Does anyone persevere their own deer hides?

[Just_Hangin_N_GA]

I have been skinning out my deer for years and performing a detailed autopsy on them to see the organs I actually hit for future reference on shot angles and such. I also open the stomach to see what the deer are eating at the time and share the pictures with my hunting buddies. Recently I started saving the hides with the intent of preserving them. Well let's just say that I haven't got past the intent part yet. Last year I did start to flesh one out but was worried I was messing up the deer hair as I scraped off the flesh, so I stopped and ended up letting my hides go to waste yet again. I told myself I wasn't going to save anymore hides but I killed a doe this past Saturday and before I knew it, I had the hide rolled up and on the tailgate.
Do any of you save and preserve your deer hides and if so do you have any advice on best practices or resources. I know I need to decide hair on or hair off but I am willing to try anything. I really want a pair of leather moccasins or something cool to be able to use as much of the deer as possible.

 

[Vtbow]

I brain tanned a hide several years ago. Also have prepped several and then given them away. After fleshing them out, I sprinkle wood stove ashes(hardwood) on the hair side to completely cover it, then roll it end to end and submerge in a trash can half full of water with a rock or something on top of the hid to keep in under. Keep it out of the sun, its cold here during deer season, so I never have had issues...

The ash mixed with water makes lye. This will dissolve and remove all the hair. After like 5 days you cantake it out and rinse it off and it will be good to stretch. I tack mine on a 2x4 frame to stretch/dry for a bit.

do a search for a brain tan recipe online. Pretty simple...dont use a pot you'l;l ever want to use again.

I made a pair of moccasins and a few knife pouches. HAve fun!

 

[WISCO]

I Am also interested in learning how to tan deer hides with hair on. Does anyone have experience with NuTan or knoblochs tanning products?

 

[Just_Hangin_N_GA]

I can't believe with all the traditional guys on this forum that some of you don't tan your deer hides. Heck, I envision most of you sneaking through the woods with your self bow, hand made arrows, stone broad heads.... all while wearing clothes made from critter hides you have harvested.
I believe ya'll are just holding out on the newbie.

 

[thedutchtouch]

I mentioned in another thread that I had a doe skin in the freezer. At some point I'm going to try to turn it into buckskin, will post when I do but definite newbie to tanning here.

 

[sweats]

I did buckskin once when I was a kid with my dad. It was brain tanned based on a book I had. Pretty labor intensive and the odor of some parts of the process pretty bad.

You'd have to be pretty motivated to do that frequently.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

 

[Jammintree]

 

[tailgunner]

Bad mother.....

 

[tailgunner]

Jammin .can limbs be drawn on a hide with à torch?now i gotta know......thread hijack!

 

[Jammintree]

Jammin .can limbs be drawn on a hide with à torch?now i gotta know......thread hijack!

I made a black walnut dye for exactly that reason!! But I need to experiment, I think a mordent might be required.

But the color you see there is 100% creativity with smoke

 

[Just_Hangin_N_GA]

View attachment 81397

This looks cool!!! Really nice color.

 

[2Sloe]

Might want to check out this thread….

What to do with deer hide?

I typically discard my deer hides, but this evening, I shot a big healthy doe with a great coat, and I decided to save it. Any ideas, tips, or suggestions on what to do with it? My first choice would probably be a throw blanket or something like that, but I’ve read that deer hair is brittle...

saddlehunter.com

 

[Just_Hangin_N_GA]

Might want to check out this thread….

What to do with deer hide?

I typically discard my deer hides, but this evening, I shot a big healthy doe with a great coat, and I decided to save it. Any ideas, tips, or suggestions on what to do with it? My first choice would probably be a throw blanket or something like that, but I’ve read that deer hair is brittle...

saddlehunter.com

Thanks, I thought I looked through most the threads but there are so many and I obviously missed this one.