Showing off Your Kill – Caping Style
Turkey Hunting Tips – For many hunters, the thrill of hunting is all about the chance to show off some of your kills. Some hunted animals lend themselves easily to being made into trophies, like deer and moose, but other animals are a little trickier. In fact, one of the hardest animals to figure out a way to display is a turkey. If you are a turkey hunter interested in making a trophy out of your latest kill, then caping might be for you. Caping is relatively easy to do and much less expensive than having a trophy mounted. In fact, unlike mounting a deer head, you can easily do the caping process yourself at home.
If you want to give caping your turkey a try, the first thing you need to do is completely skin the bird. To do this, grab the top of your turkey’s head and run a very sharp knife under the skin on the back of the neck, where the feathers on the back meet the turkey’s head. You can follow that incision down the back of the bird, all the way to tail feathers. The ideal strip you should be cutting off the back here is about two inches wide, but once you start cutting, you will see how the pattern of the feathers come together and a natural place to cut.
Once you reach the tail feathers, continue cutting the tail skin until you reach the end of that row and remove all of the feathers and skin you have carved – make sure you remove the tail skin completely.
From that swath you have removed from the bird, pick away at the flesh and fat that is attached to skin. This process may require the use of a smaller sharp knife and a spoon to scoop away large pieces. Make sure to remove as much flesh and fat as possible; if you leave these things on, you final product will not come out right, and it may have an unpleasant smell to it.
