Caping a buck

[buckee]

This is how I have been caping my deer for the taxidermist. I sell him any good mature capes I can get. I don't get cash, but I do get a $$ discount on any future mounts.
Is this how you like it done RTF and other taxidermists.
Just want to make sure I'm doing it right. My taxidermist hasn't complained YET.

[fisherguy]

That is how ours likes them...lots left to work with. We give him lots of big capes off 275 to 300 pound bucks that my dad and his buddies shoot. None of them really want mounts anymore unless its a booner so we do the same; trade capes for discounts. The reason he always needs them is everyone cuts the cape too short. He said better off to go halfway back on the deer since it is easy to remove extra, but hard to add it on.

[tedicast]

My bro, scottyluck. called the taxidermist, the night we were gonna skin my buck. He told us to start skinning around at the 2 elbow joints, and cut on the line made by the white hair meeting the dark hair, up the inside of the front legs. He told us to continue that up into the armpits, and from there to make an inverted V, back to the bottom of the breatbone, and to cut around the body there. He said to cut the neck as far up as we were comfortable skinning it. He said thats how he likes them cut. That how he got it.

This is completely different than what buckee is showing. Is the way I did it still right?

[buckee]

I'm no expert at this either.
I know I could go a bit further back on the body, but it is the leg cuts I am wondering about too.

[tedicast]

buckee...I stole one of your pics, and tried to draw lines where my guy told me to cut. It didn't come out the greatest, but will give you the idea. The only thing he stressed was to cut up the inside of the legs where the white, and dark fur meet.



hope you don't my grabbing your pic.

[artisticwhitetails]

Personally I like a short Y incision instead of being split all the way down the back.
{ I hate to sew} The long incision does make the cape easier to flesh and shave though. Nothing wrong with the way your doing it.

[RTF]

I had an individual drop off a cape the other night, skinned out like the pics show. I kinda gave him heck for doing it that way, but do realize some taxidermists like em that way. I do not however. The Y incision is the only way to go and thats left up to the taxidermist to do. To see how I tell all of my customers to skin out a deer goto http://cliffordstaxidermy.com/fieldcare.php and read on, towards the bottom of the page.

[tedicast]

[ QUOTE ]
The Y incision is the only way to go


[/ QUOTE ]

RTF...is the Y incision the same as what I have crudely drawn on buckees's pic??

[buckee]

Are you talking about the "Y" to the ears Cliff ?.
The taxidermist told me to just go straight up to an insible line, across the back of the ears.
I know they do a "Y" cut after that when skinning out the head and turning the ears.

[buckee]

OK, I understand now, thanks.
Neither of your or RTF's pictures shows that "Y" cut, that's "Y" I asked.

[RTF]

Actually some call it a Y cut, but really I make a T cut. Here is a pic of what I am talking about. This is all that gets cut on the back of the deer and is done only by the taxidermist. I have already sewn up the cut between the antlers and am now coming down.




You can see a line of clay in the center of the form. this is so I can seat the threads down into it so the seam does not bulge when dried.

[buckee]

Thanks for the photo Cliff.