I have an unfleshed cape in the freezer that was brought to me after it had sat in a cooler for a week, I tugged on the hair before I caped the head and it didnt slip but now that I have it skinned, it is a bit smelly, not terrible but starting to smell a little.It is currently frozen.The hair was not slipping when I froze it, but I am worried about it getting bad as it is thawing.Should I thaw it out and salt it to dry it out or go ahead and put it into a pickle bath, I plan on tanning with liqua tan.Is it easier to flesh before a pickle or after? I would like to save this cape.
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Is your best bet.
The cape ain't any good to you in the freezer ,and sometimes a cape does smell a little bit when blood is still on cape , what I would do is go ahead and thaw it out split the eyes ears lips,etc flesh all red meat off you don't ever want to salt with alot off the meat left on the hide, once you have done this salt making sure you get the entire cape .then next day shake salt off check and resalt.
my capes here are always rock hard before i'm ready to tan .
LOL
Freezing a cape in a typical residential freezer will not necessarily stop post mortem breakdown. Some fatty deposits may not freeze completely, and the long time to frozen state is inhibited by the insulative fur.
Like Dennis D said, you should thaw that cape, flesh off the striate tissue, split the lips and eyes and turn the ears. Then my suggestion would be to spray it down with acetone and then rinse and pickle. Adding a little bactericide to the pickle will stop the rotting if there is any. Acetone will help prevent slippage. At this stage I wouldn't salt it, since the salt content of most pickles will serve to remove protein liquids from the cape. Lonestar Taxidermy Supply sells a quality bactericide. I am sure other suppliers do too, but I use theirs.
I am thawing the cape right now so I can split and turn it and flesh it up good.