“There you are!” I thought to myself.  It was a particularly slow morning as I scouted the woods.  Sneak hunting is my favorite tactic. Keeps me moving, warm and extremely focused.  Tough to do successfully, but that’s the way I like it.  Finally, my skills have paid off.

Standing in front of me, not 30 yards away, is a nice size deer.  My instincts kick in.

It was obvious this wild animal had not detected me.  Couldn’t quite make out the head.  A tree is in the way.  What a beautifulmoment.  My heart is racing as I sense success.

This is the moment we start making choices that will ultimately lead
to either a clean kill, good meat and great hide or damage to the prize
of the day. Nobody wants to clean up a gut shot.  But then, how confident are the skills today?  Clean body shot through the vital heart zone or risk a neck shot?

Hide preparation begins the moment of taking aim.  Much quality can be lost or gained depending on the placement of your weapon of choice.

Sometimes, you don’t have much choice and you have to take a risk. 
But when you do, are you skilled enough to take a riskier shot to save
more meat and hide?

Once the prize has expired and the moments of success are replayed over and over while contemplating field dressing choices, another critical hide-quality choice presents itself.  Skill, or lack thereof, in field dressing
can be important. 

Clean cuts with a sharp knife and care in keeping dirt and blood off of the hide becomes an issue for hide quality.  While the moment of excitement still reigns fresh in your mind, think about the beautiful items you could be wearing from this particular gift.

Suddenly, what once was an item that might have been taken for granted (the hide), can now become a more useful resource for enjoying your success not to mention retelling stories for years to come.

Care in how you take aim, how you field dress, how you remove the carcass from your field of dreams, how you take care of your prize and finally, how you prepare the hide after removal for future garments all play a rolein hide quality.

Here are a few tips in extending the value of the dream kill.

Hair On- Depending on how skillfully you removed your prey, consider
whether you would want to keep the animal’s hair in tact during tanning. 
Most deerskin is tanned with hair removed but, considering what you would like produced, you will want to consider your choice of hair on or hair off during the tanning process.  Taking better care to carry your
animal out of the woods vs. dragging is a serious consideration for this
issue.

Skinning- Here’s an important step in hide quality.  Take care to use a knife only to start and finish the job.  Do all you can to physically use your hands to pry and pull off the hide.  Especially pay attention to how you use your knife, should it be necessary, by not cutting into the hide. Slices and gouges cannot be reversed. Leave as much tallow on as possible as this will help keep the hide soft.

MOST IMPORTANTLY NEVER ROLL UP HIDE AFTER SKINNING!! Hides begin to decay as soon as the animal expires.  Treating and curing the hide as soon as possible will minimize and actually stop the decaying process.

Curing-  Lay the hide down with flesh side up in a cool dry place.  Wash as much blood off  as much as possible with a sponge.  Bloodaccelerates rot.

With hide clean and spread flesh side up, sprinkle 3-5 lbs of table salt over the flesh side of the hide.  Let sit for 3-4 days or until you see a noticeable crust forming and weeping of the flesh stops.

If you are not processing your own meat and you wish to keep the hide,
be certain to specifically request the hide gets salted and kept in a cool
place.  Pick up the hide as soon as possible to assure the proper care is given.

Do not freeze the hide  - If it gets frozen, thaw and salt the hide.

Next article, I’ll talk about options for getting your hide tanned and
possible items to be made from the very skins you harvested.

Here are just a very few items made from deer hide.

Deerskin Wineskin

  

Fanny Pack

 

Moccassins

   

Deerskin Shirts

 

Traditional Wear

 

Fringe Jackets

For the full line visit the Sunset Creek Deerskin web site at www.scdeerskin.com