Mounting a Deer: What You Need to Know
It is common for hunters to decorate with skulls and rugs to commemorate the animals and memories of the hunt. Those getting a full shoulder mount usually rely on a professional to create the deer mount. However, a hunter’s responsibility for the end product is more than just pulling the trigger.
Many avoidable mistakes that a lot of hunters make after a successful shot. Bringing in a damaged cape is a downer for your taxidermist and your wallet. Here are a few rules to keep in mind.
How to Mount a Deer?: The Deer Mounting Process
Hunting a deer comes with a lot of personal pride and excitement over trophy – no matter if it’s your first buck, or 20th! If you’re newer to hunting and mounting a deer, you should learn a few tips to ensure you get the best results for your shoulder mount, life size mount, or pedestal.
Here are the steps to properly getting your whitetail, mule, or other deer species mounted:
Step 1: Make Sure to Protect the Cape
The first step in how to mount a deer properly is to protect the hide as much as possible. Getting your deer to the truck is one of the best times to ruin a hide, so take extra precaution when getting the buck to your vehicle.
Step 2: Keep the Fur off the Ground
Always drag the buck by its antlers or front legs as dragging a deer with the fur helps keep the deer’s shoulders, neck, and head off the ground.
Step 3: Hang by the Back Legs vs the Neck
When it comes to butchering your buck, never hang it by its neck. The stress of the rope on the deer’s hair and hide can cause irreversible damage. Hang it by its back legs instead but don’t cut the throat to bleed the deer out.
Step 4: Slice from the Inside Out
An important part of mounting a deer is properly caping the animal. To cape a deer, you need to make sure you slice from the inside out.
Step 5: Avoid Salt and Add the Deer to a Freezer
A common misconception is that you should salt the hide if you’re not immediately taking it to the taxidermist. Salting is useful on remote hunts to deter bacterial growth, but prolonged exposure to salt dries out the cape and causes issues for fleshing. If you do salt the hide, make sure you communicate that to your taxidermist. Otherwise, you risk having it ruined while in storage.
Instead, make sure you get your cape in a freezer or cooler. If it ends up in a cooler, absolutely don’t let it come in contact with ice or water.
When going in a freezer, it’s crucial that you don’t let the cape sit in a wrinkled position. This will be noticeable later when it comes time to thaw it. Although the freezer is there to protect the hide, it can also damage it.
For more information, check out this article about how to mount a deer head at home.
Transporting your Deer Mount
If you freeze it with skin touching hair, this can cause hair loss. You can also damage delicate parts of the deer, like the nose and ears, if they become freezer burned. To prevent this, there’s a three-step folding method that taxidermists like to use.
- Fold 1 (skin to skin): Fold the cape the short way.
- Fold 2 (hair to hair): Fold the cape the long way, with the head extending beyond the brisket.
- Fold 3 (hair to hair): Fold the head back in the opposite direction and tuck the nose under.
If you take this approach, wrap it in garbage bags and place it in a spot where it can sit flat. Don’t stack other items on top of the cape, either.
Maybe most importantly when it comes to helping out your taxidermist is to stop what you’re doing if you’re not confident. For more information, check out our articles on field care 101 and how to properly field dress a deer.
Deer Mount Species
The deer mounting process applies to any deer species, although it will differ slightly. We are skilled in deer mount services for the popular whitetail deer and mule deer species, to other North American, and Asian species like the Coues deer, Fallow deer, Axis deer, Pere David’s deer, Red stag, Sika deer, and Roe deer.
Other larger members of the deer family that we provide services for are the moose, elk, and caribou.
Browse all our deer mounts online, or contact All-Taxidermy for professional deer mounting services!
About All-Taxidermy
All-Taxidermy is a small, family-owned company headquartered in Wrightstown, WI and we have been providing superior service and products to residents of the area for more than five years. We take great pride in each and every job we do for our customers and have experience working with North American mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and even more exotic species from around the globe.
Undecided about how your whitetail or mule deer should look? Our taxidermists can discuss deer mount ideas with you. Here are 6 ways to display your deer taxidermy. Taxidermy ideas for your deer mount include shoulder mounts, pedestal wall mounts, life size mounts, antler displays, and European mounts.
At All-Taxidermy, we strive to make our services available to everyone, from taxidermy enthusiasts, to hunters, to museum, store, and café owners. We focus on completing the job in the shortest time frame possible, without compromising aesthetic requirements. That means you can expect your deer mount to be shipped at the soonest date possible, and to arrive with the most professional look that preserves the beauty and nature of the animal.
Need your deer mounted? Check out our price list for more information!
