I am new to deer hunting and was wondering if anyone has any information on how to properly cape out the deer head.

Caping the entire head is a bit of an art but you don't need to do that for a mount. Just hang the deer by the hind legs and peel the skin down. Don't cut the hide anywhere in front of the front legs, just pull them over the legs, cut off the legs and continue pulling it on down until the hide is just behind the head. Cut off the head where the skull meets the neck and freeze the hide and head. Take it to the taxidermist and let him do the rest. I'd only cape the head as a last resort, otherwise let the taxidermist do the work. He'll do a lot better job than you ever could.

draw an imaginary line around the deer about 4 to 5 in. behind the shoulder,cut aronud this line,skin out to the head-neck joint cut off take to taxidermist.he will skin the head.
if you are in the wild camp days from home,just cut it off as before and skin very carefully close to the bone,being very very careful around the eyes,lips,and nose.don't worry about leaving meat on the hide.
make a measurment around the neck just bekind the head and give to taxidermist.
roll up the cape and keep very cold.
hope this helps.
NEVER CUT THE THROAT OR HANG OR PULL BY THE HEAD.


I am not a hunter I am a whitetail population reduction specialest

remember keep your back to the sun, your knife sharp, and your powder dry.

the basics of caping are as descibed above. but as you pull the hide down and skin, be very carefull not to cut the hide . i recommend if your unfamiliar with this to use a less then razorsharp knife. when you get to the base of the scull if your intent on skinning the head i suggest you buy a book detailling this procedure , i use a set of exacto-knifes and take as much time as possible be very carfull around the ears eyes nose and mouth. hell if you havent ever done it its best to watch someone do it first this will give you a idea of what needs to be done. its difficult

IMO... Just cape the deer down to the throat, then give it to a taxidermist. Properly fleshing, splitting , and cutting takes a lot of skill. And I wouldn't recommend even trying it if you haven't seen somebody actually do it. It's a lot tougher than most people think. I mount my own deer, and do everything but the fleshing and splitting. I've watched people do it many times, but it's so easy to make a mistake. I just have another profession taxidermist do it for me for $20 a deer. And it's well worth the money.

Make your first cut around the body of the deer 3-4 inches behind the shoulders, Make your 2nd and 3rd cuts around the front legs at the knee, carry both of these cuts up the backside of the legs to the armpits and then back into the first cut around the deer's body. At this point you should not cut the skin anymore, you should be able to skin the deer down to where the head and neck meets and saw the head off. Take to the taxidermist ASAP. Ideally you should already have a taxidermist in mind that you want to use and have talked to him about the hours you can bring the head by to drop off.
Good luck, I hope you catch a biggun'!!

Mark in SC

The proper way would be to go to the taxidermist that you plan on using and let him/her do it. Other than that have them show you how to do it.

There is more than just the neck measurement. Measure tip of nose to front orbital ridge of eye, tip of nose to back of skull (not used too much any more) and the circumference of the neck at the base of the skull with the skin off. A good taxidermist will want to measure the angle placement of the rack on the head from the burrs to the eyes, some use the tip of the beams to the nose.

It takes a lot of proctice to properly cut the earbuts, eyes, tearducts, lips and nose away from the bone. It only takes one slip to mess it up.

i've had two mounted and i took them to the tax. frozen solid. my wife loved those heads in the deep freeze. but my suggestion would be until you kill something that is really worth the money to mount just do a board mount. i have a wall full of them . i cant afford to mount every buck. so i learned to do them myself.