Finally!

[BeRandee]

I finally got started on one of my deer hides. Fleshed it with a pressure washer(Next time I'm wearing a face shield!!) turned the ears, and split the lips/eyes. It's currently sitting in a tub of Krowtann whitetail tanner. Today will be day 2 of it sitting in it. I picked it up and repositioned it last night. One question though, there are a few holes, and one longer(4-5in) slice in the neck. Should I sew that up before putting it on a form? I put a few tiny holes in the face when I was cleaning it up but I think they will be easy to fix(I hope) This is my first time fleshing and tanning anything so I'm hoping it turns out good. Pretty nervous and excited! lol

[Shooting Stix]

Yes you should so you don't see yellow manikin but I am not a taxidermist

[elkhunter1977]

I would sew all holes if I were you. I wouldn't start making bad habits that will someday catch up with you. Just my 

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

BeRandee,
You should have salted the hide (after the rough fleshing) and pickled it first before tanning. Salting sets the hair. 'Pickle' solution is water, salt, and formic acid, this lowers the PH of the hide. Think of deer/elk skin as coral, porous and filled with fats and grease. This needs to be removed to make room for the tanning solution which penetrates the skin/coral. If the fats are not removed the tan is not real great and will be very hard to stretch over a form. Also, elk, deer, caribou, all 'hair' hides need to be shaved which is the process of removing the skin between pickle baths at an 1/8 inch at a time. Elk skin, especially an older bull, can be over 2 inches thick! Some buck hides get about 1" thick, especially at the cap and back of the neck. Tanning solution will not penetrate this unless it is pickled and shaved. Your tan will probably work, however I predict your cape is going to be extremely hard to stretch.
Sew up any holes before put the hide of the form for sure! This should be after you re-prepped the cape in the eye, lips, ears, and nose area and the hide gets stretched and test fit to the form. There are numerous very talented taxidermists on this forum that I am sure would have other directions or opinions so take advantage of everyone's advice. Also, I would check out Taxidermy.net's forum about this information. Best of luck.
Joel-BRT

[BeRandee]

BeRandee,
You should have salted the hide (after the rough fleshing) and pickled it first before tanning. Salting sets the hair. 'Pickle' solution is water, salt, and formic acid, this lowers the PH of the hide. Think of deer/elk skin as coral, porous and filled with fats and grease. This needs to be removed to make room for the tanning solution which penetrates the skin/coral. If the fats are not removed the tan is not real great and will be very hard to stretch over a form. Also, elk, deer, caribou, all 'hair' hides need to be shaved which is the process of removing the skin between pickle baths at an 1/8 inch at a time. Elk skin, especially an older bull, can be over 2 inches thick! Some buck hides get about 1" thick, especially at the cap and back of the neck. Tanning solution will not penetrate this unless it is pickled and shaved. Your tan will probably work, however I predict your cape is going to be extremely hard to stretch.
Sew up any holes before put the hide of the form for sure! This should be after you re-prepped the cape in the eye, lips, ears, and nose area and the hide gets stretched and test fit to the form. There are numerous very talented taxidermists on this forum that I am sure would have other directions or opinions so take advantage of everyone's advice. Also, I would check out Taxidermy.net's forum about this information. Best of luck.
Joel-BRT

Thanks black river! I have the drug for Pickeling but was talking to a taxidermist that I really admire who does beautiful beautiful work, uses this stuff without Pickeling. I have a coon I have to skin tonight, so maybe I'll try Pickeling it before tanning.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Sounds good. In my experience the pickle process works better on 'hairs' such as elk, deer, etc. versus 'furs' such as raccoons, cats, bears, etc. The skin of a haired animal is much much thicker therefore the pickling is more important to open up those pores to extract the bacteria/fats and to get the tanning solution in...it makes for a much better stretch on the hide. Does your friend send the hides off to be tanned? If he does then most tanneries do this process for the taxidermist before tanning.
I have a few capes that are getting ready to be tanned that have been pickled and your more than welcome to come take a look at the process and how I tan hides (we tan using a pressure tank) if your interested.

[Red leaf 67]

I agree with BlackRiver here, no matter what tanning agent's are used, salting, pickling, washing/degreasing, shaving will give you a longer lasting tan with more stretch. With all the labor/energy involved , you want the final mount to look good when you complete it &  many,many years in the future. When I started doing game heads in the mid 1980's, I used Dan Chase dry preservative with liqua tan on the lips,eyes & nose to prevent shrinkage & soon switched to salted/pickled ( capes refleshed/shaved after pickling) then liqua tan... Also have used commercial tanned capes. I realized early on, the methods I used  would later effect my workmanship & reputation later on. I worry sometimes how those dry preserved heads might look 30 years later.  Any method you use, involves halting bacteria, removing non tanable proteins & fat/oil , & replacing with tanning agent/softening oil .  Raccoon, bear,  beaver, coyote etc.. would need degreasing prior to tanning.  Use to use dental floss or artificial sinew & a surgeons needle on all repairs before mounting.  The rotating/ pressurized tank tanning machine designed for the small to medium size shop is worth taking a serious look at!  The learning & experimenting never ends .   Redleaf

[BeRandee]

Thanks everyone! I think the coon is going to be thawed enough finally to skin. My next deer hide, I'll pickle though. My friend tans himself, using the krowtann. He's been doing awhile so he probably has a good handle on it. My second cape, I'll pickle first. That one is one I want to mount and actually look really nice since it's meant for my first mule deer bucks set of antlers. I need to find a set of black tail antlers for this black tail cape that is in the tanning solution right now. Blackriver, I wish Rochester was a bit closer! Maybe if I'm in the area, I'll swing by.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

 

[JJB11B]

skinned a coon the other night, the pressure washer idea would have been handy to get the inch of fat off his hide....I'm learning....

[BeRandee]

So I pulled it out of the tanning solution and hung it up to dry off a bit. Left it hanging a little longer than I wanted. Didn't read the instructions right and kind of did things bass ackwards. Was supposed to rinse, then neutralise in baking soda first before hanging. I fleshed it out some more, washed it in dawn, then neutralised it lol. It's hanging again and I'm going to finish up fleshing it. I left more on the nose than I should have BUT there's no slippage and the hide seems pretty soft. This guy was a bit small and didn't quite fit on the fleshing board Smossy gave me. Now I can get the measurements and order a form. Just need a set of blacktail antlers...