I was given a longhorn to mount in late december. They killed it and brought me the hide and head the same day. The hide I folded and put in the freezer right away, the head I caped out and also put in the freezer, since i am in college and would not have time to get to it right away. When I caped out the head I noticed that the hair would come out if you pulled on a tuft. Its not like the hair is just falling out all over the place, but I just wanted to cover myself here. It was an 18 year old steer, winter killed and taken care of, what the heck is going on? I took the hide out of the freezer and am thawing it out now, I am going to start unthawing the head, so I can split and turn, salt and flesh, then send it away to get tanned. If there is anything i can do to sort of "set" the hair better let me know. I read a little on the forum about using denatured alchohol, anything to that?
Thanks
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DON'T pull on the hair, if you pull at the hair on your head, it will also come out.
I'm not jerking the hair, its looser than the hair on my head for sure, and i didnt continue doing it, its loose! Anything of value to add to youre response?
Glen is the man to talk to with products that might help you out. http://www.whitetailsystems.com/taxidermy/tax2.php Good Luck! Jeff F.
if the animal and hide was taken care of properly bacteria should not be an issue but if the animal was not healthy it coul have had a head start on bacteria groth, if you are in a hurry just salt it and rub it in very good and dont be tight with it get salt worked in on the hair side as well and get it shipped as soon as possible. A good tannery usually will set the hair on iffy hides. or you can order the stop rot from Glenn Conley or call Van Dykes and ask them to recomend something they carry stop rot and other products. If it were me I would just salt it and ship it to a good tannery.
The Salt will pull out moisture from the skin and hlep it dry quickly! Then by drying it you will tighten up the roots of the hair. If you ship it wet - it may not make it!
You guys rock, thanks a bunch
I rough fleshed the cape today, since parts of the fur side were still bloody, i dried them as good as possible, salted the fur side in these spots, and rubbed some borax powder in to soak up any moisture as well. After overnight salting I will finish fleshing tommorow, salt and ship to a tanner. If this doesnt sound quite right please let me know, thanx again
Borax is a high alkaline that will drive the Tannery you send it to crazy! Dont use it! Try to use sawdust instead if you feel you have to use it. It's inert and wont affect the skins PH level.