Is a black bear still good after being frozen for so long ,it seems to be in good shape,any tips on what i should do . Is there any chances that i would be taking,with something so old,besides frezzer burn.Head and paws are still attached,only thing is the person salted it first ,then froze it for 8yrs
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Some will say dont waste your time others will say go for it.
To start get Rittles Super Relaxer. Then and only then start the skinning.
There will be dry spots. Just work slowly through them leave more dried materials there, Its best to have to work those spots two ur three times, than not having enough later.
You may need to inject some of the dry places others can be misted.
I would do the best I could and go straight into a formic acid or Oxalic pickle. You may need some Acid Bate from Rittels also. Have it on hand just in case.
You are going to treat this hide like a African cape, while its in the ACID-BATE-PICKLE, pH 2.5-3.0 @40% salt.
This seems to let the acid sfoten the hide better. Just scrape this hides hard spots, it should come around, but it may take TIME, be sure to have enough pickle 15 gallons of water.
You need this volume so the hide has room to float around loosly, hairside up. Stir two to three times daily, fully stir the hide for several minutes.
Now if yu cannot get the lips, eyes, ears turned at first, Go ahead and soak it in the pickle.
DONT SALT IT PRIOR! The skin is already freezed dried, moisture has been remeoved.
You are going to do this differently than as if it was a fresh cape.
This has worked for me on Bear, deer and elk.
I woould not expect much if any slippage, follow this method it works well.
There is a company that sell Phenol, about $75.00 per quart including shipping and packaging. I would get a bottle and add 1/2 ounce to the pickle. The Pickle is already acid, killing most bacteria. But a touch of Phenol would just insure this.
It may take several weeks or months to soften thiis hide up.
Good luck.
I pulled a WT cape from the freezer three days ago with the intention of mounting it. I saw the tag attached to the antler had a date of 1992 on it. I started with a Y incision and soon learned that the hide was VERY freezer burned. I'm pretty sure that it could be salvaged with a LOT of work, but decided that I didn't have the patience. It will now be made into a European mount. Just my experience. PatrickR
not a cape Patrick..