sure, theres more time and effort in caping a deer head out as opposed to just jerking the hide off of it. You got to do the ears, eyes, face ....

Would there ever be a reason why a processor would charge you to cape a deer out and then charge you for skinning it as well?

just curious, thanks.

As far as I have ever heard skinning the deer is just part of the proccessing fee, you aren't specificly charged for it in the cost, its like plastic bags or paper etc...caping and fleshing the head correctly is actually a part of the mounting proccess and can effect the quality of the mount and is often itemized on the ticket as such I guess...

I have never seen it broken down into sections for processing..........

Skinning - $10
Quartering - $15
Cutting/wrapping - $30

Etc......................

It is usually a drop off your deer, specify mount or not and come back to pick up your processed meat(or someone elses meat)............pay one flat rate. I don't care much for processors. I have seen and know to many things to ever want to take one of mine to one.

FDXX75

Here...or at least where I take deer, there is a separate charge for everything......

if you bring a whole deer in , you will be charged a fee for gutting and skin (about $25.00 total.). So, you are charged $25 before you even get to the processing part. , a standard processing fee of $40.00, plus a charge for beef or pork fat for ground meat,

So basically, without anything fancy, you will have $65.00 in a deer before you get to meat tenderizing, sausage, hamburger, or anything else. Sure you can gut it and skin it yourself, but on those COLD days, that's not the best option, imo...lol.

I have no idea about whether this is high for this type work and have gladly paid it years without complaining. My gripe was about "double paying" (imo)for the caping and skinning.

Dude, if you are paying someone to "gut" your deer............please.

First thing I am doing after squeezing the trigger is reaching for the knife to get the guts out of it and start the cooling process......................I have never in my life heard of someone paying to have their deer gutted.

FDXX75

For the life of me I never would have thought that anybody would not immediately gut their deer until getting on this forum. It's always the first thing I do after killing one and actually the last thing on my mind before squeezing the trigger,"do I feel like gutting a deer".
As for "caping", if the deer is going to be mounted I let my taxidemist skin & cape, if not I skin it.

Both bucks that i took this year, I gutted. Any deer that has to be dragged any distance is gutted. Sometimes if it's bad out, and I can get to the deer with the truck or wheeler without dragging it, and the deer is going to a friend( who will pay for gutting) , then I don't gut it.

Sometimes I prefer hanging it and skinning it before I gut it. That keeps the hair out of the inside that way.

Many people that hunt fields and dry areas don't gut deer around here. You would be surprised at the people that drive right up to their deer in their pickup, throw it in the back and drive straight to the processor where they can check it in as well.

If you hunt a long way from the processor or maybe in areas where it may take alot of time to get a deer out, then you probably do gut every one. Every deer that I have killed on Chaney was gutted because they were usually hard to get out. maybe one or two that I had help on were not. many times where I have hunted dragging a deer through swamps and thick areas a deer can get pretty nasty before you get it out.

let's see......pay ten dollars to have it gutted at the processor OR do it yourself in sleet and temps in the teens while standing in backwater in the dark, holding a flashlight in your mouth..........which one do I take...hmmmmmmm...LOL?

well, your wife guts yours- so anyway

So if a processor charges me a caping fee and simply takes the hide off down to the top of the neck and then cuts the head off and puts it in a garbage bag for me to take to the taxidermist, then that's just "skinning" being called "caping"...?

Maybe in his mind, caping is simply "careful" skinning...lol.

So if he is charging 15 dollars to skin the deer and charges another 10 dollars to 'cape it out", then basically he is getting an extra ten dollars...? Maybe he does a tad bit more careful skinning down around the neck and head before he cuts the head off??//

I like this guy and would hate to think that he's purposely over charging.......I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and was hoping to get a better explanation of the charge from a processor that comes on here.....

Dude, if you are paying someone to "gut" your deer............please.

First thing I am doing after squeezing the trigger is reaching for the knife to get the guts out of it and start the cooling process......................I have never in my life heard of someone paying to have their deer gutted.

FDXX75

Am I missing something here? I've been deer hunting for 37 years and have skinned my share of deer. Many of those I skinned out to be mounted.

Is there a difference between the two that I don't know about?

Would there ever be a reason why a processor would charge you to cape a deer out and then charge you for skinning it as well?

just curious, thanks.

May have been answered. Caping is removing the skin from the head and neck for the purpose of having the head mounted. Skinning is just getting the skin off the body for butcerhing.

Yes, an additional price because almost twice as much time and work involved. Caution, though, not all butchers can properly cape a deer. Usually just better to have the deer skinned down the neck toward the ears and then just cut the head off and let the taxidermist do the actual caping.