There was a recent inquiry about a smelly turkey. I have a different issue, smelly diver ducks. Whenever I work on "delectable" divers, like mergansers, scoters or old squaw (opps, sorry, long-tail duck), after degreasing and washing in Dawn, I go upstairs from my basement workshop and the first thing I hear from my wife is, "Are you working on one of those smelly ducks again?" That diver odor seems to seep into the skin of my hands and arms. I don't generally use gloves while I'm degreasing and using Dawn, since I don't percieve any health hazard. And despite washing the bird skins as well as my hands thoroughly with Dawn, that odor will persist for a day or so. I run into the same thing with antelope (my wife gets very irritated when I mention someone dropped off another pronghorn!). Those antelope molecules must have some kind of magnetic attraction to human skin cells. I was just curious as to how others deal with the odor issue. After mounting and drying, there is no or just residual odor on the ducks, but the antelope seem to retain some fragrance even after brining, liquid-tanning and washing.
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Try washing your hands in shaving cream. It will cut the smell then you can use soup to wash off the shaveing cream smell if you want to. It works with everthing fish as well. Craig
Best thing ever. Wash your hands with tooth paste. It is the best thing I have found. It works great when your fishing to if you get gas on your hands.
About time you stopped doing your "normal" stuff and wore gloves, don't you thinK? That oil permeates your skin just like bears or coons or beavers will. WEAR GLOVES. Then call Steve Steinbring at Newton Supply (Epo-Grip) and buy a gallon of "Hand Sanitizer". It's the ONLY THING that will get rid of any smells, including skunk and leave your hands both germ free clean and baby fresh smelling. Home rememdies might be cheaper, but when you want to depend on something that will ALWAYS work, the Hand Sanitizer can't be beat - period.
Does Chunky Noodle or Cream of Mushroom owrk best? :-)
Wear the gloves. You can get a box of good surgical gloves at Walmart for about $4. I wear them for skinning and degreasing. Cuts down on that smell for sure.
Whatever is in the stuff seems to kill any bird smell, but George is right. If you want a Sanitizer, you need to use a Sanitizer. Tooth paste has been used by walleye fishermen for years to get smells off their hands including gas. I doubt it will work for skunk though, but all I do is birds, and it works.
Hey Rob,
Just eat your soup. Everything we use once started as a home remedy, and much of what you buy in a taxidermy catalog can be either bought at your local grocery store or hardware store if you know what your looking for. George is right though. If it works and its made for it buy it, but in a pinch you may need to compromise.