Hey guys this is the second time this has happened to me. (2 in a row). I will not mention the tannery I have used, as I want to know the problem, and not start mud slinging on who is the best.
Bottom line: The last two deer hides came back to the tannery. I would re-hydrate them by allowing them to soak 1 hour in cool water. Then I roll up the hide raw hide to raw hide, place in a plastic bag overnight in a refrigerator. ( I do this in the evengin around 6 pm) so at the most the cap is in the refrig for 12 hours (8pm -> 8 am)
Then I mount the deer the next morning. During the mounting process, I had hair just falling off of it. I had bare spots behind the ears, and a couple place on the side. I finished the mount, and then totally soak it in stop-slip. This worked the last time. but this is bad har felt like it was connect to nothing.
But this should not happen. I am trying to figure out what went wrong. Is it the tannery? Is it the way I prepared the cape before it went to the tannery. I flesh it, salt 3 or 4 times and let set under the last salt until it is hard. It seems to me if am not fleshing or salting right, the hair would fall out at the tannery not after I get it back. Right?
I am following the rehydrating instructions. So I am at a loss on what went wrong.
One time pryor to these two, the hair started slipping because I over streched the hide. But This time the deer fit the form really well. So I did have a tight of a fit.
Any help you guys could give me would be great. I really don't want to deal with this again.
Rob
Rob
Return to Deer Taxidermy Category Menu
The areas you metioned are touchy areas...behind the ears etc.
For me personally, the first thing I do after caping a deer head, is to remove the ear butt meat and open the ears. I immediately get salt in these areas, then proceed with the rest of the turning and splitting.
Stop rot also helps on the ear areas, and seems to be a great insurance policy for keeping the hair on around those problem areas.
Also, you may want to try a wet tan next time. You won't need to rehydrate the skin, and it also is not left in the drum at the tannery, which can be a little tough on ears at times.
One last thing..when rehydratig the dry tanned cape in salt water, I have found that 30 minutes seems to be suffcient..the ear cartilage may still be a little tough at this point, but the overnight sweating should take care of that. The less time you have the hide in the rehydrating solution, the better..(that's been my experience anyway).
As far as the neck slippage areas, I would guess that that's more of an issue of the cape condition before you received it, or you took to long to rough flesh and get that salt in the skin.
Good luck
We have to look back even farther. First it starts with your client. How long did that person wait till you recieved it? Next is the way it was then taken care of. We have real no idea on how well you flesh your capes and this is no disrespect to you. Salting a cape three to fours time is not needed. After removing all heavy fat and meat I lay a good coat of salt on it roll it up set it on an incline to let the fluids drain off then the follwing day shake off the old salt and salt it again, hang till dry.
I would have to mention that it my be in your best interest to get a history of the deer you are taking from the customer. This will help in determing what precautions you need to take. Most of the time capes are taken in and thrown in the freezer. What you may not know is that this skin has been laying for days with little or no refrigeration. Now you place it in your freezer and it takes hours until the cape reaches the safety mark. I am not sure how you handle your skins but this advise is meant for all to read. I always look the cape over and always tell the customer that providing the cape was taken care of properly you shouldn't have problem, of course there are no guarantees but this ultimately comes back on you anyway. When in doubt, flesh, split and salt immediately. I have also placed questionable capes in the pickle right after it has been fleshed and split. I have had good results with this but don't make a habit of doing it a lot. Sometimes its best to turn away capes like this because once you take it in, it's hard to call the customer and tell him there are problems. I would also use relax R following the instructions to hydrate a cape from the tannery. However, I have found that I have more control by doing the tanning myself. Good luck to you!
I don't think this was a bad cape. It seems to me if the cape was bad, the hair slippage would occur at the tannery when they re-hydrate the cape and start the tanning process. \
when the cape came back, it looked great!. I put i in cool water for 1 hour per the directions. The fold and place in a plastic bag over night in a refig. why would the hair fall you after this step?