I was wondering on furbearer ears if it makes it easier to turn the ears by pickling the hide first. I am having trouble not putting a lot of holes in coyote ears on the inner skin of the ear when trying to turn them after skinning. Thanks for the input.
Chris
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The ears should be turned prior to the pickle anyway for salting!
The pickle toughens up the skin for easier removal of the cartilage
but won't toughen up enough to guard against a sharp scalpel.
You just have to be more careful. End of story!
with all do respect, And I will quote Roger Martin,with "some" fur bearers
its is better to not turn the ears prior to pickling. The heat from your
hands is sometimes enough to cause slipping. I do not even salt some of them. Skin, rough flesh and into the formic acid it goes.... Please note:
I am mainly talking about fox and coyote here...
I always try to split as much as I can on the carcass before I even cut into the earbase, then salt them both, yote and fox, as I get the ears free. I had a terrible time with the fox ears always slipping until I did that. I salt it down as I go, toes, belly, that way, then do my splitting and fleshing with salt already on and with better luck all the way around.