Hi,
Rookie here again. I salted the raccoon on Monday, resalted again yesterday. I had it folded flesh to flesh as Amy had recommended this in one of her messages. I only have one small area that is dried, do I still need to relax the skin before I degrease and pickle? Thanks so much for your help!
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Are fatty fellers. Often they won't dry rock hard if it is humid or you don't have good air flow. I like to salt them for two days and then they go straight into the pickle. Degrease after a few days in the pickle. (IMHO Fat-B-Gone from WTDS is the best degreaser for coon!) Good luck!
Joe
Thanks! Do I need to rinse off all the salt before pickling? Is it okay if there is a dry patch when I go to pickle?
Salting don't need to be rock hard. You need to rehydrate in a water/salt mix. About 1/4 lb salt per gallon. Let sit for an hour or two. If it doesn't rehydrate in that time throw it in a plastic bag and let it sweat overnight in a fridge. Then it should be soft. You should try and get all of the hard spots softened before going to the pickle.
Thats for a tanned skin! To rehydrate a salted skin, you need 1lb of salt per gal of water. A rehydrated raw (green) skin in a plastic bag is a sure fire way to have slippage weather it's in the fridge or not.
If it isn't dried rock hard, I would just toss it in the pickle. No need to rinse the salt off. But if it makes you feel better, go for it.
I used 2lbs of salt per gallon of cool water. I'll check it tonight then switch to the pickle if its ready. Thanks!