Caping a whitetailed deer can i do this in stages? Thaw then do back half and freeze then thaw again to do face then salt the entire hide. Work full time the evenings is my only time to work on hides.
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Repeatedly freezing and thawing will damage a hide in a hurry. Why don't you set aside enough time to get it caped, fleshed, and salted all in one fell swoop. If you can't get it done in a couple of hours in the evening, why not try to do it on a Saturday or other day off.
Not a good idea.You might get away with it,but it's a bad habit to get into.I don't even like to freeze deerheads once.They come in,I flesh them and get them salted.If they are frozen as soon as they are thawed,I flesh and salt them.If you are experienced,doing the whole cape should take 1 hr.,if you aren't,it should take 2 hours.Lose an hour's sleep if you have to or skip supper but do it in one shot.
That doesnt sound good. Makes me wonder about a coyote cape that to my knowledge has been thawed and frozen 4 times! It is still only half fleshed, but everything is turned. It is leterally dripping with Stop-Rot and the hair still seems pretty solid.
It only takes 20 minutes to cape a deerhead, why would you do so in stages? Then you can lay it spread out flat in your chest freezer, flesh side out and it will freeze very quickly. Another 45 minutes you can have the cape splitout and salted. One hour per cape is all it takes. I have only been at this a few years and I work nights at taxidermy too.
Caping a deer takes all of ten minutes. Prepping and complete fleshing takes a couple of hours to get it nice and clean. I often cape it out and toss it in the freezer until I have time to prep and salt. Once I start prepping it, I do it all at once then get it salted.
When you have 6 elk sitting in front of you, you don't have time to cape them all out and prep them all out before they start to get ripe. I cape them all out and freeze them for later. Then I thaw two at a time and get them both prepped and salted in one day.
Just in case you really meant fleshing (you should be able to cape one out in a siting) I can tell you what I have done. I use Glen Conley's Whitetail Designers Products all the way through to tanning. I work 12 hr shifts and sometimes hace to put a cape back in the freezer before it is tanned. I rub the skin side down with Stop Rot and put it back in the freezer, even after it has been pickled. Freezing actually enhanced the qualities of Stop Rot. Last night I pulled a cape out of the pickle and shaved it but didn't finish it. I applied Stop Rot and put it in the refridgerator and am going to finish it now. I routinely thaw a cape that hsan't had Stop Rot applied just to put Stop Rot on it and put it back in the freezer. Stop rot will enable the cape to take the pickle better/quicker. Whatever your tanning procedure is, Stop rot is an excellent insurance policy but you stll need to use common since and basic handling procedures.