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Very little hair on inside of deer ears?

Discussion in 'Beginners' started by 126whitetail, Apr 28, 2014.

  1. Apr 28, 2014 #1
    126whitetail

    126whitetail Member

    538
    1
    Plum-Nearly, NM
    I have two deer capes(MD buck and WT doe) both tanned by well-known tanneries.

    The buck was salted in April 2013, after the second salting I had to leave due to a family issue. The cape was left alone(fur side down) on a slanted table for about 48 hours, when I came back the fur side was moist and I dried it asap. After a couple more days I sent it off to be tanned... once I got it back there was a few small slip spots and very little hair in the ears. That was understandable.

    However I harvested a WT doe(Nov 2013) applied stop-rot to the ears, had it chilled immediately and frozen within 2.5 hours. A few months later I split everything, applied stop-rot to the whole cape and ears and salted thoroughly, rubbed in salt, hung it etc. I really took care of it and made sure it was dry before shipping.

    Once I received the doe back (different well known tannery) and hydrated it I discovered there was very little ear hair, compared to what it was when it was shipped off.
    I have three more capes I haven't gotten to hydrate yet, but I am hoping that the same thing is not going on with them.

    Is there something I'm doing wrong? It's really bugging me!
    Thank You
     
  3. Apr 28, 2014 #2
    Mr.T

    Mr.T Active Member

    21,636
    13
    my house
    Beginners luck maybe. Next time try putting a fan on the face and ears after salting to speed the drying, dry the hair out first, then the skin side before sending them out until you get the bugs out of your system. Fleshing, splitting and turning then salting needs to be done fast, maybe you are not there yet speed wise?
     

  5. Apr 29, 2014 #3
    Paul B

    Paul B Active Member

    2,465
    23
    Where are you losing the hair, inner ear only? Is it slipped on the back side? There is not a lot of inner ear hair on all deer, just along the out side and along the 3 hair tracks. Winter cold region deer may have long and bushy inner hair while earlier season deer may not have much at all. You did turn the ears before salting? 48 hours on salt table after second salting will not hurt anything, I sometimes leave them there till there ready to fold.
     
  6. Apr 29, 2014 #4
    taflinger

    taflinger New Member

    2,729
    0
    Centreville, Michigan
    You need to salt the inside of the ears once you get them turned. Pack some salt in there on the cartilage side. Salt will not penetrate the cartilage by just salting on the outside.
     
  7. Apr 30, 2014 #5
    126whitetail

    126whitetail Member

    538
    1
    Plum-Nearly, NM
    Thank you guys for your input...

    I turned the ears and left them inverted for salting, I did fill about half the ear with salt and changed it when I changed the rest of the salt on the cape.
     
  8. May 2, 2014 #6
    126whitetail

    126whitetail Member

    538
    1
    Plum-Nearly, NM
    The back of the ears are in great shape, it is just the inside of the ears that seem very low in hair density, compared to what it was.