Any Tips For Protecting an Antelope Cape?

[Tkoz]

Howdy Everyone, I am new to this forum and looking forward to learning a few things and sharing my experiences as well.

I was lucky enough to draw a pretty good NM antelope tag for later this August and plan to hold out for something special. In the event I am lucky enough to harvest a nice buck, I was wondering if anyone had some tips on how to protect or preserve an antelope cape while quartering and caping the animal in the field? I have shot and processed quite a few antelope so far in my day, but I never got one quite nice enough that I wanted to get a shoulder mount and have only done euro mounts to date. My experience thus far is the hair will fall off if you look at it long enough, let alone grab it...Just wondering if anyone had any pointers other than getting it to a taxidermist ASAP?

 

[Elk Wallow]

Make sure you don’t drag it! Even if you skin and quarter it in the field make sure you don’t scoot it around while skinning. If you need to move it pick it up first. Or at least the front half. Also make sure you don’t cut through the armpits, just cut up the back of the leg. When making the cut down the back of the neck it’s best to start at the head and cut towards the butt. And save plenty of cape. I recommend from the back part of the brisket forward.
Hope this helps.

Kevin

 

[taxidermybycam]

Get it cold as possible quickly as possible. It's not much different than a white tail. If your cutting up the neck cut on the left or right side of the mane not through the center of it . Treat the skin better than you treat the meat and you'll be fine

 

[mattflipper]

Get it cooled down asap.

A few years ago I shot one in the middle of August I wanted to mount. I watched it die, took pics within 4 or 5 minutes of shooting it and had it dressed and loaded up a few minutes later. I’d say maybe 15 minutes from the shot to in the truck. Caped right after that, maybe 35/40 minutes later, and then had the cape in a freezer. I had a 26 hour drive so I kept it on ice for the drive and ended up needing a new cape. Thankfully the taxidermist had some connections and got me a new one but I thought I’d done enough to protect it.

 

[Krolly]

As others have said, get it cooled down as soon as possible. You can work on a tarp or contractor trash bags while skinning. When sliding it around the tarp or bag will move with it.
Biggest thing about putting it in a cooler is don’t roll it up. Lay it as flat and spread out as possible. Rolling it insulates the center and unless it’s in a freezer you are not helping it. Get ice on all of it but try to keep it dry.

 

[Wingmaster13]

Sometimes even when everything is done right, it can still go wrong. I had one that I followed all the proper steps as listed above, got it to the taxidermist, and still ended up needing a new cape. I’m heading out to eastern Colorado this fall hoping for better results on this go around. Thankfully where I’m hunting this year I should be able to get it on ice within 30 minutes of impact. As everyone has previously stated, be prepared, have your ice ready, don’t drag it, and get it cooled down as quick as you can.

 

[MuleyFever]

Don't let it sit in blood either. I have one that bleed like crazy then layed in the blood and the blood got into the hairs. The tips of the hairs turned black from the dried blood.