Having a successful hunt not only puts meat on the table. It can also give you nice leather or buckskin. If you want to keep a hide for tanning, you must pay attention to skinning and storing.
Skinning
Many hunters think that because they have been hunting for a long time, they know how to skin. This is a false belief. Forget everything you know about skinning and learn. There are two ways to skin a critter, with a knife or by pulling. Only one way is good for tanning, and that is to pull. The best time to pull the hide is when the animal is still warm, but it can still be done even if the body is frozen.
When you use the pulling method, the hide comes off where it naturally separates from the meat. This leaves a nice smooth surface on the flesh side of the hide. If a knife is used, you will have knife marks in your hide. In a chemical tanned skin, knife marks are not as big of a deal as they are with braintanned buckskin. With buckskin, the softening step requires a lot of vigorous pulling on the hide. The pulling causes knife marks to rip out into holes. Or if the cut goes all the way to the epidermis layer of the skin, the hole will appear earlier in the process.
When the hide separates naturally from the body, a protective membrane is left on the meat which keeps it more resilient to flies and bacteria. The layer also keeps the meat from drying out while curing. If you use a knife, it is really easy to cut holes in the connective tissue and leave the meat vulnerable.
Holes are bad. Not only do they make the hide ugly, they are hard to work with as well. While softening braintan, the hide needs to have a continuous tension to keep the fibers moving over each other. If there is a hole, the tension on the hide is broken and stiff spots appear. Holes also need to be sewn up, and they make the smoking step difficult. If smoke escapes out of a hole, the hide will not come out to an even color. Lastly, if there are holes in the hide, it is hard to make a large piece of clothing out of the finished skin. Surely you wouldn’t want a buckskin shirt with a big sewn up hole in the front of it.
To Skin: Make the 5 initial cuts: • Brisket Cut: Underneath, from the anus to the throat. (half should be done from gutting) • Neck Cut: Around the neck, just behind the head. I usually remove the head at this point. • Knee Cut: Around all of the knees. • Back Cut: On the back of the hind legs, where the white hair meets the brown. Continue to the knee cut. Leave the tail if you want. • Front Cut: On the front of the front legs where the white meets the brown. Continue this cut straight to the brisket cut and down to the knee cut
Usually a deer is hung from its hind legs. Loosen the skin on the hind knees with your fingers, and use your body weight to separate the hide from the animal. There is a thin muscle that starts at the base of the vertebrae. You can choose to leave this on the hide which may require some knife work later. Or you can leave it on the body. If you leave it on the hide, it will want to stick to the body around the ribcage. Use a knife to cut the muscle only. Make sure your cut is away from the membrane on the hide. Continue pulling the hide off until it comes over the neck and front legs. Now you have a perfectly skinned hide!
Now that you have the hide off of the critter, you need to store it properly to prevent rot. The best way is to get it to the tanner right away. If you have to hang on to the hide for a while, there are two good ways to store it, freezing and salting. Never dry it out.
The easiest way to store a hide is to freeze it. To do this, lay the hide out flat. Fold the hide into thirds lengthwise, then roll it up from the neck to the rump. If you can see any of the flesh side sticking out, fold it in. Folding it this way will keep any parts from being exposed and getting freezer burned or dried out. Take the rolled up hide and put it in a garbage bag. Tie off that bag and put it in another. Tie that bag off, and then stick it in the deep freeze (5ºF or less.) The hide will keep for at least 5 years in the freezer.
Salting is another good way to store a hide. Get some livestock salt from the local feed store. It needs to be NaCl, and make sure it doesn’t have any coloring added. Lay the hide out flat and throw a few heaping double handfuls on it. Don’t be skimpy because salt is cheap (usually about $5 for 50lbs.). Spread out the salt and make sure there is a little bit everywhere. Check to see that you got it into every little folded over spot. When you have enough salt on there, put the hide at a slight angle. (A piece of plywood that is propped up in the back works well.) The angle will let moisture drain off of the skin. Let the hide drain in the shade for 24 hours. Do not let it dry out. After 24 hours, fold the hide up as described for freezing and put it in an airtight container. The container can be a tied off garbage bag, as long as there are no holes in it. The salted hide can be stored for at least 20 years.
Many people believe that a hide can be left outdoors in the below freezing whether. In Montana especially, the winter weather rarely stays below 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Bacteria are still active at this temperature, and the hide will still rot. Also, other creatures may think that they need the hide more than you do. Ravens, magpies, coyotes and other critters will do a number on the hide and leave it for you, in shambles.
The hide can be left outside in below freezing weather for a maximum of four days. Tanners don’t like dealing with hides that are kept outside any longer than this. The hides smell and are usually starting to turn green. Nobody wants to deal with that.
In tanning hides, the first steps of the process are usually in the hands of the hunter. If you are donating a hide or getting one tanned for yourself, ensure that you are helping to make a great finished product. Take care of your hides.