Hi im shipping off some of my salted capes today and ran into a problem i have 5 w/t deer capes 2 red fox full mount,2 coyote full mount and 1 antelope cape and with the deer i can get them to fold at all and im afraid they will break the lips on one cracked when i bent them, what should i do? i need to fold them to get them to fit in the box, do i just need a l;onger box so i dont have to fold them? but if there is a way to get them folded without cracking, any help would be appreciated. Thanks to you all, David
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Get a larger box or two of them. Suck it up and pay the shipping its part of doing business.
i know that i can do that its just that i was wandering if anyone has anything that they do to get them to fold im shure there must be a way. i know i can get a bigger box but my question was, is there another way?
I packaged em all up and sent em off in a huge package that was 7ftX4ftX1ft. had to be that bug to fit the stretched deer capes in, but to my surprise to ship that to california it only cost $27.42,i figured it would be more like 40. I shipped it Via USPS. the package just barely met their size requirement for the largest it could be.
so now im happy. thanks John for your reply.
Try folding before they get that hard. I know this does not help now ,but will later.
Now let me ask YOU a stupid question: Why did you let the hides dry hard? If you let the hide set overnight salted, dump the salt and resalt for 24 hours, the hide is still pliable. FOLD IT THEN and allow it to dry. Then you can fill a normal sized box full of hides.
because if you did, you'll be danged lucky if it doesn't come back to you, postage due for the return trip, with a little note that says it far exceeds size requirements. I work for USPS and that is well beyond the 108-inch oversize package requiring an extra surcharge. One of my cases was three inches over, so we shortened it by four and retaped it. The price difference between the two was about 25 for the small version, and 79 and change for the oversize.
Here's a hint, salt, shake, salt again and after a couple days, fold the capes accordion style and stand them on edge in milk crates. Set the milk crates on something to elevate them a couple inches off the ground while they dry. I can usually get 4-6 large whitetail capes in a single box without going over the surcharge size and fill the extra spaces between deer capes with other hides from, i.e. bobcats, coyotes. Another note, make sure all the hides are salt dried and enclose them in large plastic bags to keep loose salt from coming out. Or, seal up all the corners, etc., from the inside. We get a little jumpy when white powdery stuff starts falling out of a box. Finally, you might want to note on the shipping label something like "Contains salted hides" or something to that effect. I've done it for several years and have had no problem.