2006 elk mount
Mark
3/26/07 7:10pm
I got my '06 bull back yesterday and thought I would share the pics with you guys. I find myself standing in front of it several times a day just going over the hunt in my mind...
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I got scolded by my taxidermist for not having a perfectly straight cut up the back of the hide. I don't know how many of you have caped an elk, but that's some pretty thick hide back there! In the end he relented and said it wasn't bad, it just bugs him when they're not cut perfect. I guess I'll have to invite him along next time so he can cape it himself!
I love the detail also. Darn good work by the Taxi.
It's really easy. I mean really easy! Although there are many ways to cape an animal, here's the way I do it:
I start by splitting the hide from the middle of the back up to the middle of the skull between the horns, or you can stop at the base of the skull. It's easier to stay on line in the center if the sides are still attached. All of your cuts should be made from the skin side, not the hair side. This minimizes the hair getting cut. Then I cut all the way around the bull at his midsection, one side at a time since he's laying on the ground. Then I skin forward to the neck and I include the front leg hide as well. Once all of the meat is cleaned off the elk on that side, I roll them onto the other side and repeat the process. Once both side are skinned up to the neck I cut the head off. Now you've got something that looks like the picture below.
Now you simply turn the face inside out. I start with the ears. I skin the hide up to the ears and then stick my knife as far into the ear canal as possible and cut the cartlidge loose.
Now I got to work on the antlers. Cut all the way between the antlers then cut straight across to the base of each antler. You can also stop short of the entlers and cut a V up to the base of each antler. My taxi doesn't care either way. Now skin around the base of each antler. The easist way is to take a large screwdriver and just pry the hide off of the antlers. It's stuck on there pretty good so it takes some effort. I use a small knife if it gets really stubborn.
You should now have the hide off the antler bases and you should now be right behind each eye socket. I like to keep the cape pulled forward (inside out) and just slowly work it forward. Skin right up to the eyes and be very careful not to cut the eye lids. Take a small knife and dig deep into the eye socket and cut the eyelids out on both eyes. You really should be as far away as possible from the eyelids themselves. Your skinning the eyesocket deep inside the skull, not at the surface. I keep my fingers on the eyelid itself (outside) and feel for the knife blade that is inside cutting the eyelid material. That's how I keep track of where not to cut.
At the front of the eyes are the tear ducts. They are very deep and you don't want to cut those either! Dig deep with the knife from the INSIDE of the tear duct. You can't get too much skin here, but you can easily get too little! Just take your time here. It matters!
If you managed to get past the eyes and the tear ducts, you've just finished the hardest part! Now move forward to the nose and mouth. Skin down to the nose and dig deep into the nostrils with your blade. Ince that is loose you can cut down through the cartlidge on the nose, but be careful not to cut the top gums as you do.
Now for the mouth. You can cut from the inide or the outside, although I prefer the inside (next to the bone). Just follow the gum line with your blade and cut the gums loose. I like to get the entire gum line out and let the taxi trim off what he doesn't need. More is better!
You should now have a piece of hide in one hand and a skull in the other. Flesh the cape (remove meat) and hang in the shade to cool. Don't toss it straight into the ice chest without first cooling it down. It could spoil if you don't cool it down first.
It's easier than it sounds, trust me! Do a search online and you'll find ggod pics that will help you understand what I am trying to explain. The first one is the hardest. After that it's easy. And remember, always practice on your buddies deer or elk first!
And yes, that's him in my avatar.
When we do our capes we us a medium sized screwdriver and just dig out the entire tear duct. That way we know that we have enough. Cause you hit right on the head. When in dought leave extra. It's always easier to trim off what you don't need than to try and replace what you don't have. We have always used the Y cut between the antlers just for the fact that it hides more of the stiching on the back of the head where it's harder to see it.
There were 38 archery bull tags in this area last year I believe. I can't open the stats on my computer at this time. The link to NDOW isn't working!
The bad part is that I can't even apply for a bull tag NV for 10 years. I doubt I'll ever see another bull tag here.
I used to always cut the Y too, but my taxi said he doesn't care either way. On these early season bulls the hair is so short that it's almost impossible to hide the back seam. This one was no exception. It's not hideous, but it is noticeable to me. It wasn't the cleanest cut on my part either, so it's partially my fault.
Thanks for the tip! I'll add a medium screwdriver to the backpack.
As soon as we are past the eye lids we get the screwdriver out and start working around the duct and the skull from the skin side. It's easy to find and then we just start working around the edges til you get to the bottom ( 1/2"- 1" ) then just scoop it all out. If you carry a leatherman the flat blade on it works good enough. We even leave the entire tear duct in for when we mount the cape on the form. we just cut some pockets in the form and tuck the whole thing down in. For us it makes it much easier to shape and pin it in place.
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@ least you took an exceptional bull, good deal!