Field Care and Home Care

WATERFOWL & GAME BIRDS:

Freshly killed birds should be allowed to cool down before they are placed into plastic bags or panty hose. In the field, panty hose protects the feathers from being roughed up or broken, if the bird must be carried in a hunting or decoy bag. At home, birds should have their heads tucked under one wing before freezing in plastic bags.

To prevent freezer burn, birds should always be frozen in sealed plastic bags. NEVER store birds in paper bags, newspaper or pantyhose only. Always use plastic as your last layer of protection. Blood and dirt can be washed off before freezing. Check for missing or damaged wing feathers if your bird will be mounted flying. If wing damage is present try to get another same side wing or whole bird for feather replacement.

FISH:

Fish should be frozen whole as soon as possible. Whap the fish in a wet towel and place it in a sealed plastic bag. NEVER wrap a fish in newspaper, as it will cause freezer burn almost immediately. Never gut a trophy fish. If you desire to release your trophy fish you may have a reproduction fish made. You will need to measure it. We will need a length and girth measurement, its weight and some close up photos if possible. The more information you can provide, the closer your reproduction will resemble your fish.

WHOLE LIFE-SIZED ANIMALS:

Small mammals that you are going to have mounted should be frozen whole in double plastic bags. They should not be gutted but instead left whole. Bear sized mammals to be mounted life-sized should be skinned from the back of the head to the tail. Do not skin down the legs. The head should be skinned out by a professional. Mammals to be made into rugs should be skinned out down the middle of the belly from the throat to the vent and down the back side of each leg.

GAME HEAD SHOULDER MOUNTS:

Game heads are normally skinned from behind the shoulders up to the head, and the neck meat is cut off there. Most capes are cut off too short in the brisket area by cutting from one front leg to the other. NEVER cut from leg to leg, this causes your cape to be too short for a regular shoulder mount. If you cut your cape off to short you have 4 options. 1. get a new cape to mount with your antlers. 2. Cut 4 inches off your form leaving you a short shoulder or long neck mount. 3. Use a much smaller form, so we can stretch the short skin down farther to make a smaller, skinnier shoulder mount. 4. Switch from a shoulder mount to a European skull or antler plaque.

To prevent cutting your cape off to short, make no cuts in the body, skin from the middle of the deer forward. When you field dress your deer and cut up to where the ribs connect. If you cut up any farther, you will cut into the skin needed to mount your deer properly. Properly skinned deer should look like a short sleeved t-shirt with a head on it. Do not skin the head out yourself, always let a professional do this. Keep the head and cape as cold as possible. If a freezer is not available, put a bag of ice up into the neck of the skin and place the skin into a cooler with ice bags around it. Water on your cape will not cause spoilage, as long as it is cold. Animals with antlers freezer burn quickly and ruin in the freezer. This is because you cannot get an air tight seal around the horns, and water is lost in the face and ears. Freezer burnt areas will not skin off the head properly and usually attempts to re-hydrate the skin only causes hair to slip out.

If your antlers are sticking out of the top of your cooler, place a blanket over the cape and around the antlers to maximize cooling. If you are not sure when you will be able to mount your trophy, you can take it to a taxidermist and have the head skinned out. The cape can then be sealed and frozen safely. .

GENERAL FREEZING PROCEDURES:

All things placed into a freezer will immediately start to freezer burn. To safely store specimens in a freezer we must try to slow down this process. First we can put a moisture barrier between our intended mount and the freezer air. Plastic bags are the best means to stop or slow down this drying process. They must seal tight with no holes. Second, we can add moisture to mounts which freezer burns the fastest {fish}. By wrapping a fish in a wet towel before freezing it in a plastic bag, it helps insure the water stays in the fish longer. All animals can be frozen in a wet towel also.

Because cold air sinks, chest freezers are much better than upright freezers. Each time an upright freezer door is opened, cold moist air drops out to the floor. Chest freezers do not lose much moisture, because the cold moist air does not escape over the sides of the freezer. Since less moisture is required to be replaced in a chest all things dry out slower.

GENERAL HOME CARE:

NEVER allow any mounted specimen come into direct sunlight. Only a few minutes of direct sun exposure will ruin a mount in a few years. Even bright sun lit rooms will cause hair, feathers, and paint to fade. Extreme temperature and humidity changes will cause tanned skins to swell and shrink. Causing mounts to lose detail and eventually crack. Fish should be cleaned with glass cleaner wiping from head to tail. Birds should be cleaned with a feather duster sprayed with a little furniture polish. Following the above cleaning process 2 to 4 times a year should extend the life of your mount.

Please feel free to copy these instructions and give them to your hunting and fishing buddies so they will also know how to properly take care of their trophies.