Ihave 2 questions- #1- I have 2 hides already fleshed once, I have salted a coon and a nutria rat, I salted them rolled them up flesh side out on a slanted tray 24 hrs. then reaplied salt for 24 hrs. and draped over a saw horse the hides are still not dried out and they have a few spots on them that the salt made it look freeser burnt, I am using Morten stock salt and it seems like it may be a little to coarse mabey? any sugestions appreciated. #2-I have a Bobcat I am planning to mount I want to send to the tannery and was wondering what type of tan to tell them?
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Standard NON IODIZED salt can be bought at your grocer. Its the same grain as your table salt and it works much better. What do the spots look like? It takes more than 24 hours to dry.
Cover the animal completely, both sides, with the skin side up. cover it very well, leave it for a day, then shake it off and add fresh dry salt over it AGAIN. wait 2 days then repeat. After that, leave it with a good amount of salt and it should dry out ok.
Make sure it is coverd and out of the sun, make sure your salt shed is in a well ventilated place, if it gets hot like a greenhouse, it will ruin your skins.
when you say spots, does it look greasy? or transparent? Whent he skin is dried, it can look freezerburned, depending on the method. it should be ok, as long as your using NON IODIZED SALT fine grain and are keeping the skins out of the sun.
I am using non iodized salt but not as fine as table salt and the spots looks white and hard like it looks when freeser burnt not greasy or transparent and yes I am keeping it in a cool dry well venilated area and does anyone know what I should do with the bobcat?
thanks
Wet tan is the easiest to deal with, no rehydrating or any thing and it's usually easier to work with in my opinion. Dry tan is ok if you mount it right away but I'd go with wet. The "burnt spots" are probably just where the salt has dried the skin out already. Somtimes it dries fast, sometimes it dries slow. Hope that helps!
Your hides are fine.They are just drying faster in spots.You did everything right.Eventually they'll take on a more even look as they dry more.I use all dry tans.Some prefer wet.Either is fine.
Wet tans can last longer in the freezer, but if you dont have a freezer big enough for all your stuff, dry is ok, but then dry degenerates after a year, some tans are so bad after a year they fall apart or have no stretch. With a wet tan, you can keep it frozen for a long long time, especially if you have a food saver :)