Myself and a couple of buddies will be elk hunting in colorado this fall and if one of us is lucky enough to knock one down I was wondering what is the best way to preserve the hide for tanning after the anamial is skinned out If we get one early in the hunt we may be up there up to 9 or 10 days before it can get to a freezer any way to keep it good or just leave it on the mountain for the preadtors to eat thanks for any help any one can give me on this subjuct
Bill
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Bill not being able to predict what the temperature will be on your hunt, the old standby of fleshing and salting with noniodized salt will suffice, keep your hide(s) in a shady place, and on a slight incline so the fluids can drain, and you should have no trouble with your hides during the time frame you described.... good luck
Porcupines love salt so you might want to hang the salted hides by hanging them from a tree limb well out from the trunk of the tree!
Bill,
Flesh, turn ears,lips,nose if possible, salt and drain as suggested above. Then put it in an extra cotton meat sack that you will take with you. Do not put the cape in a plastic garbage bag. If you do you are only asking for trouble espeacially if it will be warm.
Good luck on your hunt,
Brent
thanks guys for the ideas talked to the guy were going with said not a lot of trees in the area so could be hard to hang how about this cotton meat sack idea what is one and were do you get them anything like a pototo burlap sack again thanks for the help folks
Bill
If your so worried about the hide going bad....... What are you going to do with the 500 to 600 #'s of meat that will also come with this hide you so worried about ? I would think if you get lucky in the hunt you should be able to get the hide and the meat out to a locker..
Just me thinking again.... SMACK
A friend of mine went to WY last Nov for Elk-out there they have guys that do a"tag and drag"service,see if one exists where you're going.While your meat and cape/antlers are being handled you can be on the phone with your taxidermist deciding on your pose.
Bill; to answer your question about a meat sack its simple.
you can buy one at your local sporting goods store or
what I do Is take an old cotton sheet double or queen size for deer
king for elk and fold it in half and sew 2 sides making
a sorta sock to hang over your meat. the bigger the better
because this allows for some air circulation but your able
to wrap it enough to keep out the flies and bees. hope this helps
:o)
If you are lucky enough to bag a animal on the first or second day of a 10 or 12 day hunt the meat processers will hang your animal until they can cut and wrap it for you they will not keep the hide frozen for you it will lay in the cooler at around 34 or 35 which is not the best thing for the hide. Most places have a limited amount of freezer space and will NOT use it for your hide and push you to pick up your meat. If you are by your self no problem but if you are with a group of hunters they will not forfiet the rest of their hunt for you to take you hide home. Maybe this is the reason for the question Margret. Of course as a hunter,trapper and taxidermist I would think that Bill had a pretty good question just me thing again. I would go with the rest of the rest or most anyway flesh and salt is hard to beat.