I have minimal experience with salting hides (I send my capes to BNB for skinning before Wildlife Gallery does their magic).
I'm heading to Colorado this fall for an elk/bear hunt. How much salt can I expect to use on each species to property salt them in the field? (elk cape and bear hide)
Or would it be best to take the capes/hides to town and freeze them...and salt them when I return home?
If the answer is "go ahead and salt"...what is the prefered method of hanging them up so air hits them good and critters don't mess with them?
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I normally use 50 lbs.on an elk cape-same amount for a black bear.You could get by with 25 lbs.,if need be.I am assuming you know that the lips,eyelids,nostrils and ears have to be split-turned before salting. Rub the salt in good,making sure you don't miss any hide in the folds etc..Best to spread it out on a gentle slope.Always in the shade,never in the sun.After 2-3 days you could hang it over a bush or limb,after shaking the salt off,still,out of the sun.There's no guarantee on the critters.It's your job to keep them off if you can't do it in a building.You could take it and get it frozen,but once it's salted,you won't have to worry about it-delays getting home etc..
Fifty pounds? Glen Conley and I have long been proponents of "thrifty" salt usage. I'd bet I could get by with less than 20 pounds on both animals combined. I use cooking grade salt and I don't just pour it on. I dump a pound on the hide and then I work it around the hide by hand. In the wild like that, I'd then hang the hide up with the skin side out and let it drain overnight. It MIGHT need another coat the next day, but once you've stopped the dripping, the salt's use is done. The biggest problem I see with salt in the field (aside from transportation) is that few people know how to flesh an animal properly before they put it on. I'd cringe to think of fleshing a bear, though I've done a few, in the woods. It's just easier to cape and get it to a freezer quickly.
I often read here about concerns of "reusing" salt or salt disposal. Any time that much residual salt is taking place, someone is oversalting. Maybe Glen can help out by referencing that great article on excessive salting by the Indian doctor he printed a few years back.