8mm/06

I have a hide that I was considering having processed with the hair on, and 4 legs from the carcass of a kill from Nov 24th. They have been wrapped in plastic and laying on the floor of my garage since butchering it on 12-5. It has remained well below 40 the entire time since then,...in fact it has been below freezing for at least 6 of those days....
My question is...Will this hide and the legs still be suitable for tanning-mounting?

thenuge15

It's hard to say w/o looking at them. You can open it and smell it. You shold have put it in a freezer because anything that is not frozen can be letting bacteria grow and cause hair slippage. It might be okay, but I would not be suprised if it was spoiled. Another thing you could have done is got all the red meat off and salted it.

skeeter 7MM

I agree with thenuge on this one, hard to tell what shape it is in! Best to take it to a taxidermist or tanner to get their opinion. I have always been told by my taxi that a hide should be sealed and froze asap when ever possible. If not possible it should be fleshed(removal of the meat) and salted.

8mm/06

Thanks gentlemen,
I will put a nose to it AND get it to the tanner right away......I'm thinking it may be ok since it has averaged about 33 degrees since the animal was skinned.
I'll get back here with the answer form the taxidermist
Thanks

cyclone

Good luck with this one. It might have been ok while on the deer, but when you skinned it you introduced bacteria that began working immediately. Bacteria produces heat and that plastic bag helps hold in the heat which in turn prompts the production of even more bacteria. My guess is that you'll open that bag and be hit with a rush of warm, not necessarily rank, air..

M.Magis

Cyclone's right. The odds of it turning out are almost zero. It's been left out for a month now, with much of that being in a plastic bag. Being cold isn't at all them same as being frozen. Personally, if someone were to bring that to me, I'd have to say it's not worth the effort. Your guy may be different, but he won't promise anything, and it'll still cost you his time. If you plan to have something tanned or mounted, you need to get it frozen or to the taxidermist ASAP. We can fix a lot of things, but slippage isn't one of them.

8mm/06

Well fellas
You're all correct
Stinks pretty bad!
The bad news is I will not use this hide or hooves for any mountings. The good news is it'll save me a bunch of $$.
I will still make use of the nice 8 point rack though...very symetrical with a 15 " inside spread.....I'll mount it myself (rack only) and save some more. It was a good size deer (dressed out around 190) and while the rack was nice I've got a much bigger one shoulder-mounted on the wall already. But this rack only mount will still be nice. Live and learn.