How To & How NOT To

First off the how NOT to care for your large game trophy

One key to a beautiful piece of taxidermy art is proper field care and caping of your trophy animal.  As a taxidermist over the last 25 years, I’ve seen way too many capes ruined due to lack of knowledge or lack of proper field care. It’s very easy to properly cape a deer, elk, or bear if you follow a few tips:

• Never cut the throat to bleed out an animal you plan to have mounted. No matter what you may think, it will ruin the cape and you will be very disappointed.
• Do not drag the animal. It will rub the hair off the bottom shoulder, leaving it bald. This never improves the look of a mount. Either lift the animal completely off the ground to transport or cape it right there at the kill site.
• Keep the animal out of the sun, if possible, or cape it as soon as possible to avoid damage to the cape. The ears on deer are especially susceptible to heat damage when left in direct sunlight. Heat promotes bacteria growth and so does moisture. If you put the cape on ice, ensure that it doesn’t sit in the water from the melting ice.
• Never put a cape in a black plastic garbage back unless you are freezing it immediately. Black collects heat and will bake the cape very rapidly. White game bags are great for transporting capes from the field to the taxidermist.