I was fortunate to harvest a bear this season. I skinned it out the next day and froze it shortly after. I rolled it up starting from the tail and left the head on top. A friend of mine said to store it with the skin touching skin. But, I had already froze it. Will it be ok later down the line when I decide to get it made into a rug. He heard that by storing it with the skin touching the hide that it did something to it. Any replies will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
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Its funny we taxidermist hear all this BS after the fact.
The fact is rolled up and frozen it took several days for it to freeze, it could actually spoil before it gets a chance to freeze. It happens not often but it does happen.
Find a taxidermist to tan the hide for you. This can be store tanned in your freezer for several years.
Unroll it as it thaws or it could still slip. the outer layer will thaw first.
Your taxidermist will scrape the fat, salt and dry the hide and send it to a tannery.
Dont choose the cheap Taxidermist to do this! Choose one that deals with bears often. many beginners dont know enough to handle a bear. They are different from a deer in many ways.
They cost around $300. for the scraping and tanning.
Your hide will be fine. Salting them would really help the taxidermist somewhat though.
Not unless that things totally fleshed and even then it's the freezer OR salt, not both.
...Store a salt "dried" skin in the freezer, but the only real purpose of it is to keep it from drawing moisture in humid conditions.
Folding it skin to skin might prevent freezer burn, that would make fleshing a bit harder, but only if the skin is not properly wraped up and sealed in plastic.
Lastly, raw bears do not keep well in the freezer. They tend to get grease burned, that is the fat penetrated the hide. Get it tanned as soon as you can. Then if you have to store it, put the tanned hide in the freezer and it will last for years.