TECHNIQUE
2
1
4
3
mists have a backlog of cus-
tomers, which is a telling sign
of quality. I am willing to wait
a little longer and pay a little
more for quality.
Having this bit of home-
work done will avoid you the
panic of trying to find some-
one last minute and run the
risk of making a poor decision.
By meeting and picking a taxi-
dermist ahead of time you will
know in advance what is ex-
pected and it will help decide
what type of mount you want.
Trophy Care
There are many different ways
to preserve mammals and de-
pending on the type of mount
you want there are differences
in handling your trophy while
in the field. Because head or
full shoulder mounts are most
common for deer, elk, or any
other antlered or horned ani-
mal, I will discuss the steps to
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WESTERN HUNTING JOURNAL
take with that in mind.
Skinning
One of the biggest mistakes is
not keeping enough cape for
the taxidermist to work with.
More is always better. To be
safe, consider caping the entire
front half of the animal.
There are several ways to
remove the cape from the an-
imal, but the method I prefer
is known as tubing. It is more
difficult and more time con-
suming, but I know when I am
done it’s perfect. Tubing works
best when you can hang the an-
imal and requires no incisions
in the hide. Start by removing
the lower legs at the knee. Then
find a place to hang the animal.
With the animal hanging make
a circumference cut about mid
animal and begin skinning to-
wards the head. Think of it like
taking a t- shirt off.
The next step is to remove
the skull form neck. With the
head removed the cape should
be hanging free of holes or in-
cisions. Again, this takes more
time, and is slow going, but you
will present flawless cape to
your taxidermist.
In the case of an elk or any
animal you must work over on
the ground the tubing method
isn’t probably the best option.
In this situation make the same
circumference cut around the
center of the animal (#1). Next
cutting from the inside out fol-
low the backbone to the base
of skull (#2). Like the previous
method you will need to cut the
lower legs off at the knee, but
instead of tubing out the legs
you cut up the backside of each
leg (#3). You will continue this
cut to the point where the leg
meets the body bringing the cut
over to your circumference cut
(#4). Make sure you do not (I re-
peat do not) cut into the armpit
or brisket area of the cape.
This is where I often will
call it quits, even though I have
skinned out numerous skulls, if
it’s an option I like to leave this
up to the taxidermist. There
isn’t much room for error when
working around the eyes lips
and nose; a slip up and the cape
becomes nearly impossible to
repair. It’s not that hard to do,
but I would recommend prac-
ticing on animals you don’t in-
tend to mount before you dive
into a trophy caliber animal.
Keep It Cool
The second biggest mistake
made with a cape is not keeping
it cool. If conditions are warm,
getting the cape off the animal
can’t happen soon enough.
When any living thing dies the
cells begin to break down and
the cape begins to rot. Heat ac-
celerates this process and will
quickly ruin your cape from a
process called “slipping” where
the hair literally falls off the
hide. Once this happens, the
cape is unsalvageable. At this
point, a European mount is
your only alternative.
Ideally, once you’ve removed
the head and cape you’ll want
to get it to the taxidermist as
soon as possible, especially if
the temperature is above 60
degrees. A good rule to follow
is you have two days to get it to
the taxidermist if the tempera-
ture above 45 degrees. If this
cannot be done, then you need
to freeze the cape and depend-
ing on the size of horns or ant-
lers you may need to cape the
skull. If you’re going to freeze
it, fold the cape so it’s flesh to
flesh. Then roll it up and place
in heavy duty plastic bag. Avoid
using a black bag as this cap-
tures heat. Keep as much air
out of the bag as possible and
tie or seal it shut. Wrapped like
this, and placed in a freezer, it
will be good to go for several
months until you can get it to
the taxidermist. If you’re in the
field, bring along an oversized
cooler and place the bag inside.
Make sure that water does not
penetrate the hide.
Avoid Salting Your Cape
Finally, don’t make the mistake
and salt your cape. Salt will
prevent the hide from properly
freezing and will also draw ex-
cess moisture out of the cape.
Either of those scenarios will
provide a chance for bacteria
to foster and spoil the cape.
A cape should only be salted
when it has been fully fleshed
including both the ears and lips
turned, which should be left to
the taxidermist or someone
with a lot of experience.
Good taxidermists can over-
come some mistakes made in
the field. If you think you’ve
made an error, check with your
taxidermist. It might not be as
bad as you think. Ideally, you
want them spending time mak-
ing your mount look perfect
and not trying to fix mistakes
that could’ve been avoided had
you done your homework. WHJ