help with a deer hide

[ohride4u]

i killed a deer last week and would like some help with saving the hide.i streched it on a sheet of plywood and salted it down for a few days.tonight i scraped and scaped and still have some flesh on the hide.when i called it a night i salted in again.iam using a fillet knife to clean the flesh off.my question is iam i on the right track?how often can i stop and re salt.or do i have to do it all at once?also what type of tools do u use for this type of work?ive never done this before as u can tell but i feel that maybe i can at least hang the hide up in the garage for coversation piece thanks for the help guys

[M.Magis]

Just let it dry rock hard. Being only salted, it won't last all that long. It's still a raw hide and moisture will effect it. Eventually, it'll deteriorate. It may be a bit late, but you can rub borax on a hide to preserve it. It'll last a bit longer than just a salted hide. If you want, you can redydrate it and try it, but it may not be worth the effort.

[steve Ypsi]

read this from the mi site, and if you keep it salted heavey it will last for a long time, I took one that had been covered heavey in rock salt from a friend under his crawl space that was years old underneath the house, I taned it with alum and the hair did not fall out, I made muzzle loading pouchs with it I still have today 30 years later, rock salt isn't the best to salt with but for some reason it worked in that case



http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=54367

[M.Magis]

Salted hides will last a long time if kept in a stable environment, but outside in a garage isn't real stable. It'll probably last a few years if just hangin there. And Steve's right about rock salt not being the correct salt to use. It just doesn't get into all the small areas. Mixing salt from the feed store is usually the cheapest.

[Lunker]

Scrape that salt off and Borax it with Mule team borax from the grocery store. Lay it flat on a plywood board and let dry flat.