skinning a whitetail for l/s

[Hoosier Taxidermist]

I was wanting to know how would you skin a deer out for life size, i work for a local deer processor skinning deer and he usually has a few that are not going to be mounted. i would like to get help on this. they have a belly cut and he has them skinned down the legs.

[nal2009]

well I'm no expert and I've never mounted a lifesize deer or even skinned one for lifesize yet. But this fall I'm going to mount one lifesize. I am going to try and case skin it because I've done several medium sized mammals this way (bobcat and yote). I'd say a dorsal would be hard, unless you're great at sewing. Ventral cut seems like a good choice too.

[jrosbor]

It all depends on how much sewing you like to do. Personaly I think for the best hidden seam the belly cut would be fine. But deer have long legs and it would be a long cut up the belly. I have allways said I like the dorsal cut for life size mamals.

[deer4ager]

I tryed a dorsal cut on a fox. I ended up breaking the legs of the form trying to get the skin on it. I still haven't completed it.

[jrosbor]

deer4ager said:

I tryed a dorsal cut on a fox. I ended up breaking the legs of the form trying to get the skin on it. I still haven't completed it.

First off, you need to make relife cuts in all four legs. And you need to cut the form in half to get it to fit in the skin. Also you need to use a lot of glue to "slick" the form up and make it fit the hide better. Hope this helps!

[deer4ager]

Yes that makes sense, I will try that.....Thanks

[mrdux]

I have case skinned a whitetail (took 3 hours) with relief cuts from the back hoof thru the vent back down to the hoof and from the knee to the hoof on each front leg. I prefer to use a dorsal(back) cut for most of my lifesized, whitetail included.

[Hoosier Taxidermist]

thanks for the info.

[I once was thirtyeightspread]

i use the crazy z incision