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Taxidermy

Mike R

*Supporting Member*
336
55
No but I know a good one up by Lima Ohio.LOL in all seriousness what part of southern Ohio are we talking?
 

Hogmister13

Junior Member
231
56
A guy in Ky mounts mine but now that they passed the EHD law I don't know how to cape it out for a mount to bring it out of the state if I happen to kill one .
 

brancher147

Junior Member
Caping it out is not real difficult with a sharp knife (a scalpel and long tweezers help also) and a lot of patience. I recommend not celebrating late into the night before caping it out the next morning, it will be much easier to do without a splitting headache and being completely hung over (as I have learned from experience). Just cut off the neck low to the shoulders, skin up around the neck sliding the hide up as you go. When you get to the ears just cut through cartilage close to the skull and keep going. At the antlers cut around the bases and connect with a cut in between bases (this will be sewn up by taxi) to remove antlers. continue skinning around the skull and very careful attention is necessary around the eyes (this is the hardest part) as well as the mouth. It is best to practice on a small buck first, but it is not too bad after you have done one. Your taxi may even give you a discount for doing this if done correctly. It does not hurt to check with taxi before doing it for recommendations also.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
Caping it out is not real difficult with a sharp knife (a scalpel and long tweezers help also) and a lot of patience. I recommend not celebrating late into the night before caping it out the next morning, it will be much easier to do without a splitting headache and being completely hung over (as I have learned from experience). Just cut off the neck low to the shoulders, skin up around the neck sliding the hide up as you go. When you get to the ears just cut through cartilage close to the skull and keep going. At the antlers cut around the bases and connect with a cut in between bases (this will be sewn up by taxi) to remove antlers. continue skinning around the skull and very careful attention is necessary around the eyes (this is the hardest part) as well as the mouth. It is best to practice on a small buck first, but it is not too bad after you have done one. Your taxi may even give you a discount for doing this if done correctly. It does not hurt to check with taxi before doing it for recommendations also.

While good advice, my personal is opinion is leave the skinning to the experts. The last thing you want to do is learn by mistake on the cape of a buck worthy of your wall.

I'd recommend Roger Fore in Coolville, but that's a decent drive.
 

Hogmister13

Junior Member
231
56
Yeah thanks for the skinning tips but I'm with 1023.. Some taxi's have there own way of skinning the head. I'm just gonna find a good taxi up there and take it to em. I'm gonna worry bout getting one on the ground first.
 

brancher147

Junior Member
I don't blame you, I am sure some taxi's are picky. I just enjoy doing it, and I like to process and do as much on my own as possible with every deer I harvest.

I agree though, gotta get one on the ground first. Good luck. I will be down there in 2 weeks hopefully I am able to close the deal this year on a good one.
 

Diablo54

Senior Member
7,082
126
Outside
While good advice, my personal is opinion is leave the skinning to the experts. The last thing you want to do is learn by mistake on the cape of a buck worthy of your wall.

I'd recommend Roger Fore in Coolville, but that's a decent drive.

I hate to say anything bad about roger.... But after my last mount I will never go back. Hard to believe I know
 

Kaiser878

Senior Member
2,633
97
ohio
Caping it out is not real difficult with a sharp knife (a scalpel and long tweezers help also) and a lot of patience. I recommend not celebrating late into the night before caping it out the next morning, it will be much easier to do without a splitting headache and being completely hung over (as I have learned from experience). Just cut off the neck low to the shoulders, skin up around the neck sliding the hide up as you go. When you get to the ears just cut through cartilage close to the skull and keep going. At the antlers cut around the bases and connect with a cut in between bases (this will be sewn up by taxi) to remove antlers. continue skinning around the skull and very careful attention is necessary around the eyes (this is the hardest part) as well as the mouth. It is best to practice on a small buck first, but it is not too bad after you have done one. Your taxi may even give you a discount for doing this if done correctly. It does not hurt to check with taxi before doing it for recommendations also.
If I did what you just said, my taxidermists would charge me more. Ha they might even throw the cape in the trash and make me buy a new one. Ha just sayin
 

Mike R

*Supporting Member*
336
55
Just for your guys info that may get a little frisky. There is a page on my website under field care, make sure it's the full page not the mobile site. It has all the info you may need to take care of your trophy. It's there just in case you need it.
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
Just for your guys info that may get a little frisky. There is a page on my website under field care, make sure it's the full page not the mobile site. It has all the info you may need to take care of your trophy. It's there just in case you need it.

Yes. I remember you mentioning this to me. Probably more than once. Then I think I text you asking the same questions anyway. When I get a buck down, I forget this stuff and turn into a giddy 13yr old. lmao
 

Mike R

*Supporting Member*
336
55
You know Phil when we designed the website we had a toss up between" Phils page" and "field care" , but everybody kept asking " who is Phil? ". So we went with field care. lol
 

hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
You know Phil when we designed the website we had a toss up between" Phils page" and "field care" , but everybody kept asking " who is Phil? ". So we went with field care. lol

Haha. You have my future business. You don't have to lie to me. lmao
 
Like anything else caping a deer is a learned trait. Similar to you the taxidermist you go to was a novice at some point in time, its by no means rocket science and actually is one of the easier tricks of the trade. Any good taxidermist will tell you that any mess up on a deer is fairly easily fixable. My dad who practiced taxidermy (who I caped quite a few deer out over the years for) for about 20 years has had quite a few guys bring in pretty botched capes all of which is easily fixable with a good needle and thread. I don't blame people for being timid but I sure hate for someone to think they couldn't handle it themselves and have to opt for a taxidermist that is not of preference or is far from your home location.
 

brancher147

Junior Member
If I did what you just said, my taxidermists would charge me more. Ha they might even throw the cape in the trash and make me buy a new one. Ha just sayin

I think you either don't know what you are talking about or either have a really bad taxidermist. Or you didn't understand what I wrote. I have caped out multiple heads and taxi has never had a problem. It is a little more complicated than what I wrote but I didn't think anyone wanted to read much more than that. Like PA Bandit said any good taxi can fix very easily any mistake you make. I would suggest you find a new taxi if he can't use a caped out hide.

Now we have gotten completely off topic from what this was supposed to be, Hogmister was just looking for a taxi, and I was offering a suggestion that could help him.