I am going on an antelope hunt this fall (first part of october) and wanted to know what I should do to bring the cape back if I harvest one. I have done whitetails and mulies but never had the "honor" of working on an antelope. It will be a four day hunt and I don't think I will have enough time to salt it and let it dry. The hunt will be four days. We are flying and I have a large cooler. Any suggestions would be extremely helpful. I know nothing about these animals except for the fact they are "touchy". Thanks for your time.
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I had the same problem in 1999. I drove to WY ( 2 days ) to hunt antelope and mulies. I had the capes frozen solid at the meat processor, then drove home with them in the cooler. My mistake was to roll them both up before freezing and it caused both to slip in the throat area under the chin because the fluids pooled there. I was able to salvage and the antelope is now my favorite mount to date. I would have the processor freeze the cape in a flat or folded position and pack with dry ice. Good luck.
HAd a customer go on his first Speed goat hunt. I gave him a few names of taxidermist to have the capes split out and salted. He picked up the Capes rolled in plastic three days later and procceded to travel and vacation, (I did not know this until I received the capes) well the mounts turned out great and no slippage.
Split, turn and salt get my vote. Get the salt at a feed store there.
and you say you won't have time? I take salt with me so it is there in camp. You will have to skin the goat anyway so you won't loose any meat. At that point most of the work is done. Just split and turn, get the meat off and salt. Sacrifice a little sleep if you need too. How valuable is a nice prongorn cape?
Like the above post, skin, split, and salt. The temps should be nice enough to dry a salted cape in no time. I live in Antelope country and I skin, split, and salt the capes the day they are killed. MOst dry rock hard in a day or two. Good luck on your hunt.
ps Look at width, not just length of horns
Josh