I am starting to get quite a few salted/dryed deer capes in the shop here and am starting to wonder how long I can keep them out until I send them off to the tanner..Ive heard bad things from different people about salting then putting in the freezer so I put them in a corner of the shop for now.I didnt want to send off my capes this year for another 2-3 months.When I get a cape should I flesh it, turn it, freeze it then salt it later when Im closer to sending them all off? I looked in the archives and couldnt find much help.Any suggestions?
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I kept one for almost 5 years salted and had it stored in a trash bag in my basement. I sent it to a commercial tannery and it came back beautiful. This is an extreme situation and there is a long, long story involved and I'm definately not saying it's an alright thing to do. Keeping for 2 to 3 months shouldn't be a problem just make sure they have completely dried before storing (and don't store them in a trash bag). You should salt the cape after completing the fleshing process. There is no point of refreezing the cape at this point. I'm not sure of what you meant in your post, but you don't want to salt than freeze your cape. Use the search for proper salting techniques and you'll be fine. Hope this helps.
If you leave your capes flesh side out,and they are hard salted,provided they are in a place with low humidity,they will last longer then you.