I am below beginner when it comes to taxidermy. I have a cape that is over a week old and has been frozen and thawed more than once. Is it still worth trying to tan or will the hair slip? The guy killed it and had problems deciding if he wanted me to try and mount it for him. 11 point 173 green score. Nice Buck!
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I don't know how long it was defrosted for etc, and I wonder why it was defrosted more than once. But since that is the case, now your cape may require a little more TLC... ie; more expertese since it has been compromised. If you are new to this stuff, start with something "safe" for beginners. work with a fresh, once frozen cape. OR... go for it and if you succeed then you'll probably do even better in the future with more carefully handled capes. This is providing who ever owns the cape is willing to risk failure?
Dp that sucker and it will not slip
Why would DP make it not slip? I have seen several capes slip with DP.
Lisa Stanley
you could get yourself in a real pickle here. I would not have taken in a 173 scoring deer to practise on. The customer may be ok with it now but what if you ruin it? You could ruin your reputation as well and it would be very hard to regain a good name in taxidermy there after. You need to practise on a few small deer first, preferrably your own.
If you are planning to go ahead to mount this buck do it right from the start. As soon as you thaw him out flesh him up, turn the ears, split the lips and nose and salt him real good. Then resalt him after 24 hours and let him dry hard. Send him off to a good tannery and have them do a wet tan on it. The cape should be ok but you can never know for sure when it comes to hide tanning. A lot of factors play a role here. How did the customer take care of the hide in the field? How was the temperature and humididty that day? Was it a healthy specimen? Are there rubspots and scars on it already? Etc etc etc. I think you get my drift. If the cape doesn't smell and the hair won't just come out very easy when you tuck on them slightly it should be ok. You can also order some stop rot prior to thawing him out and then while he thaws out apply it to the flesh side of the cape. The stop rot is another good insurance against hairslippage.
The guy wasn't going to get it mounted. That's why he froze and thawed in the first place. The hair doesn't pull free when I put it in my freezer, but it did start to smell a little. This is just a practice mount (which I really would like to turn out!) I plan on practicing on an eight point buck that was mine. I should learn a few things from it I hope. Thanks for the replies.
Lay the cape out flat in the freezer it will freeze in a couple hours that way.
Apply stop rot with a paint brush as per directions.