How to Store for a Taxidermist

Field Dressing

• 1

  Place the animal on its back and cut below the breastbone, just through the skin.

• 2

  Move your knife down the belly to the pelvic bone, encircling the genitals.

• 3

  Separate the rectum from the pelvic connecting tissue. Tie the rectum off with a string to keep the contents from contacting the meat. Pull the intestines and rectum into the stomach cavity by reaching into the front of the pelvic cavity.

• 4

  Detach the diaphragm from the ribs, moving down to the backbone area. Reach your hand into the chest cavity to find the windpipe and esophagus. Cut them as high as possible so they can be pulled down and out of the chest cavity.

• 5

  Take the esophagus in one hand and the rectum in the other. Pull the internal organs out with a hard pull.

• 6

  Wrap the animal in two garbage bags to store it in a freezer. An animal with freezer-burned ears, lips or nose cannot be mounted.

Caping

• 7

  Cut the hide from between the ears to the middle of the rib cage and around the entire body.

• 8

  Slice the hide on the back of the legs and make a circular cut around the elbow. Remove the legs at the elbow joint.

• 9

  Slit the hide behind the legs where it joins the body.

• 10

  Skin the animal up to the skull. Peel the skin up to expose the neck junction. Cut into the neck, 3 inches below this junction, making a circular cut around the neck.

• 11

  Cut down the spine. Grasp the base of the antlers and twist the head off the neck.

• 12

  Freeze the hide, cape and head, if necessary. Fold the skin sides together to avoid freezer burn. Leave the hair on the outside.

Fish

• 13

  Wrap the fish in a very wet towel, not newspaper. Paper draws moisture from the fish and causes it to get freezer burn.

• 14

  Place the towel-wrapped fish inside of two garbage bags.

• 15

  Place the plastic bags of towel-wrapped fish in a freezer within four to six hours of the catch.