salted cape in freezer

[1STTYMEHUNTER]

i know i messed up by puting a salted cape in my freezer after ive read some posts at this site. i have shook off the excess salt from the skin put the cape in an air tight garbage bag been in the freezer for about 2 weeks seems to be semi froozen should i take it out and pickle it as soon as possible?

[Larry B]

I would take it out and dry it first.  I think it's best to dry before pickling. 

[Wayne R]

This is going to be one of those situations that there is more than one way to do it. As you found out from the other posts you should either freeze it or salt it and not both, BUT for some reason some people do both. I haven't figured out why yet. With that in mind relax and do with it what you were planning on after you pull it from the freezer. I prefer to let my capes dry rock hard after salting as Larry suggested, but a good number of taxidermists salt for 24 hours and then pickle before the hide dries out too much. So depending on what you are set up to do, and how the cape looks after you pull it from the freezer, will decide what to do next. As for how soon to do this, you probably won't relax about it until you get it out of the freezer.

[hank]

You did not mess up. Your cape will be fine in the freezer until whenever your ready to pickel it. Wont hurt it a bit. The reason people do both Wayne is so they don't have to rehydrate a rock hard skin.They can go right from the freezer to the pickel because the salted cape wont freeze solid. A cape in good condition,properly fleshed ,salted, and cured a couple days will have no problems going from freezer to pickel. A questionable cape I would dry hard. You are right Wayne,there is more than one way to do it.   

[David Patton]

I would dry it after removal from the freezer. If it still has moisture in it, the pickle will not work as well as if it was dried more. I know this is a big debate for guys who will skip the salt step and go right to the pickle, but I have seen literally thousands of hides over the years and the best results, meaning consistent results, are achieved by salting and drying first, then into the pickle. Putting it into the freezer just suspends the whole operation until you can get back to the process of salt drying.