How to Prepare Your Game for a Taxidermist

Congratulations on a successful hunt. Your patience while hunting has finally paid off by bagging trophy game worthy of mounting. It is going to look great on the dining room wall. You plan to call a taxidermist in the morning, but in the meantime what should you do with your prize game. If you make a mistake, you could damage the hide rendering it impossible to use. How do you prepare your game for a taxidermist?

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Game you shot
• Freezer (optional)
• Salt (optional)
• Fleshing knife (optional)
• Knife that is 6 to 7 inches long

1. 
    
   Call the taxidermist ahead of time.

   Locate a reputable taxidermist before hunting season begins, or at least before you hunt. Do this by asking friends or a local gun shop for referrals. Then call the taxidermist and ask specific questions about preferences for game preparation. Most are perfectionists and prefer to do the lips, eyes, and ears themselves. You may even want to go and visit the taxidermist to get an idea of available mounting options, unless you already know what you want. The mount you choose, such as shoulder or full body, affects how much cape you leave with the head.

2. 
    
   Gutting a deer

   Gut your game soon after killing it. Keep in mind the mount you want when you make the abdominal slit. You always want to leave extra cape. The taxidermist can cut some cape off, but cannot add any. For a shoulder mount, begin your abdominal slit about half way down the torso and cut all the way to the anus.

3. 
    
   Transport your game

   Take your game home or back to camp. Be careful not to damage the hide while moving the game.

4. 
    
   Skin your game

   Skin the game removing the hide from the meat. Remember to leave enough cape with the head when you remove it. The cape left with the head should be well behind the shoulders. If you leave flesh on the hide after skinning, you need to remove it as well. Using a fleshing knife will make this task easier. Remove every bit of muscle tissue and fat.

5. Put the game head and cape into your freezer if you are hunting near home. Wrap a towel around the ears, face and nose then place a heavy plastic bag over it. Do not fold or roll the cape or it may loose hair, called slipping. Too much slipping renders the cape unusable. Call the taxidermist. You might be able to take it over as soon as it cools down. Remember not to fold or roll it. You do not want to leave it in the freezer for too long as it can get freezer burn. The taxidermist can skin out the head. Now you just need to deliver it.

6. If you have no way to cool the head, and you are away from home for several days, you will need to skin out the head as well. Before skinning out the head, you need to take some measurements and write them down to give to the taxidermist. Measure from the nose to the center the eyes, and from the center of the eyes to the top of the head, and from one antler tip to the tip of the other antler. Then measure the circumference of the chest barrel. These measurements will help the taxidermist recreate your game. Skinning out the head is very difficult to do correctly. It isn’t recommended for the inexperienced skinner.

7. Peel the skin up to the ears and jaw until you expose the junction of the head and neck. Cut circling the neck three inches below the junction deep to the spinal column. After cutting you should be able to grasp the antlers at their bases and twist the head off the neck. Make a Y-cut in the back of the head to the base of the antlers so you can skin the head. Skin down from the base of the neck from one side to the other, until you reach the ears. When you reach the ears cut the cartilage close to the skull and continue onto the cheeks and throat as far as possible. At the apex of the Y-cut skin forward between the antlers over the head. Be very careful not to cut the skin just above the eye where a depression that has no flesh but is quite deep is located. Insert one finger in the eye and keep close to the bony orbit when you cut the thin membrane surrounding the eyeball. Be careful to cut the nostrils back as far as possible so the cut will not show on the finished head. The lips are cut from the jaw close to the bone. Later you need to cut them open and remove the flesh from the inside. Both lips and nose need the skin pared down to prevent shrinkage and remove the cartilage from the ears.

8. Salt the fleshy side of the hide if you have no other way to cool it. Spread the salt evenly about 1/16th inch thick over the entire cape or hide. Once the salt becomes wet, you need to replace it. Work the salt into the edges of the hide. When the salt is wet scrape it all of and apply dry salt in the same manner as the first time. You will probably need to apply salt three times to dry the cape adequately. Use a drill bit to cut around skull cap with the antlers attached. Deliver the antlers attached to the skull cap, the dried cape, and measurements to the taxidermist when you return home.

Tips & Warnings

• If you get any blood on the part of the hide you intend to have mounted, wash it off as soon as you can with snow or water.
• Use a child's snow sled to put your game on pull it out of the woods.
• You can purchase plastic bags to put your game in to remove it from the woods.
• Avoid using a rope to drag your trophy game out of the woods. The rocks and sticks could damage the hide.

Resources

• Big Game Taxidermy complete Guide
• Wegners School of Taxidermy

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