I just removed my skunk from the pickle to finish fleshing and it had rotted. I put it in the freezer withen an hour of shooting and skinning it. It was there for about a year, I removed it salted it for 2 days and put it in the pickle. I had it in there for 3 days. When I pulle it out you could smell the rot and the hair started coming out in clumps. I was using safety acid and my PH was 1.5 I rechecked after this happened and it was still 1.5 Is there something I should have done different since its a skunk or should it have been the same as most other animals. Ive done deer, coons and spotted skunks and never had this problem. Any Ideas would be great
Thanks
Dave
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Hair slip is caused by bacteria. Bacteria starts the moment the animal is killed. You need to cool the skin before freezing. If your skin was not cold when frozen this can happen. Also be sure the freezer didnt go out for a while. 2 days salted might not have been long enough to draw the fluids from the skin. When you've salted the skins twice over 24 hrs leave to drain for at least 7 days. This drying of the skin helps lock in the hair and prevents rot. When you thaw out frozen skins in warm weather dont leave them too long. Work quickly to flesh and salt as soon as skin allows. On smelly skins or capes Dave i use vinegar pickle. It pickles and locks in hair way better than safety acid. I use it for all my deer capes for clean streachy and easy to shave skins. Mix half vinegar half water and 1 pound of salt for every 4 litres of liquid. Pickle for 5-14 days. Regards Pete
Was the skunk well fleshed before salting and then putting in the pickle? If you left all that fat on there, that it what happened, the fat was too thick for the salt to penetrate and same for the pickle. Skunks are VERY fat in the fall and remain pretty fat till spring. Just like raccoons that are eating alot of corn in the fall.