How important is it to degrease a deer cape (northern saskatchewan deer)?
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I flesh off the fat before I salt. Then pickle, tan, oil, shampoo, spin-dry and mount. Hogs coons bears are in need of big degreasing. Deer are vegetarians, and store a different kind of fat under the skin to get them through the winter. Meat eaters store fat differently and are grease balls, and need degreasing. But I am no professor, and my deer do not smell after being mounted. I do not see the need to degrease a deer cape if properly fleshed before salting, and fleshed after the pickle.
Some will degrease a cape every time; some will never do it at all. Some will use Stop Rot on every cape; I will only use it on suspect capes. Degreasing a deer cape is like driving down the road and turning on the turn signal, and then sticking the arm out the window to signal at the same time. It may make you feel better for doing it, but it is not needed, just my 2 cents.