Whitetail deer neck inscision

[Michael Bunker]

Bobbi, the hook goes down thru the spinal cord canal and then out between the vertebra joint and then just skin in the direction as you would normally go. The skewers are to hold the hide out of the way.
Jerry, I never use chisels. Once you get used to the procedure it goes as fast as the y or long cut, you just cut the antlers off at the beginning of the skinning procedure instead of after skinning, cutting the antlers off is part of the time skinning, right ?    I hope this rather belated reply helps, I was in the middle of deer season and lost track of this post. 

[michael p.]

Why thje hell would you cut the antlers off BEFORE I've heard of bass akwards & this kind of reminds me of that

[Paul K]

I really like to set my eyes before I put a cape on the form, I know this method dosnt really do much for my clay work. A tail on the V (Y) about 3 1/2 " is about the minimum I can get away with , without struggling to get past the head block and not wreck my eye set. Maybe I'm missing something.

[Scott H.]

Mike Bunker,
Thanks for sharing the photos and the idea of the using a reciprocating saw. I've been doing the " V " cut for about twelve
years with a chisel.  I'll give the saw a try on the next deer and see how I like it.

Paul K. ,

There are a few different ways to doing the clay work when using a " v " cut. After you slide your hide on the deer, you can
rotate the hide to one side and clay one eye then rotate the hide back and do the other eye. If you prefer claying in
your eyes before slidding the hide on, you can make a pair of eye covers out of aluminum and pin them in place over the
clay work until the hide is on. Then just remove them from the opening on top of the head. The friend that showed me
the " v " cut, glues his eyes in the sockets of the form , slides the hide on, and then puts his clay through the eye holes
in the cape. This requires a little practice, but once you get use to it, it works really well.......This may sound like a lot of
hassle, but it's not. I like the " v " cut because it only takes me 10 to 15 minutes max to cape out a deer and I'm not very fast
nor do I like sewing. The bottom line with anything in taxidermy is do what works best for you.

[michael p.]

I still don't understand why you cut the horns off before you finish skinning it

Mike Bunker,
Thanks for sharing the photos and the idea of the using a reciprocating saw. I've been doing the " V " cut for about twelve
years with a chisel.  I'll give the saw a try on the next deer and see how I like it.

Take my advice and get a "Millwauke" if you buy a reciprocating saw, they are worth the money, you won't regret it!

[Scott H.]

I start by skinning out the mouth all the way up to the eyes. Next, off comes the antlers, then I pull the cape over the head.

When skinning a doe, I do them seamless.

[Taflinger]

Larson,alot of the veteran stuffers on here cut em all the way down.They say you can thin the cape better.A guy told me today that Jean Roll out of Michigan mounted a lifesize deer for the Smithsonian with a 16" belly cut.Some people just hate sewing I guess.

[Michael Bunker]

I still don't understand why you cut the horns off before you finish skinning it

Mike Bunker,
Thanks for sharing the photos and the idea of the using a reciprocating saw. I've been doing the " V " cut for about twelve
years with a chisel.  I'll give the saw a try on the next deer and see how I like it.

Take my advice and get a "Millwauke" if you buy a reciprocating saw, they are worth the money, you won't regret it!

Usually there is neck still attached to the skull it seems easier to get rid of the antlers first rather than skin down and remove the neck. Also I can keep the incision at it's shortest by removing the antlers instead of removing the neck. The flexible blade in the sawzall really is the secret to saving alot of work. This week I experimented with a deer by just making a cut from antler to antler with a slight radius and didn't skin down the face as far as usual, the hide and blade came in contact with each other but did not hurt the hide. This is just my way of doing it everybody will end up with there own procedure but it saves time once you get past the learning curve and the quality of no seam is worth it. Plus longevity of any seam is questionable, customers even if warned will hang mounts over heat sources, in direct light etc.   
 
And yes the Milwaukee is the best ,mine is 25 years old and I have two cordless drills by Milwaukee one is 25yrs. old also.
Remember use a coarse blade for sawing bone and tissue.

[John W.]

Michael P.,with only cutting a v incision there's not a lot of room for skinning the head out,so you remove the antlers first.This is a great incision if you don't like to sew,takes a wee bit longer than other methods but you save your time on sewing.The sawz-all has to be one of the best tools for taxidermy ever invented,buy a 10 inch wood blade and go to town.My son and I use it to not only cut antlers off but to quarter up our critters.

[Brian Claar]

Clay work through the eye holes !   I can't even imagine trying to do that!

I use the Y incision most of the time, but I have done a burr to burr (straight line) incision for competition.  I use a chisel.  Saw would be quicker and easier though.

MP,  cutting the horns off on a short incision makes it easier to get the skin off.   I only do this on competition work, or if a customer is in a hurry and wants to show off his mount.

PaulK, here is what I do to keep from messing up my eye work.
Do both eyes to make sure you have set them corrrectly.
Let them dry for about 45 min to an hour.  ( I use Critter Clay)  I have even used a blow dryer on them to speed up things.
Rough your form and finish prepping skin in this time. If your skin is thinned enough you won't mess up your eye work.
They should start to set by now.
Use alot of glue on the face and dont worry about getting it on the eyes.  Don't get stingy with glue on your head work, it helps you taxi the skin better.
 
Works for me everytime.