I searched before I'm posting, my question is I've heard some mention not spitting tails on fox I was taught to split them but I sure think it would be great not to. I prepped one today for salt but I didn't split the tail I took a 12gauge wire and ran that through the tail and out the small end, then I went on to pack salt in the tail with that wire till I felt I had it covered. I've heard some say to feed a string through so it acts like a wick for tanning, but I tried that an couldn't get it through there. Any of youz tried this with any luck. (hoping to hear, yea it works great)
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In a perfect world that sounds good, but this ain't it. On paper, that sounds good, but tanning isn't paper. Salt oftentimes forms a crystaline dam inside the tail and can act as a barrier to keep the tan out of the tail. The only way to be sure is to split the tail. I hate sewing as much as the next guy (probably more) but the only way you can be positive the tan reaches all the skin is to split that sucker.
NEVER use a metal anything adjacent to salt. You can leave a deposit of ferrous material on the skin that retards tanning. If the tail is inverted, and you wish to tan it that way, so be it. Other wise, split it like George says. There is really no need to salt the tail if inverted, and you are going to pickle it immediately. The bulk of the tail skin is so thin that air drying will remove the moisture.
split the tail, a little sewing beats looking for a replacement. I learned that one the hard way, I thought I new better, I didn't!
only took me one coyote (and a replacement tail) to learn