I have a question to any hunters?

[profisher25]

Ive just recently noticed that the animal skins i have prepared for some of my hunting buddies were ruined They are totally ruined, the fur is falling off the skin, and the skin itself is rotting due to the moisture build up. I had to throw them all out!

 

Does anyone know how I can properly skin, and prepare the animal with out ruining the fur pelts?

 

Any help / recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

 

PM me if you want!

[chilli]

A google search should help but personally I saturate luke warm water with borax and soak them for a few days. I them partially dry them while rubbing any meat or fat off with powdered borax. Keep the skin damp until the hyde is cleaned enough to dry.

 

I'll let someone else help you with the drying part. I'm not very good at keeping it stretched or properly shaped but I have skins and pelts successfully done this way.

[profisher25]

A google search should help but personally I saturate luke warm water with borax and soak them for a few days. I them partially dry them while rubbing any meat or fat off with powdered borax. Keep the skin damp until the hyde is cleaned enough to dry.

 

I'll let someone else help you with the drying part. I'm not very good at keeping it stretched or properly shaped but I have skins and pelts successfully done this way.

 

 

Thanks very much for the info, yea I just salted it right after skinning it, once i noticed all the salt soaked in, it started becoming damp n it began to rot! ... now I have to throw out a perfectly good fur

[profisher25]

Though, you'll have to get that friedn of yours to tell me how to dry them out!, I almost decided to keep the fur right over a fire, n let it slowly dry out, but then I thought that that might not be such a good idea!

[chilli]

Borax can be purchased in the laundry detergent Ilse but using laundry detergent will eat your pelt.

 

It's good to see you experimenting but make sure you know if you require the free license from the MNR that allows you to posses a pelt out of season. Just a precaution. Also review the rules about possessing a pelt. I find it confusing so I won't try to explain it myself.

[ch312]

a hide being frozen twice will cause the fur to fall out...

 

just do a search on google im sure you will find a lot of step by step instructions.

[richyb]

You have to get tanning formula and tan the hide... borax just keeps the bugs off and dries it a bit faster but is not needed. First you have to scrape all the fat off then soak it over night in salt water .. Then apply the tanning formula and let it dry. depends on what animal you are tanning for how long it takes to dry... a muskrat will take maybe 2 days while a beaver ,,,, raccoon ,,,, maybe a deer or bear will take 4 days or more.. once it is dried you have to " break" the fibers in the hide so that it is soft ( if you are wanting a soft floppy hide) for that you take a 90 deg edge of a table and get to work pulling the hide back and forth ( skin to the table)

 

feel free to pm me if you have anymore questions

 

near the end of this video is what i mean by " breaking the hide"

 

heres a link to the tanning formula

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/template...d=0180101070502

Edited December 27, 2008 by richyb

[chilli]

I wonder though how the Indians did it before all these chemicals made it easy. I'd like to do it as naturally as possible. The tip about freezing twice is well received, thank you.

 

Borax also prevents any flesh from rotting. We used it on fish skin for taxidermy but rinse it well when it comes to the point of wrapping the skin on the mount.

Edited December 27, 2008 by chilli

[forrest]

One of the google searches done turned up this (time 2 min) http://www.braintan.com/articles/furs/miller1.html

 

It says to use the brain

Edited December 27, 2008 by forrest

[Canuck2fan]

The natives of any culture use the brains and visera of the animal to get the "chemicals" to tan the hides.... It was the women who would do the skinning and tanning for the most part too.

 

Also for the really high quality buckskins it would require the women to chew the hides to make them super soft and durable. Don't know if it was true or not but that is how it was explained to me by a native couple who taught my grandfather how to tan his muscrat and mink hides when he trapped.

[pameladallaire]

The brains and water are all that is needed to cure a hide after the fat has been completely removed. They only rub the paste on the skin side. If you want to remove the fur for the hide you soak it in brains and water solution and the fur falls off. Then it is hung on a sturdy line and stretched by ringing it out in one direction and then the other. They stretch it as is dries. That makes buckskin.

 

To make a tanned hide they make a tube out of it by tying the ends with sinew and smoke it over fir branch fire, turn it inside out and do the same. It gets tougher and darker after smoking the skin so that is when the women would chew on the skin to soften it for their husbands. It isn't necessary to chew on the skin nowadays.

 

Pam

[forrest]

If someone goes and buys brains from the supermarket will that be good too?

 

There is a rumor of a crazy northern trapper that uses human brains because they work best for the hides.

Is there a best type of brain?

 

forrest

[profisher25]

Human Brains?

[profisher25]

I would probably stick to the brains of the animal... I mean, you have the animals right there, you might as well use everything you can off the animal! ... but Human Brains!!.. Thats creepy