My dad is friends with a guy who owns one of the local butcher shops, and this place processes deer every season. Since I am going to need lots of practice capes, I am thinking I should ask if I can help skin the deer they bring in, and if I do, I think they will allow me to keep the capes. (And also the feet, as I do a lot of crafting with deer hooves) I am looking for people's opinions on this, do you think it is a good idea, etc.
If I don't skin at the bucther shop, I might be able to acquire a few practice capes from some of my dad's hunting buddies.
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Well thats a good idea except for one thing . The butcher shop doesnt own the deer , the hunters do and you would have to ask them if you could have the cape . This means you would have to quickly skin out the head and give them back their racks before they pick up the meat . Once you get some practice and you know what your doing , your can cape a deer in 10 minutes . I'm sure you can have all the feet you want . Rick
That's a good point you made there, I totally forgot about that. Now I'm thinking I could just get some doe capes since not many people get their does mounted, (I would still ask the hunters permission to keep the skin though) and they would be easier and quicker to skin because I wouldnt have to go around the antler burrs (which does take me a long time) Thanks for mentioning that though. :)
A butcher shop is HARD work, even if all you're doing is skinning them. I know around here they can process up to 1000 deer during the firearms season alone. The problems I see with doing that is would the butcher be willing to train someone knowing after deer season you'll be gone? Also, they charge a caping fee if a person is going to have it mounted, usually around $25.00 (my area). If the person isn't going to get it mounted, he won't pay the caping fee and they will just saw the antlers off, ruining the cape.
If your dad is good friends with the butcher, I would suggest you offer a free antler mount to the individual in exchange for the cape. Have something on display at the butcher's shop showing the customer what to expect. Make it nice enough to entice the customer to spend the extra $'s for the caping fee but not overly expensive on your part to produce. Also, if you're going to put a nameplate on it, just put the year and nothing else to help keep the cost down. Convey to the butcher what you expect the condition of the cape to be in. You don't want to trade your services for junk capes you can't use. He might even let you hang around opening weekend so you can inspect the capes yourself and solicit your services. You'd be surprised at the number of quality bucks people don't have mounted. The only problem with this is you will need to get a set of antlers to mount these.
If you only want practice capes, don't overlook the does. The butcher would give you all that you wanted and there would be no caping fee involved for the customer. The caping fee a butcher charges is a joke anyway as they're not doing anything "special" to warrant the extra money. But if they can get it, which they do, more power to them. You'll get the same kind of practice you'll looking for plus not have to find a set of antlers to do a mount.
Another option is to take up hunting yourself. If your family doesn't hunt, maybe one of your dad's friends would take you under their wing and show you the ropes. It would give you a variety of species to practice on with no worries about ruining something.
These are the options I would explore before strapping on the knives and sharpening steel. Definately solicit your dad's friends as well unless they shoot a trophy class deer. If you ruin the mount, you'll more than likely ruin the friendship as well. Good luck. Alan.
Like I said earlier I think I'll just stick to does for now until i can get quicker at caping out a buck.
My dad and I are big hunters and here in PA we can harvest two deer each season, so that automatically gives me four deer if my dad and I fill all our tags again this season. Last year I filled all my tags, but only mounted one of the deer which was my buck. I tanned the other deer for a wall hanging pelt. My dad shot a big doe last year with long prime hair but I just didn't get to skin it. Oh well. My dad told me that he will be asking his friends if they want their deer capes and if not, he is sure they will offer them to me.
Either way I'm trying to find ways to get pratice capes without having to pay, I already have the need for many more essential shop tools which I could buy instead of the capes. I'm trying to save up for a mounting stand and a Dakota IV, which I'm more willing to put money towards than buying practice capes. Oh there I go again rambling on. LOL I'll stop.
I would try the butcher shop thing. You will end up with all the 15"to 17" capes you want. We have been processing the last two years and actually end up with lots of capes 15 to 17" that we dont need. And yes you will find some 19 and 20" capes with small racks that hunters will not mount. Cape that deer out (check with hunter first of course) and give the skull plate and antlers back to hunter. Oh and about the fleshing machine, right now my advice is to take a practice cape, find someone with a 2800 to 3000psi pressure washer and try that out. You will forget all about that fleshing machine.
I did the butcher shop thing. It was great. Most hunters that bring a unskinned deer in usually don't want the antlers. I never had to ask the hunters for their permission. The butcher charged a skinning fee. If the hunter wanted the antlers the butcher would tell me and I just took the cape. It's not hard to find a good three point rack at a flea market for less than $20.