Whether you are an experienced hunter or it’s your very first time, we know it can be easy to make a mistake while skinning your animals for a shoulder mount. Here is a diagram, as well as a few tips to ensure you have the right amount of hide for whatever pose you would like.

1. First, make a cut all the way around the deer’s body halfway between the front and back legs. This leaves plenty of hide for a regular shoulder mount, wall pedestal, or pedestal mount.

2. Next, cut around each front leg at the knee. Then, the next cut should be up the back of the front legs (whitetail have an area where the brown and white hair meet that makes it easy to follow). The cut should stop where the back of the front leg meets the body. Then from there you will cut straight back to your first cut as shown in the picture. After doing that for both sides, the hide can be skinned all the way down to the head and neck junction. You can cut the head off at the joint of the neck and head, or a few inches down and leave the skin on the face.

3. Put head and hide in a plastic bag and place on ice or in a freezer as soon as possible! Freezing it solid is the best course of action, but if that option is not available to you, keep as cold as possible to avoid your hide spoiling or losing hair. 

4. Finally, bring it to us at Allen Palermo Taxidermy!