So You killed a big one...now what

[Jason Lester]

Ok all I have a few question on taxidermy. I've not had this problem but I'm wondering what you look for in a taxidermist. Given you have a nice deer down and don't know anyone. What questions do you ask of them etc. Do you go ahead and cape it yourself or leave the butcher to do it? Do you trust his recomended guy? I tend not to without seeing the work but if you have a deer down decisions have to be made fairly quick don't they?


BTW if you know of anyone you trust in the Cincinnati area let me know.

[Tom Leemans]

Jason - ask Mickey (Ferret)

[lt-m-grow]

There is more time than you think.  Small game  through turkeys -- freeze whole.

Deer on up, I cape to the point where the head meets the neck then freeze.  

Then go find the taxidermist you want at your price.

Some may say you can pick one out before hand, but I find quality and price changes over time with these folks.

Nice problem to have too.

[Tom]

You can cape it out, leaving alot of extra hide, from the back of the shoulders  to the base of the skull and then cut there. Freeze until you have the taxidermist you want and let him finish the final cape-face,eyes and ears are easy to screw up. Won't cost more to have him do this, or find another taxidermist.

[Gatekeeper]

Jason

One of the Hunter Specialties DVD’s “Primetime Bucks” has a how-to segment for capeing. I will look for this video tonight and pass the information on to you.

The taxidermist suggested that when you cape your deer you will want to get plenty of extra hide from around the shoulder area and let the taxidermist cut away what he/she doesn’t need. Better to have too much than too little.

He also stressed “do not cut the animal’s throat”. Don’t cut cross ways on the front of the neck. He said it will ruin the cape.

When the taxidermist was cutting away the cape he used a capeing knife and he did not make the vertical cut down the back of the deer’s neck. He left the whole cape one piece and when he got to the head, he used his knife to cut through the joint where the head and the neck meet. Then I think he said to freeze it.

Tom

[Jason Lester]

Thanks Guys.

"If" I had one down I'd want a quality job and I don't want to rush anything. I can't find much on prices so I'm sure they are higher than I have guessed. Oh and the cutting the throat thing. I knew that one. I wouldn't try that on even a small deer they can put a hurtin on someone if not carefull. Plus another arrow to finish the job is no big deal.

Tom I'll ask Mickey. I know he has a few.

[swampbuck]

I'd actually take a look at the work a prospective taxidermist is putting out.Look at several there is as big a differance in quality as there is price.

As for caping most guys don't want ya to skin out the head unless ya actually know what your doing at least the ones around here.as suggested leave plenty behind the front shoulders but I wouldn,t suggest splitting the hide or skinning the head itself without first talking to whichever taxidermist you decide on.Some like a Y cut while the guy I was skinnin for prefer's more of a T between the antlers and he always did the splitting of the nose lips and ears himself.You could ask that ?? when shopping around for whom you'd like to work on your trophy and when your looking remember you'll hafta look at it for a long time so get the best you can afford.

Good luck

[Shawn Leonard]

Call Guru(Curt Cabrera)he is the best I know. He won the worlds once or twice. He could tell ya what to look for in a quality taxidermist. Shawn

[cjones]

What Shawn said! Curt is one of the best in the country. And he is always willing to help. I'm sure he can awnser any question you have.

[Jason Lester]

Thanks Guys I'll shoot him a PM

[John Scifres]

Don't restrict yourself to local folks.  There are great taxidermists all over and shipping isn't a huge proportion of the cost.  $400-500 is the going rate around here for a good shoulder mount.  I know a guy that'll do them for $250 but you can't be in a hurry and he's not the best, although pretty good.

[bjohnson]

I know and have used a guy out of nw florida for the past 17 years. the oldest ones look like they were mounted last year. I have friends who have used others that dont look so good to me but they really like it.. but they only have the one on the wall. I have used chad cooper for everything and just like john said dont limit yourself to local guys. most guys have a specialty but I have not found anything he is bad at. he has anything from deer to super exotics including a male silverback gorrilla and a white bengal tiger that was donated to him by the zoo... if you would like to talk to him shoot me a pm.

[CheeseHead]

I cape out myself...to a point.  The taxidermist I'm using prefers that you leave about a foot long section of the neck behind the head.  He says it allows him to get better measurements for properly sizing the form.  Previously I had always been told to cape to the base of the skull.

Oh, and others have said, too much cape is better than not enough cape. I cut mine at about mid body.

[BOFF]

I would also make sure the hide is tanned. Some taxidermist don't do this.

[Jason Lester]

How do you ship them. Dry ice or something? Mickey had me call a guy that is local and Randy had used him and seems to realy like him. I checked out his work and it seems nice. Though not having any done before I don't realy know what to look for. I mean the less obvious things that is.

[AkDan]

DO NOT let a butcher cape a buck for you!  

Caping and turning is easy to do...but without someone showing you you can make a mistake...thankfully buying a new whitetail hide is pretty easy.  

Try taxidermy.net You should find what you are looking for over there in the how to's.

As for taxidermists?

Look at his mounts, ask for references.  And by all means go check out there mounts.  You see most taxidermists will take the time to do an extra special job on there shop mounts.  WHY?  Because this is what MOST people only take the time to look at.  I foudn out the hard way on my first Dall ram, only to be disgusted with the taxidermy work after seeing a dozen or so rams side by side done by many different guys.    Sad to say it, that was my mistake.   My 2nd ram mount was done by a much gooder taxidermist.  Take your time.  Some are production some are just pure artists!   You obviously want the artists......

[wapiti792]

Being a neophyte taxidermy guy I'd agree will all of the above. My uncle has been doing work for 50 years now. He's one of them artist types. All 8 of my P&Y deer were done by him, the first being from 1991. It still looks awesome. He does not tan the hides though. He fleshes them out using a perservative, and 15 years later my first big buck looks good.

I have one done by someone else a few years back. I won a taxidermy gift cert in a raffle and had this 150 inch deer done by someone else...mistake. I have a glaring example in my den of great work, and not so great.

Research your guy. Look at both his current work and see how his mounts hold up. Paying an extra $100 for better work is worth it in the long run. Think of it as plastic surgery for your trophy...you want the best you can afford so you can show off your good fortune.

[David Hewitt]

I agree that $400-$500 is about the going rate around our area for a shoulder mount whitetail.  Look at some older pieces he's done as well as new ones.  See how well they have held up.  There are a ton of things to look for, but for most of us, we are not going to look for the things that a judge does in a competition piece.  Most of the high end guys that compete in upper level/master type ratings are few and far between.  The work that most of us hunters will wind up with is a good quailty "commercial" grade piece that will look good to "us".  That is not saying that commercial is bad, but there is no comparison to the normal work done by most guys to a competition piece.  Another overlooked thing is that the really successful guys that have a staff might not even be the ones doing your head, although they inspect each piece out of their shop.  Word of mouth and reputation go a long way in the taxidermy business.  Two people I would highly recommend is Harry Whitehead of Gunner's Taxidermy in Lexington, KY.  He's a personal friend and one of the premier taxidermists in the country, this guy judges other people's work, but you'll pay a premium.  Another good one is Ginger Evans of Oak Falls Taxidermy.  She is a real up and comer and produces some really good "commercial" heads.  She is located about 40 minutes from Cincy near between Rising Sun and Dillsboro IN.