It is surprising sometimes how little care is given to the cape after the animal has been harvested.  Poor treatment, such as mishandling, not getting into the freezer quickly enough, and poor caping can all detract from the mount if it is even salvageable.  Hair slippage is common.  Minor slippage can be camouflaged by air-brushing.  The most exasperating problems come from butcher cuts (excessive cuts during field dressing) where the animal was not properly caped.

Taxidermists are not miracle-workers.  We can only do so much with a needle and thread, sculpting compound, and airbrushing.  Much time and effort is spent before harvesting an animal.  There should be just as much effort getting the cape to your taxidermist in good condition with as few butcher cuts as possible.
 
 

Sometimes a specimen arrives that has already been completely caped.  I often dread this, as caping of the face involves some skill to make sure there is no damage to the thinner skin around the eyes, preorbital ducts, nostrils, and around antler burrs.  These two photos show a cape that arrived with both eyelids damaged by almost completely severing them from the surrounding skin.  The skin was repaired with fine thread and airbrushed, but the end result would have been much better if there had been no blemishes.
 

Nilgai make very pretty mounts.  They are heavily muscled in the forequarters and a full shoulder mount really exhibits the muscling.  But add an 18 inch butcher cut right up the center of the brisket and what do you have?  A ruined trophy.  Nilgai have short, thin hair, and even the best repair work can still be obvious.  Again, here's an example of an expensive trophy combined with hurried, sloppy, and inexperienced caping.  Not only was there a major butcher cut, but there were several other slashes to the brisket from the hair side.  This specimen was mounted, but the blemishes detract from the mount.