Any creative ideas for keeping capes in good condition for an extended period of time?

[craig Holland]

Wife and I have two antelope tags in Wyoming and live in Ohio so 19 hour drive. Hunting for a week . How does everyone get their capes frozen when you're away from a town . Looked into a portable freezer which is what I'm thinking about but not sure if anyone else has a better idea. Just trying to prep hair slippage.

 

[butcherboy]

Freezer, dry ice, turn and flesh then salt, drive into town and have a processor freeze it for you or a taxidermist.

 

[Will_m]

I have kept capes fleshed and salted for well over a week. Shouldn’t be and issue if you keep it out of the heat.

 

[BrockWinegar]

I have kept capes fleshed and salted for well over a week. Shouldn’t be and issue if you keep it out of the heat.

At what temp? Anything lower than say 60°?

 

[Bubblehide]

If properly fleshed, salted and dried, you can keep them like that almost indefinitely. I had full bear taxi-ed after about 5 years, kept dry like that.

 

[MallardSX2]

Just dry them out good and roll them up when they are cold, put them in a couple garbage bags to keep the water off of them and pack ice around them. I have done this many times with animals. No issues.

 

[Will_m]

At what temp? Anything lower than say 60°?

If I was going to do it intentionally, I’d keep it in a cooler with ice. But yeah assuming it was in the shade you should be fine at that temp with enough salt.

Edited to add: seems like @Larry Bartlett had a video on backcountry cape preservation.

 

[taxidermybycam]

So here's two videos I made.
The problem with pronghorns is that it's hot when you hunt. And almost immediately after you get one you'll have huge horse flies and I've seen it here within an hour or so they had fly larvae laid and started to wiggle and grow. There is no "hacks"

on pronghorns there's a gland you have to pay ATTENTION to a gland on the back of the jaw below the ear. It will be black on the outside. It's about the size of your fist. That HAS to be thinned down and shaved or you WILL lose your hair and need a new cape. I wish I had a video to show of it. Because when you open it up on the skin side it has a green grey speckled looks to it from the inside.
The eyes are super close to the horns so be careful if youre the one skinning it and they have a cartilage type skin where the horns meet the skin always leaves more fur on the skin if you can . It's a tight squeeze . I personally prefer someone to skin besides the mane on the antelope rather than in the middle just keep the cuts clean.

Your best bet is to find a somewhat decent taxidermist to skin and flesh and turn your cape. And then salt it ,if you had a decent taxidermist he could have a pronghorn down within an hour and once you got your cape salted ,hang it in the shade for a few hours to drip dry then resalt and drip again overnight and you'll be good to toss it in a potato bag so It can breath and go on your way home.
Keep the cape dry and blood off and cool as possible. Untill you get into a town where a taxidermist is .
These videos I made should guide you enough. This comes from a taxidermist and how they want it .

 

[craig Holland]

Thanks for the help and ideas. Seems a little more fickle than deer or elk.

 

[go_deep]

What part of Wyoming?

 

[craig Holland]

What part of Wyoming?

Unit 47

 

[go_deep]

Unit 47

I think medicine bow has a meat locker and you could likely get your cape frozen there for a few dollars.
Otherwise, like what was mentioned above, flesh and salt the Cape yourself.
Good luck, that's a good antelope area to hunt!

 

[WCB]

Done it multiple times with just a cooler and ice. Cape (no need to turn ears, eyes, or lips). Do this as clean as possible...meaning leaving as little meat and avoid getting dirt on the skin side. fold cape skin to skin and then just fold in half...Don't roll unless the cape is really cool when put into cooler. Simply put cap in plastic/water proof bag and pack ice around it. Bring a smaller dedicated cooler for this and prepack with ice.

We use the large flat ice packs that come in the "meal kit" packages (hell fresh/every plate, etc). They are like 9x9 or 10x10" flat ice packs we put into gallon zip locks so the don't leak. You can by similar on amazon. Way better than bags of ice or frozen jugs. You can layer them under, in between, and on top of meat and capes. You can even tuck them right in the cap and everything lays nice and flat.

Multiple antelope for up to 8 days no issues with hair slipping or losing capes.

 

[craig Holland]

Done it multiple times with just a cooler and ice. Cape (no need to turn ears, eyes, or lips). Do this as clean as possible...meaning leaving as little meat and avoid getting dirt on the skin side. fold cape skin to skin and then just fold in half...Don't roll unless the cape is really cool when put into cooler. Simply put cap in plastic/water proof bag and pack ice around it. Bring a smaller dedicated cooler for this and prepack with ice.

We use the large flat ice packs that come in the "meal kit" packages (hell fresh/every plate, etc). They are like 9x9 or 10x10" flat ice packs we put into gallon zip locks so the don't leak. You can by similar on amazon. Way better than bags of ice or frozen jugs. You can layer them under, in between, and on top of meat and capes. You can even tuck them right in the cap and everything lays nice and flat.

Multiple antelope for up to 8 days no issues with hair slipping or losing capes.

Thanks for the help

 

[Tmac]

Thanks for the help and ideas. Seems a little more fickle than deer or elk.

Imo they are. The hair is loose and it’s easy to lose a bunch. The hair stains with blood easily too.