Tips for Caping Big Game for a Shoulder Mount

• Follow the caping diagrams.
• Do not shoot the animal in the neck or head.
• Bring the hide to us ASAP or freeze it.  Hides do not take well to heat and will ruin quickly if not cooled fast.
• Do not drive around with the animal in your truck to show it off first, and do not leave it hanging too long, especially overnight.
• Never cut up the brisket (chest and neck area) when field dressing.
• Never attempt to remove the skull.
• Don't cut the cape too short.
• Never hang or drag your deer with a rope around its neck.  This will damage the hair and show on your mount.
• Attach the rope to the base of the antlers and drag it carefully out of the field.

2.  Make another cut around the entire deer about halfway down the back.

3.  Start skinning the deer, making sure not to cut thru the skin.  Most of the time, all you need to do is pull down and the skin will peel right off.  Skin all the way down to the neck/head junction.

4.  Take a hacksaw or bone saw and cut thru the vertebrae to detach the head and cape.

5.  Wash off any blood on the hair side.  Bring it in to us ASAP or freeze immediately.

6.  To freeze, roll up the hide and double bag with plastic trash bags and freeze.

Life-Size Mounts

• For life-size mounts, it is best to either bring the animal to us ASAP, or freeze the entire animal whole.
• Wash off all blood from hair, double bag with plastic trash bags and freeze laying flat.
• If you must skin the animal give us a call FIRST for special instructions.  Follow the diagram below, and do NOT try to remove the head or feet.  Leave them in and freeze immediately.
• If you have any question about this process, call us BEFORE attempting it.

Fish Mounts

• Take a good color pictures ASAP -- True color fades fast.
• Don't let the fish flop around -- This will cause scale damage.
• Never gut your fish.
• Ice down the fish and bring it to us ASAP, or freeze.
• To freeze:  Measure entire length and girth of the fish.  Make sure all fins are laying flat against the body to prevent breaking.  Wrap entire fish with a wet towel, double bag with plastic trash bags and freeze.  Make sure to lay the fish as flat as possible when freezing.

Bird Mounts

• Never gut the bird!
• Make sure the feathers remain flat and not bent.  Take extra care with the tail feathers.
• Cool or freeze the bird ASAP and give us a call.
• When freezing:  Tuck the head under the wing, double bag with plastic trash bag and freeze.  If the tail feather will not fit inside the bag, loosely seal the bag AROUND the tail.  Do not try to bend or tightly wrap tail feather to prevent damage.