Back country cape care

[huntlife]

BTW, I think thats Luigi from Mario Bros!

 

[huntlife]

I do,
I consider it training for the pack out. If you can pack all your gear and a deer out, you should be able to pack all your gear and 20/40 lbs of salt in.
I think most folks just call their hunt short and get the animal out as quick as possible, I prefer to rest, relax and contemplate what a great hunter I am!

I guess this is what Ill plan on doing if Im going to be very far off the trailhead. Even if its not crazy warm, it will give me piece of mind. Being from the south, I do worry a lot about capes slipping. Like I said earlier, Ive got a lot to learn about western hunting. I ll be moving in a few weeks. Im getting excited!

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Best thread since meat care! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Z Barebow]

Thank you guys for posting this info. I hope to put it into use this fall!

 

[huntlife]

That's what this whole forum is for, hunters helping hunters. I learned that I should plan on packing in some salt when I go very deep. If I don't get anything, I can dump it out. As bad as I hunt, and as few animals as I harvest, Ill build a salt mountain!!!!

 

[putm2sleep]

Best thread since meat care! Thanks for sharing.

Yep! when Bambi posts, its like EF Hutton - gotta listen! Super insight!

like have gun, similiar feelings - would like to see an expert do it in the field, but aint happening, as Im not an expert taxidermists & ya learn by doing.
We absolutely butchered my 1st bull 20 years ago trying to just to gut and quarter. Good grief.
Thought to cape it - but one learns quickly that taking an elk out of back country on your back takes many trips and lots of doing. Cape and head have always stayed.

I am not much for the 'care' part of this effort.

Maybe I will win a hunt with Randy or the CO sheep tag with guest guide CO sexiest Dink - they can show me!

 

[huntlife]

Next time I get an animal with horns to work on, Ill do a video on how to care it and how to split and turn it. Ill post it here if yall think it would help.

 

[kansasdad]

Next time I get an animal with horns to work on, Ill do a video on how to care it and how to split and turn it. Ill post it here if yall think it would help.

Yes please!

 

[RobG]

That's what this whole forum is for, hunters helping hunters. I learned that I should plan on packing in some salt when I go very deep. If I don't get anything, I can dump it out. As bad as I hunt, and as few animals as I harvest, Ill build a salt mountain!!!!

Just so you know, dumping salt is considered baiting in MT (thus it is illegal).

 

[huntlife]

Just so you know, dumping salt is considered baiting in MT (thus it is illegal).

I didnt think about that! I guess Ill have to learn to hunt better so it doesnt go to waste!

 

[huntlife]

Yes please!

Il be glad to, but it might be this fall before I can get it, unless I take a quick trip to Texas and do some exotic hunting.

 

[huntlife]

Hey, I got a deer that I can cape out! Ill make a video showing a really good way to cape a deer (or anything else) for anybody that wants to see it. If you have any questions before it, let me know. Ill do my best to answer it.

Have Gun Will Travel, Ill show you how to do the screwdriver method. Once you see how to do it and how easy it is, youll never do it any other way. Ill try to get this video done on the 25th. Thats my next day off.

 

[have gun will travel]

Thanks huntlife.. It has to be better then the old way. So if your were going to do this in the back country do you pack a screw driver?

 

[huntlife]

You could. It doesnt really have to be a screwdriver. Anything with a flat tip will work. I know taxidermists that use a chisle, or something kinda like that.

When I started this thread, I needed info on how to care for a cape in the wilderness. I learned to just plan on packing in some salt. I guess it wouldnt hurt to throw in a screwdriver too. Ive had to cape a lot of animals without one, but it sure makes around the antler burrs a whole lot easier! You can do it with a knife. If your going to pack in somewhere crazy, and weight is an issue, plan on doing it with a knife. In that video, ill do one horn with a knife and the other with a screwdriver so you can see the difference. Try both and see what you think. At the bottom of the burr, where the skin and horn come together, the skin is a little thicker. I always want to get every bit of that off. Thats what I like about using the screwdriver. Its really easy to do with it.

 

[have gun will travel]

I've used a knife it was time consuming. But I got it done. The screw driver sounds easier. My next question is fleshing? I never trapped so I never really learned any fleshing techniques. But if you were in the back country and wanting to save your cape I would thing this would be an important step. And I would assume keeping it dry And salted is also important.

 

[huntlife]

My take on fleshing is everything that is not skin, on the inside, needs to come off. Any meat, fat, connective tissue, or what ever else, needs to come off. The idea is to get the cape as clean as possible so the salt can do what it does. The salt does a few things. The biggest thing that it does is remove moisture from the skin. It also provides a poor invironment for bacteria to grow. One of the side effects of the salt removing moisture is the fact that bacteria needs heat and moisture to grow. If you can remove the heat, or the moisture, it can t grow. For instance, if you had some place like your garage, and the temp stayed fairly cool,you could completely dry a cape out until it was pretty dang stiff. With no moisture in the cape, you could leave it on a shelf on in a box or something for years. When you are ready to get it mounted, or whatever you are going to do with it, your taxidermist can rehydrate it and it will still be perfect. Or, after you cape it out, you can put it in a freezer for a long time and never worry about bacteria. One word of caution, if you put it in the freezer, it can and will develope freezer burn! That always happens in the worst possible areas, like the lips, and especially the ears!!!

I kinda got off the subject. One of the biggest reasons to flesh everything off the inside of the cape is that the fat, meat, or whatever, will slow down the effect of the salt. Then you apply the salt, you want it to be going right on the skin. It would take a lot longer for it to work if it had to pull all the moisture out of a 1/2 slab of meat or fat first. It always amazes me how much meat some guys leave on a cape. I had a guy that shot a very nice 10pt (5x5 for all yall western guys) whitetail deer. He cut the deer in half, WITH A CHAIN SAW!!!!!. Then he brought me the whole front half of the deer, guts, lungs, half the back strap, everything!!! I should have charged him more for having to do all that for him.

 

[have gun will travel]

That's just wrong..

 

[huntlife]

The chain saw deer? Thats what I thought. I know how much mess a chain saw makes with wood chips. I cant imadgine what it was like with deer blood and guts!!

 

[have gun will travel]

I'm just trying figure out at what point that seemed like a good idea?

 

[huntlife]

Lmao. I guess it worked. I had a hog come in the same way. It wasn't cut with a chain saw, but it was the whole front half, all the extras included.