Antelope cape care

For all of you taxidermists out there, what are your recommendations for antelope cape care once the animal is on the ground? What is the best process for keeping the hair from slipping?

No matter what pick him up to move him. Do not drag him. Do not let the cape sit in a cooler full of blood. Once the cape is removed from the face the cape must be laundered. Gently place the cape in a mixture of clothes detergent. Downy is pretty good. Soak for about ten minutes and actually massage out large dried clumps of blood very gently. Pull cape out of solution and let drip out for a couple of minutes. Last do a plane water wash for a few minutes to rinse the soap out. Now hang it by the nose and let it drip for five minutes and seal it in bag. Either freeze the cape or keep on ice to deliver quickly to your taxidermist. Good luck out there.

Dito on "do not drag". Unless the cape was already wet from rain, or dieing in a pond, I would never recommend washing it in the field, unless it can go strait into the freezer! Bacteria growth is the enemy, and bacteria needs moisture.Cold/frozen and dry is your friend.

My advice: cool quickly and freeze! If freezer not immediately available (usually is not), keep it DRY in a cooler with ice, dry ice is best (never in a plastic bag) until drop off at taxidermist or freezer. The absolute NO NO is in a plastic bag in back of your truck in the desert!!!! Alternatively, completely flesh, turn ears, eyes, lips, nose and salt til dry.