How to get a cape home

[Birddy]

I leave for my antelope hunt tomorrow. It just dawned on me that if i get a nice one i want a shoulder mount. We will be camping and will have coolers full of ice. I have no clue how to cape the skull. So how do i keep the cape from going bad? It would probably need to last 2 to 3 days. Thanks in adavnce

 

[Don K]

Find a taxidermist near where your hunting and pay him to cape it out. I would talk to your taxidermist but I would put it in a cooler once its caped to keep it cold. Some people freeze theirs for the trip but again ask your taxi what they prefer. Keep the water off it in the cooler.

 

[JoseCuervo]

Salt it, roll it up, drive home.

 

[glass eye]

A couple lbs of dry ice will keep the cubed ice from melting. Cold and dry is the goal. I've been a full time taxidermist for over 30 years.

 

[jeremys4]

take it put it in a garbage bag tie it up tight and put in a cooler should be good.

 

[Mthuntinfool]

Lots of non- iodized salt( available at feed stores) applied on the flesh side helps to keep the hair from slipping, and is an inexpensive insurance policy that your cape will get home safe.

 

[Ultrahunter]

I took a small freezer and ran it with my generator in the back of my pickup all the way home. Worked great.

 

[Muskeez]

We just cut well behind the shoulder and up the back side of the legs so the taxidermist had plenty of hide to work with. we pulled the hide up the neck and cut through the meat and twisted the head off. We dropped the cape and the entire head in a garbage bag and put it in a cooler with a couple frozen milk jugs. cool and dry. Our guy was happy with that, and easy for us.

 

[fowladdict]

We just cut well behind the shoulder and up the back side of the legs so the taxidermist had plenty of hide to work with. we pulled the hide up the neck and cut through the meat and twisted the head off. We dropped the cape and the entire head in a garbage bag and put it in a cooler with a couple frozen milk jugs. cool and dry. Our guy was happy with that, and easy for us.

This method has worked for me.

 

[MTpubliclander]

This method has worked for me.

Careful it is well cooled though those plastic bags hold the heat in and can cause it to slip.

 

[npaden]

One thing that my taxidermist mentioned to me which seems important is that it is critical to get the blood out of the hair of a pronghorn as soon as possible. The hollow hair really can suck up blood and when it dries it can be next to impossible to get out. When I shot my antelope I washed it really well with a garden hose, caped it off the skull and then rolled it up tight and froze it. It turned out really well. I've seen antelope mounts where you could see the blood stain on the hide even after they were mounted.