So I was hunting late this evening and had a very solid 8 pointer walk down on my area. unfortunately I wasn’t ever able to get a clean shot but it did have me thinking. What is the procedure/process for handling a buck you want mounted when any nearby taxidermists are presumably closed? Forgive me for my ignorance but I’ve never been in the the position before and hadn’t really put much thought to it.
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Question about late evening trophy kills...
- Thread starter Rude001
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Semi-Pro
Full-Pro
Skin it, cape it roll it up and freeze it
Semi-Pro
Full-Pro
My processor caped mine out and kept the head in the freezer till I picked up the meat. Then took it to taxerdermy
Toliver
Senior Member
Do you process your own or have a processor do it? If you have a processor handle your deer, tell them you want it caped out for the taxidermist. They may charge a little more to properly cape one for a shoulder mount. If you process your own, make sure you know how to skin one that won't make the taxidermist have to repair cuts in the wrong place.
The taxidermist being open is irrelevant. You can throw the head and cape in the freezer and take it at your leisure.
The taxidermist being open is irrelevant. You can throw the head and cape in the freezer and take it at your leisure.
Toliver
Senior Member
And some taxidermists even process deer so it's one stop shopping.
A Taxidery shop doesn’t want to see your whole deer. They want either a freshly skinned or frozen cape. As others stated you probably should use a processor unless you are confident enough to cape it yourself.
Also stop your field dressing incision at the rib cage. You can reach in and cut the diaphragm and the wind pipe and pull everything out.
Good Luck getting that trophy and be sure to post pictures !!!
My opinion, which will anger many new-age suburbanite hunters and millenials: If you don't know how to skin and quarter a deer, don't call yourself a deer hunter. Cape it out and take it to the taxidermist when he's open.
I am not angered by you continuing to express this year after year. You have that privilege.
But , I am neither of the names you choose to call me. And I have been deer hunting and working up deer since I started hunting. I choose now to use a processor because I want to and can afford it.
And make no mistake,I AM and have been a deer hunter since 1968.
Do you know how to skin a deer?
I didn't call you either of those names. I bet you know how to skin and quarter a deer. If you don't, I would be very surprised. I'm talking about people who have no alternative except a processor to clean their deer.
Dr. Strangelove
Senior Member
Additionally, not everyone has a place to be able to butcher a deer efficiently. I live in town in Athens and yes, I "could" process a deer here if I felt like incurring the wrath of the lady of the house. It would have to be inside the house in the kitchen.
In earlier years, we lived in the country and had a detached barn with a stainless restaurant sink/table combo that looked like it was out of a battleship along with a pully system in the rafters to hang the deer for skinning. I processed many a deer out there in that barn, or the little shed attached to it anyway.
Big difference. I'd as soon pay a processor now for the convenience.
Mr Bya Lungshot
BANNED LUNATIC FRINGE
When I meet a hunter, he or she has two years to prove to me they can get one in the cooler. I’ll do the first one and you can do the second or just tell me to get out of the way. If not willing I look at you a little different everytime you kill one until you put at least one in a cooler yourself.
Yikes why such nastiness? I agree deer hunters should know how to skin and process deer but imagine for a second you are new to hunting and don’t have someone to show you how. I’m sure it would be intimidating. And maybe the answer to OPs question seemed obvious but he was asking an honest question and didn’t need to be made out to be a lesser hunter for asking.
Tight Lines
Senior Member
A newbie deer hunter has to learn at some point somehow...and there are a whole lot of things I know how to do, and well, that I pay someone else to do...mow, paint, change my oil, etc. just to name a few...mostly because I can spend more time with my kids...
The processor is 10 minutes from lease...ain't no way it is more efficient or faster to do it myself...
And we have a deer hoist in camp...
buckpasser
Senior Member
Gosh, it seemed an awful lot like bashing to me. Wonder what’s the difference? It’s legal and all. Oh well.
I butchered a deer in my kitchen yesterday. My wife was packaging and sealing while I cut. The kitchen is all you need to process a deer. Do you cut chicken and pork and beef in your kitchen, or is that off-limits, too? I wouldn't have a "lady of the house" that disdained butchering a deer in the kitchen.
And, I gave an honest answer. If you want to be a hunter, learn to take care of your kill. No bashing, just reality. Taking care of your kill is just as much a part of hunting as the shooting, or even more so. If you know how to do it, then take it to a processor, that's your decision. But learn how to do it.
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