Cape Handling

In The Field

Cape care starts from the moment your animal hits the ground so here are a few tips for preserving your cape until its out of the field

1. Try to avoid excessive dragging especially on the shoulders to prevent damage to the hairs that will show on the shoulders of your mount.

2.Make all efforts to get your game out of the field and sun as quickly as possible. The longer the hide rides around in the back of a truck or ATV the greater likelihood of hair slippage during the tanning process.

3. If using a deer drag to pull your game out of the woods be sure to pull your game with the direction of the hair, for example be sure to drag whitetail deer from the head rather than the hind legs so that the hair is sliding in the correct direction.

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In The Shop

When you get your game back to the place that you are going to process the deer here are a few tips.

1. When caping out your deer be sure to leave plenty of hide, its always easy to cut off excess  hide but extremely difficult to add more on. A good starting place is the last rib and skin down from there.

2. When you reach the front legs make your incision following the white/brown hair line  this ensures proper hair placement later in the mounting process

3. As you skin down the neck try to get as far down the neck as possible and cut the head off at the Atlas joint at the rear of the skull or as close as you can safely reach.

4. If you live in the state of Pennsylvania, this is all of the skinning you need to do, you can bring the head, antlers, and hide all in one piece without doing any of the skinning of the face. If you do not live in the state see Further Caping section below.

5. If you cannot cape the hide the day of harvest be sure to hang the buck from its antlers rather than the hind legs from a gambrel, this prevents fluid swelling to the face and neck which would cause unnatural measurements upon arrival to the shop.

5. Get the cape and head into a freezer as soon as possible to prevent degredation of the hide.

6. If you are taking your deer to a processor ask for the deer to be caped and be sure the cape is kept in a cold storage until you can retreive it.

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Further Caping

If you are not a resident of the state of Pennsylvania all brain matter must be removed from the skull before transportation over state lines which means the entire skull must be caped out and skull cap remove, here are a few tips for that process.

1.The internet is your friend, there are countless resources online that provide very clear and helpful instructions on how to cape out the whole head and face as well as removing the skull cap.

2. Remember to take your time and be patient when skinning the face and most if not all accidental cuts can be repaired during the mounting process.

3. CGA Taxidermy uses the Y cut incision method for caping and in our experience is the simplest and most effective method of caping out a Head.

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Bird Care

Birds do not need to be skinned before dropoff but here are a few tips to be sure your mount turns out as great as possible.

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1. Attempt to keep birds as clean as possible when in the field by wiping off excess dirt and blood as soon as possible.

2. Freeze your bird as soon as possible and make sure all excess moisture is free of the bird before freezing.

3. Before freezing tuck the wings tight to the body, fold the head downward along the wings and wrap the bird in paper towel or rags to help prevent freezer burn if storage will be a prolonged period of time.

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Additional Information

1. Be sure to have all legal documentation when dropping off specimen to be mounted, this includes hunting liscense number and carcass tag if applicable.

2. In house skinning is provided for all furbearing and bird species, just bring the carcass frozen and whole to be mounted.

3 In house skinning is available for Big game species for an additional $50 just make it known that skinning services are needed when scheduling your dropoff.