how difficult is it to cape a head?

[pointysticks]

gutting an animal and removing a head intact with a big skin "Cape" for the taxidermist is kinda intuitive. if you make any mistakes, i am sure he can fix them. i winged it on my first dead animal..and my method has evolve to what it is today..right or wrong.

now caping a head. (am i using the correct term?) i see people hiking with a skinned out skull. they are packing out the face skin to hand over to the taxidermist? this is to save weight? you're still carrying the skull and skin. what is the weight saving part?

as you can see..i dont get it. i am a total newb. i've done it the other way a myriad of times. i've carried an elk head, neck, cape for a long way. a long cruel hike. not fun.

can somebody explain it to me? wouldnt want to ask this question over in archery talk. i would get lynched.

you have to skin down to the gum line? man, this cannot be easy.

oh. if you only plan to do a euro mount..what then. remove the jaw as well?

[ElkNut1]

Here's a great way to consider & it cuts down wt. plus it's what taxis like. As you know most taxis want you to cut behind front legs, I give them 8" or so & it's been plenty of hide on normal shoulder mounts! Next cut hide like pulling a zipper down the spine & neck direction until you get 5"-6" away from center-line of base of antlers, make a Y cut to each base, now remove hide from around base or rosettes, it's best done with a screwdriver or similar tool & a rock used as a hammer, you push & pry hide away from the antler bone around those bases, it's not bad to do.

Once this is done now skin to base of one ear & cut the cartilage where it connects at the skull leaving all remaining cartilage inside of ear, you do not need to skin out the ear, do the same on 2nd ear. Skin down carefully around the eyes & skin out very carefully around the tear ducts then stop just past it an inch or so & skin down lower portion towards jaw but don't skin jaw out, leave hide attached to that tedious area of mouth & nose. Now take your saw & cut the bone right there straight down leaving all hide still connected to entire jaw area, of course the nose area is still attached as well. If you are nervous about skinning out Eyes & tear duct area then leave them & make your saw cut just above the eyes & down between the jaws leaving all teeth. Teeth are a bear to cut though so do not try it!

Now you have a nice tidy little bundle that's very light to roll up & pack out with very little bone left to pack; only the jaw/snout area is left! Your Taxi will now remove ear cartilage & finish skinning out all eyes, mouth & nose areas, that's part of his job!

Now all you have to do is cut the antlers off leaving plenty of bone for sturdiness off of the discarded skull you just cut off, your taxi will trim back accordingly to fit mount form! You now have a separate rack & cape to pack out & get cooled down & you've cut the weight factor way down to haul out on a back-country type hunt by removing head & neck out of the equation! Hope this helps!

ElkNut1

[Huntrgathr]

I haven't shot any MONSTER bucks like Paul so I have never had to worry about caping an animal but here's my take. I usually do euro mounts anyway and just pack the whole head. I don't pack a saw. I figure if I kill something big enough for a shoulder mount I don't want to make even the slightest mistake so I would just skin ( tube) up to the first neck vertebrae , cut the head off and let the taxi do the rest. Did that with my bear this year and didn't mind the few extra pounds. Also, I don't trust the Havalon for caping and that's the only knife I pack anymore. Subtract the weight of a saw and heavy knife from your pack on every trip and it adds up to more weight savings than a cape-on head once in awhile. Just my 2 cents...

[stringunner]

Paul's post about how to cape a head in the field is great. Thanks Paul for the insight. That is a much easier approach that I will use in the future.

[Indian Summer]

If I'm going to mount a bull I'll cape it and ditch the skull to eliminate a ALOT of weight and bring out the antlers on the sawed off skull plate. These days I get lots of Euros so I bring the whole skull minus the lower jaw. I may still pack out a cape because I sell them to a taxidermist or a buddy who has a tannery. Maybe not if it's late in the day and my goal is just to get the heck out of there! lol

Paul covered it pretty well so I won't go into detail but a couple comments: First a short but thick knife is what I like for caping. Thick is good for prying up under the antler bases. Short for better control. The place to slow down is in the tear duct on the inside of the eyes.

Here's the best tip I can give though.... since you mentioned the lip line. Before I start from the back of the neck I go to the front of the mouth. Pull the lips back and make a cut up high at the top of the inside of the lip. if you stick your finger in your mouth way up inside your top lip for example against your top jaw it would be as high up your front teeth as possible. Do the same thing down low in the bottom jaw. Now start peeling the skin back on the face as far as you can exposing both the top and bottom jaw. You'll see the fuzzy looking texture on the insides of the cheeks. Leave that intact. Once you've gone as far as you can go ahead and start caping forward from the rear. The idea is that once you get around the antlers bases and past the eyes you don't have to worry about the lip line which you can't really see from that angle. Instead pretty soon you get to where you've already skinned it from the front and it just falls off. Try that once and you'll get back on here saying heck yeah that was easy!

Leave lots of extra skin from inside the eye sockets too.

Hope that helps! It really is an easy thing to do.