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Salting before fleshing deer hide

Discussion in 'Beginners' started by rickikelly, Feb 25, 2013.

  1. Feb 25, 2013 #1
    rickikelly

    rickikelly New Member

    3
    0
    Aiken SC
    Hi there,

    I recently came across a small doe that was roadkill, but in decent enough shape. I was able to bring her home, and decided to practice on her. Unfortunately, I was really afraid of slipping because I didn't have enough room to put her in my freezer, and was able to pick up an upright freezer later that day. Anyhow, I decided to skin her that day and did so. I have a few questions.
    Everything turned out great. However, I am really not sure how to skin the hooves. I have skinned down to the last knuckle, should I saw the rest of the foot off from the knuckle and try to get most of the flesh off if I were to do a full mount?
    Also, I guess I should mention this, I haven't fleshed it yet, but I salted it. Is this okay? I'm afraid after reading some, I should have fleshed it before I salted it, however I was really afraid of decay and it was getting dark. I still have to do detail fleshing to the face, and just some light fleshing to the body, and of course the hooves. Is there a way to fix this, if salting before fleshing is not okay?
     
  3. Feb 25, 2013 #2
    Sportsman

    Sportsman Member

    67
    0
    United States
    Salting before fleshing is definitely the way to go. Just be sure to remove any large or thick chunks of meat that are on the hide before applying the salt.

    As far as the hooves go, you will have to remove the knuckle all the way up inside the hoof. This is not easy to do. You will have to cut through the tendons and connective tissue that hold the knuckle into the hoof. I usually do this with a razor blade or knife, being careful not to cut through the skin. Once you get most of the connective tissue cut, you can"break" out the knuckles by grasping the leg bone with one hand and pushing against the hoof with the other. Sometimes it takes a lot of twisting and pulling to get them out. Once the knuckles are removed, you need to salt up into the hoof. Hope this helps.
     

  5. Feb 25, 2013 #3
    boarhunter67

    boarhunter67 Well-Known Member

    4,898
    47
    Bakersfield
    There was a tutorial a year or so ago on here about removing hooves that included pictures.
     
  6. Feb 25, 2013 #4
    3bears

    3bears Well-Known Member

    7,072
    3,797
    MN
    Check the regs, it may not be legal to pick up a roadkill. Do not salt before fleshing. Why would you want to? You are only going to remove the salt as you flesh it. Salting as you go is ok but only after you fleshed the area. As a roadkill you may have issues with slip, you don't likely know how long it layed there. I reccomend not freezing it once it is salted, here we put salt on ice to melt it, therefor you run the extra risk of it not freezing.
     
  7. Feb 25, 2013 #5
    George

    George The older I get, the better I was.

    34,669
    4,550
    Magnolia, Delaware
    Why would you salt before you flesh? It would seem your first concern would be to remove flesh. Slippage happens FIRST where flesh has been left under the skin. Quickly get rid if the excess meat and flesh and THEN salt immediately.