We decided to make the last two deer hides into leather instead of just rawhide.Using wood ash was much better at taking off the membranes and hair, though we did leave the hides soaking for almost 3 weeks.
They started to stink, but the hair and fat came off FAST!
After rincing the hide, we have started to pickle them.The hides are small enough to do in a 5 gal bucket - with 4 gal water we added 2 oz "safety-acid" from VanDyke's Taxidermy, and added 3 lbs salt.
Now the hides are in to soak for at least a week, probably 2.We have some cool gift ideas for Mom, so stay tuned on how the leather work comes along.
