Refreeze hides

I'm a self learning beginner taxidermist learning the craft by watching videos. I have all kinds of friends offering me their trophy for me to practice on whether I wreck them or not. I was given two deer for shoulder mounts and one bear to make into a rug. The animals are frozen with the heads on. My question is can I thaw them out to get measurements for the mannikans, and do the fleshing, ear, eye, nose, and mouth thing and then refreeze them until I get the manikans to mount them. Thanks for any help.

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yes

To be brief, yes you can, I do it all the time.You didn't state which condition your capes are in, ie:raw, tanned etc but either way you can thaw, then measure and split and then refreeze or salt to dry

Why not salt?

Sue, when you thaw and flesh, why not at that point go ahead and salt the hides/capes, allow to drain for 24 hrs, resalt, and dry? This way once you get the mannikens all you need to do is rehydrate and begin the pickle and tanning process?
The salting will also help to "set" the hair, especially with the bear, where it may take a while to freeze such a thick hide, and during the process of freezing, bacteria begin to work. While thawing, the critters "wake up" and become active again, through your fleshing, and again while it takes a while to refreeze.
It could ruin a nice skin, and evn if your friends don't care, we owe it to the animal to treat it with respect and do whatever we can to prevent needless spoilage.
Good luck with your taxidermy!

Short on knowledge

Thanks for the help, but I plan on using dry preservative for the deer mounts, I have done one like that already and turned out pretty good, but I haven't figured out what I will do with the bear hide yet. I got a video on bear rug making, but it left out all the information for a beginner that doesn't know a whole lot. So I figured I get a video on mounting a bear, which I hope will give me more info on skinning and maybe tanning or getting ready for a tanney. I don't know anything about tumblers for tanning yet. Haven't found any videos. So I will probably send the hide to a tannery. Anymore help, or comments I would appreciate it.(The hides are right from the field)I have tanned skins using Lutan F, but not for mounting.

Try this

Try mounting hides youve tanned, and you will find the answer to some of your questions. I prefer mounting with tanned hides, just by the feel of them. Good luck to you!