Know alot of people from each camp!
Anti-tubers say "not enough stretch"
What do you think?! pro and con!
"L", "T", or "V" incisions have more handles and allow more manipulation when winching the hide over those baloon necked, over-sized forms.....lol Either way, skin is skin, the degree of stretch doesn't change.....just the number of ways to grab 'holt......
....I mounted a big 23" WT buck up today with the very short "Y" cut. About 3 minutes of sewing and "baddabing" I was done.
My experience with a i/2 dozen full cut capes was ...
1. they were hard to aline correctly on the form
2. Aggravating as "heck" to sew
3. Hard to get a true measurment from.
But however you want to do it !...Your call
After hearing how many liked the short "y" I did as many as I could this year when they came in. Short cut took longer to skin the deer, especially when there was alot of neck still in it, also cost more to have them tanned that way. It was a real pain to scuplt in the facial details with that "face hide" hanging there in the way. Fit to the form was not as easily checked since you have to slip it on and off to ensure the best test. The time and money I lost due to extra tanning expense, fitting, and sculpting was not a good trade-off for the 15 extra minutes of sewing time on an open back seam for deer. Short cut Antelope were impossible to get over the form and muledeer took a very long "y" cut to get them on. Elk, however worked very well, but were really expensive to tan. I will continue to do the Elk as often as I can with a short "y" since that seemed to indeed save sewing time. Big horn Sheep took a tremendous back cut to get over the forms, the heads are just too wide. I didn't notice a stretching issue since my tanner offers a great life in his tan and shaving.
I have been using the short " t " incision for about 5 years and prefer that over long cut. The little extra time it takes to cut off head is more than made up when sewing. Nice smooth finish down back. Cut is only 4-6 inches down from antlers, depending on size of deer.I tan my own deer capes so I don't have to pay anu extra tanning charge.
I was bent hell on the long incision just because it was the way I was taught, and you can skin it faster IT SEEMS. And measuring the cape tubed seemed awkward. But, since everyone has said how nice the tube mounting is and how quickly it goes and fits and looks, I've tried the few deer that came in LAST MONTH from the freezer, the tube way just to see for myself. Havn't mounted them yet so thats as far as I can tell ya. Guess what I'm saying is try both ways yourself and see what YOU think and like.
I do them all short, easy, quick, I hate sewing capes, and they slip on fine for me becuase I don't try to make small deer big.I have figured out all the good ways to do them when short Y, like the eye setting procedure,etc.Always a nice smooth back on my deer, esp important on these early bow kills, impresses customers too.