River Runner
New member
The process of salting a freshly skinned pelt accomplishes two things.
One, it kills off a great deal of any bacteria that has grown since the flesh side of the skin has been exposed.
Two, it dehydrates the flesh and virtually eliminates any further growth of bacteria. Bacteria needs moisture to live and spread.
Once you have the skin removed from the carcass, and the large pieces of meat and fat removed, the skin needs to be washed in luke warm water and a mild dish soap to remove any dirt and blood before salting it. Salt will set blood, so be sure to remove any signs of it durring the wash. Once the hide has been washed and rinsed well, it can be hung to drain until it becomes a damp stage.
Then go ahead and lay the skin out flat, flesh side up and cover the flesh completely with a fine ground salt. Rubbing the salt into the skin thoroughly and into every nook and cranny, paws, ear bases, nose, etc.
With the tail bone removed, I will run a stiff wire down into the tail skin until it punctures the tip of the tail and exits there. Pulling the wire back out now I can fill the tail skin with salt and as it removes the moisture it can drain out the tiny hole just made.
Fine ground salt can be found at almost any place that sells livestock feed. And non iodized is reccomended. An 80# bag costs as little as $6.00.
A good rule of thumb as to how much salt to use is two cups of salt for each pound of hide. Or one pound of salt to each pound of hide. Basically your going to want a good 1/8th of an inch of salt covering everything.
Once you feel you have the hide completely covered with salt you can roll it up, flesh side inward and lay it somewhere to drain. If you can rest it on an inclined board or something similiar, the drainage will stay away from the skin and fur.
Let the skin drain for at least 24 to 36 hours, and then unroll the skin, shake off the excess salt, and give it another good salt down using the same method just described, two cups per pound and rub it in good. Don't reuse salt that comes off the hide. The salt needs to be fresh and dry.
Salting like this should be done three times to completely dehydrate the skin. After the draining time for the third salting is complete you can unroll the skin, shake it off and hang it somewhere dry to finish drying. By now it should be fairly stiff and well on it's way. Keep in mind that if the hide is hung somewhere where it will be effected by the humidity outdoors it will draw moisture from the air and rehydrate itself, drawing flys and insects.
Hides preserved this way and kept away from insects, rodents and moisture, will keep for close to a year.
Salting is not something that absolutely has to be done but it is a sure fire way to prevent a lot of headaches and ruined skins. Everything that comes into my shop gets salt dried as the first step. Air dried pelts, I will rehydrate and salt dry agian using the above method.
Properly fleshed skins can be air dryed and stored for months. But the key here is (properly fleshed)
If you choose to freeze your hides rather then salting them do not salt them first. Salt will only prevent them from freezing in the freezer.
If you plan to ship your hides off somewhere for tanning or to be mounted, they can be wrapped in newspaper, and boxed up right after the the third salting is completed. Brushing of any remaining salt before hand will save a few pennys in shipping weight.
~River Runner~
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www.predatormasters.com
One, it kills off a great deal of any bacteria that has grown since the flesh side of the skin has been exposed.
Two, it dehydrates the flesh and virtually eliminates any further growth of bacteria. Bacteria needs moisture to live and spread.
Once you have the skin removed from the carcass, and the large pieces of meat and fat removed, the skin needs to be washed in luke warm water and a mild dish soap to remove any dirt and blood before salting it. Salt will set blood, so be sure to remove any signs of it durring the wash. Once the hide has been washed and rinsed well, it can be hung to drain until it becomes a damp stage.
Then go ahead and lay the skin out flat, flesh side up and cover the flesh completely with a fine ground salt. Rubbing the salt into the skin thoroughly and into every nook and cranny, paws, ear bases, nose, etc.
With the tail bone removed, I will run a stiff wire down into the tail skin until it punctures the tip of the tail and exits there. Pulling the wire back out now I can fill the tail skin with salt and as it removes the moisture it can drain out the tiny hole just made.
Fine ground salt can be found at almost any place that sells livestock feed. And non iodized is reccomended. An 80# bag costs as little as $6.00.
A good rule of thumb as to how much salt to use is two cups of salt for each pound of hide. Or one pound of salt to each pound of hide. Basically your going to want a good 1/8th of an inch of salt covering everything.
Once you feel you have the hide completely covered with salt you can roll it up, flesh side inward and lay it somewhere to drain. If you can rest it on an inclined board or something similiar, the drainage will stay away from the skin and fur.
Let the skin drain for at least 24 to 36 hours, and then unroll the skin, shake off the excess salt, and give it another good salt down using the same method just described, two cups per pound and rub it in good. Don't reuse salt that comes off the hide. The salt needs to be fresh and dry.
Salting like this should be done three times to completely dehydrate the skin. After the draining time for the third salting is complete you can unroll the skin, shake it off and hang it somewhere dry to finish drying. By now it should be fairly stiff and well on it's way. Keep in mind that if the hide is hung somewhere where it will be effected by the humidity outdoors it will draw moisture from the air and rehydrate itself, drawing flys and insects.
Hides preserved this way and kept away from insects, rodents and moisture, will keep for close to a year.
Salting is not something that absolutely has to be done but it is a sure fire way to prevent a lot of headaches and ruined skins. Everything that comes into my shop gets salt dried as the first step. Air dried pelts, I will rehydrate and salt dry agian using the above method.
Properly fleshed skins can be air dryed and stored for months. But the key here is (properly fleshed)
If you choose to freeze your hides rather then salting them do not salt them first. Salt will only prevent them from freezing in the freezer.
If you plan to ship your hides off somewhere for tanning or to be mounted, they can be wrapped in newspaper, and boxed up right after the the third salting is completed. Brushing of any remaining salt before hand will save a few pennys in shipping weight.
~River Runner~
------------------
www.predatormasters.com