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Dealing with a deer skin? - Tanning but keeping the hair on

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Crackaig
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Dealing with a deer skin? - Tanning but keeping the hair on

Post by Crackaig »

The other day a friend and I "acquired" a roe deer. Not badly damaged, bladder intact, and very fresh Steamed when we washed it out. Grollocking a deer with a Swiss army knife isn't easy.
Anyway the skin is now tacked onto a large sheet of ply wood and I've started scraping it. Bloody hard work! The bad news is that my mate has "disposed" of the head (it was upsetting his family for some reason. Strange how they will eat the meat but don't want to see it wrapped up).

So now I'm brainless, no that doesn't sound right. Now I have no brain, No that doesn't work either does it? Now the deer's brain isn't available (better), what do I treat the hide with? I've been told salt, Borax, and Alum, by different people. The online advice is split. I want the hair for fly tying, so with this in mind what do I treat the skin with? Fortunately the weather up here has turned so I don't need to rush so much.

Cheers,
C.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical
minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which
holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd
by the clean end"
Jeroen
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Post by Jeroen »

I always use a very small (but sharp) knife for cleaning and skinning roe deer. Large knifes only get in the way and provide a bigger risk of damaging internal organs and ruining the meat.
The skins I tried to prepare for tying purposes were put in the freezer first for a couple of months, after which I scraped them clean and put them in a Borax solution, can't remember the right ratio. The skin turned very dry, which isn't a problem if you use the hair for tying. I only used it on fully developed winter skins of the roedeer hinds. Bucks can only be hunted in summer and autumn over here.
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Crackaig
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Post by Crackaig »

Unfortunately I can't put it into the freezer- I don't have one, and my mates will be full of venison in a day or two. Still it isn't anywhere warm. Just past the point between scraping the windscreen and chiseling the ice off. It would have helped if my mate kept his Swiss army knife sharp (we have very different ideas of sharp). However he prefers to hone his witt more than his knife (usually at my expense).

Thanks I'll try and get some borax.

Cheers,
C.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical
minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which
holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd
by the clean end"
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Crackaig
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Posts: 288
Joined: Wed Mar 30, 2011 4:25 pm
Location: Highlands of Scotland
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Post by Crackaig »

Managed to rescue the brains before the bin men took the head away. Mashed the brains in water. Microwaved them for 30 seconds and painted the resultant goo on the skin once a day for a week. The skin has dried and stabilised so it is time to start tying muddlers. I'm amazed just how well it has worked.
Cheers,
C.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical
minority, and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which
holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd
by the clean end"
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