How to Tan a Deer Hide
Deer hunters feel proud of mounting the antlers or the deer’s head on their wall as a trophy of their dear hunting experience. If you want your adventure to be a memorable one, you can spend some extra time and tan deer hide and keep it as memorabilia in your home.
Learn the techniques to tan a deer hide.
- As soon as you hunt the deer, skin it. Make sure you take the hide carefully so that the entire skin comes out as one piece. Actually, it is important to keep the skin in one part and if you are not confident of doing it successfully, you must take help of a professional.
- Place the hide on a sawhorse so that the fleshy part remains upward. Use a long bladed sharp knife to scrape the flesh. Remove the tissue that is attached to the skin.
- Take a large plastic garbage can to mix water, lime and hardwood ashes. Stir the mixture till the ashes and the lime dissolves in water.
- Dip the deer skin completely in water and leave it inside the liquid for at least 2-3 days. The solution will help to loosen the hair. Don’t forget to rearrange the skin in the water twice a day.
- After taking out the deer hide from the mixture, rinse it properly with clean water.
- Again mount the deer hide on the sawhorse, but, this time, keep the hair side up. Again use the long bladed knife to scrape the remaining hair from the skin and wash the skin with normal water.
- Take a big plastic garbage can and fill it with adequate amount of water. Add 2 quarts of vinegar into the water and mix the solution. Put the deer hide into the solution and leave it in the mixture for around 24 hours. Stir the solution and rearrange the deer skin inside it frequently.
- After 24 hours, take the deer skin and the solution out of the garbage can and fill the container with fresh water. Soak the hide in the clean water for at least 8-10 hours.
- Dissolve alum in at least one bucket of water and stir the mixture. Immerse the deer hide in the solution and leave it for 6-8 days. Make sure you stir the solution at least twice a day.
- After taking the skin out of the solution, rinse it properly for at least 15 minutes with running water.
- Spread the skin on a flat surface and gently rub fine grit sandpaper on the entire deer hide.
- Finish it by making it an attractive wall hanging as a memory of your hunting adventure.
Tips:
- Don’t place the skin in the sun to dry. Allow it to air dry.
- After the deer hide is completely dried, rub warmed neat’s foot oil on both side of the skin to make it supple.
Watch a video instruction on how to tan a deer hide
See also
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Posted by tipdeck on 9/18/09 • Categorized as How To, Hunting, Outdoor Recreation
I’ve always wanted to try this. I was told it was too difficult. This doesn’t seem that hard to to do, just some time. Thanks for the instructions.
Directions look good, but what if I don’t want to remove hair from deer skin? How do I tan the hide so that the hair remains on one side and it is nice and soft on the other side? Thanks, REB
you can rub salt onto the fleshy part multiple times to hold the hair pores together
I am trying to mount my deer head, so I would like to keep the hair. I have my hyde skinned and ready to continue although I am not sure how to preserve the hyde without buying all these different chemicals. So I put it in the freezer for now until I can figure out my next step…??? Is vinegar and water the way to go? What is the ratio, and for how long? Do I salt the skin after I pull it out of the solution? How long do I let it sit after I take it out of the solution before I can start putting things back together? Also,I am going to boil my rack to get the excess meat out of the scull cap. Is this right? I am going to put salt in the water also, does this matter…??? Thank you for all your help. Have a great day!