Like the others said, be sure to leave plenty of skin. As a taxidermist, I hate to get in a deer cape and have to tell the customer that he cut it too short for a shoulder mount. It's easy to do that, though -- you usually need to leave on more skin than you'd think. I have some people leave the entire back hide on the cape, that eliminates the worry of not leaving enough skin. But in general, if you cut well behind the front legs, it should be plenty. And make sure to leave plenty of brisket, too.

Just skin it up to the head and leave a little of the neck on for measuring purposes. Don't try to skin out the head -- that's where it gets tricky !

Amy