I guess what I mean to ask is, what can I do as a hunter to give you what you need to make the magic happen? Tips on caping, hide care, etc.
I firmly believe every hunter should spend as much on a good scope as he can, and as much on a good taxidermist as he can.
Ah gotcha. I'll respond as though we are talking about a shoulder mount of some mammal, in a fairly controlled environment (not backcountry etc), and know general skinning for shoulder mount.
From time of death of your animal race to get it skinned and cooling down.
Cut your waistline ring cut as far back as you can, the taxi can always cut away the excess.
Care to not nick the hide especially in the armpits, brisket, neck as those are the easiest places to make mistakes.
Cut your front legs off at the elbow. Cut the head off at the skull and leave the skull in, let your taxidermist skin out the head.
Once he's skinned get the hide on ice ASAP and get it to your taxidermist that day if possible - if not, freeze it. If you don't have freezer space then you need to keep it iced but DO NOT let it sit in the bottom of the cooler in water.
If you still can't get it to your taxidermist then you need to skin out the head, flesh the hide and salt it down but that is a whole separate topic.
That is really all I hope for as far as getting a hide to me. I either want to see that it is a fresh kill and cool hide, frozen critter, or properly fleshed and salted. The whole goal is leaving plenty of skin for taxidermy and fighting the growth of bacteria propagated through decomposition, heat, and moisture.
Hope that helps!