Each year several beautiful trophies get ruined due to poor or improper handling. The purpose of this section is to assist you in getting your trophy to the taxidermist in the best possible condition. Proper field care, and knowing what NOT to do, is a big part of making your mount look it's absolute best.

Fish - Skin Mounts

• Examine the specimen for damage and figure out which side you want as the show side.
• Take at least 1 good picture of the fish. Try to avoid too much sun or flash as it causes glare.
• Try to keep the fish alive or get it cold as soon as possible. If you're going to cool it in a cooler make sure to keep the show side up. Do not put anything on top of the fish!
• This is important to keep the fish from getting blotches. This includes ice.
• If you're not going to the taxidermist immediately, then you must freeze the fish. Wrap the fish in clean, wet rags or paper towels without print on them. Then put the fish in a plastic garbage bag. Keep the fish flat as possible while in the freezer until frozen solid.

DO NOT:

• Gut the fish. While any damage probably can be repaired, it will cost extra.
• Wrap the fish in newspaper. News print can get absorbed into the skin and can be hard to cover up. Newspaper also dries the skin and the fins.

Animals

There are different ways to mount an animal so there are different ways to handle the animal in the field. Full body mounting is usually done for small (squirrels, weasels, etc.) and medium (fox, skunk, etc.) animals.Big game animals can also be mounted full body, but field care is a little different. If you want a rug made from the medium or large game the field care is similar. You can also choose to have me make a 1/2 or 3/4 mount from a medium or large animal. Then there is the traditional shoulder mount.

Basic field care rules

Small/Medium Animals

• Keep in mind head damage and large holes are very difficult to repair.
• Put the animal in a plastic bag. If you have some available, spray some bug killer inside the bag to rid the animal of fleas, ticks, etc.
• If you are not going to bring the animal in right away, place it in a freezer. Don't gut or skin the animal because I'll need to get proper measurements from the carcass.
• If you ABSOLUTELY need to gut the animal make the cut from anus to the rib cage. Take out the insides leaving the anus and the genitals.
• Fill with ice and bring it in.
• If you are going to ship the animal to me see the section on shipping.

Follow the basic field dressing instructions as above. Before skinning the animal you must decide on what type of mount you want.

Rugs

• Make the usual cut for field dressing.
• Lay the animals on its back, continue the cut up the chest to the base of its neck.
• Cut from the base of the pad on one of the front paws. Cut down inside the leg to the chest cut. Repeat on the other side.
• Make a similar cut from the base of the pad on the rear leg. Cutting down the inside of the leg to the center cut. Repeat on the other rear leg.
• Continue the skinning process. Be careful not to cut any holes (if you do I can repair these but it takes more time). Pull skin away from the carcass.
• Cut through the wrist and ankle joints cutting the tendons and leave the feet attached.
• It will be easier to hang the animal while skinning, but if you can't you roll the animal on it's sides as you skin it.
• Once you reach the skull area, cut through the spine or saw through it leaving the head attached.
• Don't salt the hide. If you have a freezer, roll the hide up and place it in a plastic bag with some bug spray and freeze the hide.
• If you don't have a freezer get it to the taxidermist as soon as possible. If the outside temperature is 50 degrees or lower you can keep it outside for awhile.

Shoulder Mounts

If you don't know how to cape out an animal I suggest you bring it to me after you register the animal. This will assure that I have enough cape for the mount and I can take the proper measurements. If you know where to cut around the animal already for capping then you can follow the next instructions for help.

• Make a cut around the animal behind the shoulder blades.
• Make the next cut on the animals back up to the base of the skull.
• Next make a cut up the FRONT of the first leg and continue around to the first cut. DO NOT CUT THE INSIDE (BACK) OF THE LEG. Repeat for the other leg.
• Cut around the legs and continue skinning until you are at the base of the skull.
• Cut or saw the head off leaving approximately 6" of neck. Leave the head attached to the hide.
• Now you can fold the hide (meat side to meat side), DO NOT SALT, place in a plastic bag with some bug killer, seal and freeze the hide if you have a freezer. If the temperature is 50 degrees or lower outside you can store it outside until you can get it to me. If it's stored outside get it to me sometime soon after capping.

If you MUST cape the animal further the following instruction can help you.

• Take the following measurements: First around the neck from below the jaw around below the ears (meat only not on the hide). Second same measurement but 3" down. Third from the tip of the nose to the base of the eye.
• Now make the "Y" cut. This is from the base of the skull (which is where you stopped before) to the base of each antler (horn). Then skin the flap and around each antler. Continue to the eyes.
• As you get to the eyes you will have to cut the ears off. Cut them as close to the skull as possible. Next, as you reach the base of an eye reach under the cape and put your finger in the eye. Lift the skin and carefully cut the FLESH away from the skull. BE VERY CAREFUL NOT TO CUT THE EYELIDS OFF.
• Next continue to skin as close to the skull as you can. As you reach the mouth cut the skin where it meets the teeth. Continue this until you reach the nose.
• Cut through the nose cartilage to the bone until you have the nose off.
• Don't salt the hide. Fold it up and place in a plastic bag with some bug killer. Freeze the hide as soon as possible.

Large Game - Full Body Mount

Field dress the animal as above. Make the cut as small as possible keeping to the side of the genitals. Keep the genital intact. If you need to tie the genitals on the inside. There are 3 ways of skinning the animal.

• The same method as the rug skinning.
• Short cut you will have the field dressing cut. Then cuts down each of the legs from the base of the pads to approximately halfway down the inside of the legs. Also split the tail.
• Dorsal cut is to cut down the back of the animal from the base of the skull all the ways through the tail. Also include similar cut on the legs as the short cut method.

If the animal is antlered then you will need to make a "Y" cut on the head (as above). Take the following measurements: "A" Tip of nose to the base of the eye. "B" Circumference of the neck "C" Tip of nose to the base of the tail "D" Girth of the belly. You will need to keep the animal on ice until you get it to the taxidermist or freeze it. For freezing follow the next instructions.

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Freezing Animals

For me to be able to properly skin and prepare the animal for mounting proper freezing directions should be followed. Problems can occur in the areas of the ears, face, and feet if the animal isn't frozen properly.

• Clean as much of the blood off of the animal as you can.
• Wrap the face in a wet rag making sure to cover the nose and ears. Put a plastic bag over this releasing as much air as possible. Tape to seal.
• For antlered(horned) animals wrap each ear with a rag and bag. Then wrap face with wet towel from base of antlers to the nose.
• Wrap each foot and tail in a wet rag and bag each.
• If the animal is skinned, fold the hide up (flesh  to flesh) and place in a plastic bag. If it has antlers, they can stick out of the bag.
• Make sure to release as much of the air out of the bag possible. Seal the bag shut, tapping around the antlers if it has any.