I scraped off the salt and dried the hide the best I could. That night I put into a garbage back and into the freezer. The next day I put into a foam cooler and we left the house for a hotel in Christchurch where I picked up some dry ice. I should have arranged the dry ice ahead of time but got lucky was able to get 5 kilos. This was on Friday and we flew out on Monday. The dry ice was gone by then but the hide was still frozen. I put the horns in the cooler with the cape before leaving as well.

Before leaving New Zealand I was sure to print off the Non-CITES declaration from New Zealand, the USFWS Form 3-177 with I had filled out (the instructions for this make it pretty easy), and the certificate from the Ministry for Primary Industries that I had picked up in Christchurch on that Friday.

Our port of entry was San Francisco. The US Fish and Wildlife inspector looked at the skull plate and cape and approved everything. The cape was partially thawed out by the but that didn't seem to matter. A customs officer was there and commented that the hides they usually see are drier than mine but that it didn't matter. Mine wasn't wet, just not dry. I'll probably try drying the hide more on the next trip. I asked the inspector what she was typically looking for during her inspections. She said it was mainly a check for bugs and seeds in the fur. Disease isn't a concern when things are coming from New Zealand.

I hope this helps anyone else thinking of making a DIY trip like this. Hunting on your own in New Zealand is totally doable with some research and preparation.