Caping a pronghorn is a simple procedure but there are a few steps to make it easier on you and also to improve your chances of getting a nice mount done by your taxidermist.
As with any big game animal you wish to have mounted, NEVER slit the throat. This is especially important in pronghorns as their hair is like straw: brittle and porous. The hair will soak up blood making it really hard to get a clean mount because the stain is actually inside of the hair follicle.
Avoid dragging the animal even a short distance. Pronghorns are fairly small and can usually be carried easily by two men. If you must drag it, place it on a tarp or heavy plastic. Your pronghorn needs to be cooled immediately after you kill it; the meat being of course your first priority, then your cape and head.
Steps to getting a good cape off of the animal are as follows. (These are not the final caping steps used by your taxidermist to remove the skin from the head but steps to get your head safely to the taxidermist.)
1. Begin your incision from the base of the tail, along the spine to the base of the skull, stopping just behind the horns.
2. 3-4 inches behind the front legs, cut all the way around the animal, making sure to stay behind the legs in order to have plenty of cape for the taxidermist to use in the mount.
3. Begin the leg incision just above the knee going straight up the back of the leg toward your center cut and also cut completely around the legs just above the knees.
4. Continue peeling the skin from the animal until you have freed the cape from the legs, brisket and neck toward the head. Make sure you do not cut the brisket.
5. Sever the spine from the neck approximately 4 inches from the back of the skull. Being very careful not to cut the hair.
6. The last photo shows the complete cape with the shadowed area being where the neck was severed from the spine.
7. Place the head into a cooler with a block or well sealed bag of ice pushed up into the neck, keeping it as dry as possible. You need to get your head to the taxidermist as soon as possible as hair slip happens fairly rapidly on pronghorns. These caping techniques are also very successful on all other big game animals. Happy hunting!
Jerry and Anne Vinnola are the owners of Big Timber South Taxidermy in Canon City Colorado and the Colorado Institute of Taxidermy Training, Inc. They may be reached at 1-800-733-6936 or cotaxidermy@amigo.net for your taxidermy needsor on the web at www.coloradotaxidermyschool.com for instruction in the art of taxidermy.
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