I'm going to AK this fall on my first caribou hunt. I'll probably want to mount one of the "Bou's, but I'm a little concerned about getting the cape back to my MI taxidermist in good shape.

The deer I've caped have all turned out well, but I've always just skinned them up to the skull/neck junction and gotten them to the taxidermist in a very short time. I've never actually skinned the head. I understand you have to "turn the ears" and "split the lips" but don't really know what that involves. Salting the cape?

My local taxidermist is a high school bud of mine and says he will teach me how to do all this to get the cape back to him in good shape for a mount, but I was thinking I could get ahead of the learning curve a little if there were some on-line directions with pictures, or a recommended video I could buy and watch.

Suggestions welcome, and Thanks!

Carl

Just like to add: No guide will be involved, this is an unguided drop camp hunt out into the tundra. And, it could be up to 10 days to two weeks before the cape can find a freezer or get to the taxidermist.

You're going to have to take that head out completely. First, after you split it up the back of the neck to the base of the skull, cut a "Y" incision so that each prong goes to the center back of each antler. I'd suggest a small screwdriver, but you CAN do it with a knife if you are VERY VERY CAREFUL. Encircle both antlers leaving no hair on the antler burr. You have to cut up under those burrs and once you get started, left the tab of the "Y" so you can just pull it up and away as you cut it. When both antlers are freed, continue caping down. Stick your finger in an ear and see just how deep that ear canal goes before it hits bone. You have to cut it off AT THE BONE so that you don't screw up the inner ear. Once this is done, you'll see the skull and head starting to slide out of the hide. Work down to the eyes. Stick you hand UNDER the eyelid until it hits bone. Lift it from the outside while CAREFULLY cutting it free underneath. Get ALL the eyelid, both inner and outer skin. When you get to the front corner of the eye, you must remove the lacrymal gland or "tear duct" WITHOUT CUTTING IT. This takes a bit of time as well. Use the tip of your knife and cut deeply into the bone and the recesses of the muzzle so you can lift this gland out intact. Once done, STOP.

Now go to the mouth and lift the lips. Cut the skin right up against the jawbone and teeth. Leave LOTS of lipskin. Do the bottom and the top areas. Don't mess with the nose of deeper into the mouth at the back of the jaw. That will be done from the other side. STOP

Now go back to the hide around the eyes. Stick your finger inside the mouth deeply and push out on the skin. When you've skinned the animal far enough down to see your finger lifting, cut STRAIGHT DOWN TOWARDS WHERE YOUR FINGER WAS. This will open you up to the mouth area. Continue skinning down until you get the bottom jaw skin completely off. Flip your hide now so that the hide is inverted over the muzzle with all the skull free. With your knife resharpened (caribou hair will destoy and edge so make sure you take a good stone with you.), life the nose area and cut right across the front top teeth straight back to the eyeballs. It's soft cartilage and will cut easily. Now go up top and skin the hide on top the muzzle down to where you can see your last cut on top of the top jaw, Stop skinning right there and cut straight down to wedge the entire nose of intact. The head is now free. Lay the hide skin to skin and take it back to camp AWAY from your tent. Lay it out flat where it can cool. It is wise to lay a dirty T-shirt or soiled clothes atop it to keep critters away from it overnight.

Back to the skull. I hope you intend on taking a meat saw with you. Several manufacturers make break-down saws for packers . If you don't have one, get one.

Set the skull on its nose (or what used to be it's nose. Cut off the excess meat on the skull itself and expose that small "shelf" at the base of the skull. With your saw, cut directly downwards towards the very CENTER OF THE EYEBALLS. You can quit when you get to the eye orbit bone on both sides.

Lay the skull down on its bottom jaw with the antlers sticking up in the air. Imagine a point half way between the eye orbit bone and the beginning of the natler burr. Place your saw there and start cutting downward, 90 degrees to the angle of the skull until you intersect the first cut towards the eyeball. Remove your antlers.

Dispose of the brain and pull the paper thin memberane that separates it from the skull as well, Cut away all excess meat.

Next problems.

(1) Velvet. If the antlers are in velvet, you must either strip them or preserve them If you intend on preserving them NEVER TOUCH THE VELVET DURING THE ENTIRE PROCESS. Your body heat will spoil the velvet almost immediately and it will fall off. If you peel it off, tie a rope to them and toss them into the lake or river for as long as possible. This will allow residual blood to be washed away. If you want to keep the velvet, you MUST have a syringe and about a pint of injection fluid. See your taxidermist before you leave. There are no home solutions to use. You will need an embalming fluid to save the antlers.

(2) Splitting the antlers: Many carriers will not allow you to carry your antlers intact. Instead of just cutting them in half, help your taxidermist a bit. I'm gong to use an asterist (*) to signify an antler and a < to signify the cut. So here goes. Cut your antler cap just like this *<*. This will allow him to insure they are at least aligned laterally when he puts them back together.

When your hide is sufficiently cooled, roll it up, face inside the roll, and place it in a muslin bag for transportation back home I also pack a roll of duct tape and about 16 feet of the foam pipe sinsulation from Lowes. I wrapped and taped each antler tip to help avoid breakage in flght.

George gave you some good advice on skinning out the head. Ive got similar tips on my webpage so take a look.

I will warn you, and take this to heart, check to see what kind of salt they have in camp for you. I don't do a pile of caribou, but enough to see some real problems coming back from caribou camps. Most of the camps are using ROCK SALT, and not fine grained white salt. Rock salt is not what you want and most guys never ask. They show up and use what's in camp. Too many times capes come back with real problems due to crappy salt being used.

Rock salt will not dry out the hide correctly and that can result in slippage.

A caribou cape will leach out in 24-48 hours in dry conditions using the correct salt. Its really amazing how quick they can dry out, provided the hair isnt soaking wet. My point is if you do turn the cape correctly, and salt it correctly, it will be damn near dry by the time your ready to come home.

However if you use the wrong salt, you could come home with a need for a replacement cape.

Good luck on your hunt, have a blast.

Hugh

Great point Hugh. You need to CHECK WITH YOUR OUTFITTER OR WHOEVER IS TRANSPORTING YOUR HIDE. I hunted without an outfitter in Alaska and the bush pilot was very much opposed to flying salt in his airplane (understandably). I took 3 bags for the capes. I salted them and then shook them off for resalting. When we got ready to leave, I put the hide in s muslin bag, a canvas bag, AND a plastic bag. When I got it back to the airfield, they were very cautious of my resalting and I ended up taking the hide off the airdrome and into the edge of the bush to resalt it. When we got ready to come back to the lower 48, it was back in the muslin and canvas and then put into a waxed cardboard box.

All I can add here is that finding a dry place on the tundra can be quite a challenge. Set up a tarp as soon as possible.

Out of curiousity where are you going/who with?