Meat processing and hide tanning

[brianakell]

First time for both, would love some advice or just what procedures and time frames you've used with good success.

Got a deer 2 days ago, skinned that afternoon/evening, skin in cool garage, then hung outside to freeze last night. I'd like to tan it with hair still on. Im at the point or working on the fat and meat off the hide. Any suggestions? Seems it was 50degrees or warmer, and was having not luck at getting the stuff scraped off. So at recommendation to help preserve, and not let it rot, I hung it outside, which should have frozen it last night. Im thinking maybe the meat/fat getting cold will help me get it scraped off?

As for processing the meat, got it all off the carcass 2 days ago, right after skinning, and put it in the fridge that night. Hung in tree the next day to help drain off blood. Back in the fridge last night to prevent freezing, and back hanging today as its still bleeding a decent bit.

Current plan was to hang today, and tomorrow, then process into steaks, and grind, vacuum seal, and freeze. Picking up the grinder attachment for a kitchenaid mixer. Grinding 2:1 with pork, or Ive heard of using beef brisket as well. Id like to do some ground jerky as well.

Recipes, tell me I'm a bonehead, anything is helpful at this point, thanks!

Oh, and wanting to do a european mount on the head, any tips there would be great as well.

[Robb]

Hide: Salt it and keep it cool or just put it in a game bag and freeze it and get it to a tanner. Don't stress about getting the fat off. Do some looking and get some recomendations, most taxidermists should know a few. They may send your hide off to have the work done. I don't remember, but I'm thinking 4-6 months to get a hide tanned if memory serves.

Meat: Sounds like you know what you're doing. Never made my own jerky so I can't help.

Euro mount: There's youtube vids out there that explain it all and much better than I can. Make sure and keep the antlers out of the water and if you're married make sure and do it outside! A taxidermist would do a euro for around $100-200.00 depending on what you want. If you do it 1-2 days, axidermist-6 months.

[brianakell]

Hide: Salt it and keep it cool or just put it in a game bag and freeze it and get it to a tanner. Don't stress about getting the fat off. Do some looking and get some recomendations, most taxidermists should know a few. They may send your hide off to have the work done. I don't remember, but I'm thinking 4-6 months to get a hide tanned if memory serves.

Meat: Sounds like you know what you're doing. Never made my own jerky so I can't help.

Euro mount: There's youtube vids out there that explain it all and much better than I can. Make sure and keep the antlers out of the water and if you're married make sure and do it outside! A taxidermist would do a euro for around $100-200.00 depending on what you want. If you do it 1-2 days, axidermist-6 months.

Wanting to do hide myself. Doesnt sound real difficult, one the hide is cleaned off anyway!

[Robb]

Oh, i understand.
You need to freeze your hide as I believe you have alot work ahead of you before you tackle tanning the hide.

I used to be buds with a marine who brain tanned hides. Cut the ties when he went head over heels apeshit in love with Oblamer.
Anyway, brain tanning a hide is a very labor intensive process. You need to build a big frame to stretch the hide. You need to flesh it out and then there's the cow brains and you need to be careful handling them. I don't know the process but there's alot more to tanning than I believe you're aware of. If you just flesh it out and salt it, it will rot. The brain tanning is the original way of doing things, and the chemical way of tanning is regulated by the environmental nazis. I'm unaware of tanning 'kits'. Hopefully someone else can help you out, and you need to do your research, best of luck and do report back if it works out.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/node/57386
I just read this, maybe it is easier than I thought...

[Dave]

Never tanned a hide so I'm not much help there. With the meat you are going to use for jerky go a head and freeze it beforehand, the ice damaged cell walls will allow moisture to seep out faster. For the sausage, I've known people to use pork belly in the grinder with deer or elk since you get some pork meat for texture but a good amount of fat to keep it from drying out when cooked. Not sure what their ratios are, but it depends on the cut you are using, i.e. belly, boston butt, etc and if any fatback is added.

[CO Hugh]

I have done a couple of European mounts. I searched online and distilled the information. The NRA had some instructions in a magazine a few years ago.

Flesh the skull as much as you can. For tools later you may want to go to Harbor Freight, any hardware store will do, but get some probes or clay tools, basically scrapers and hooks, they will be useful later to get all the last bits of flesh. I use a wash tub, bought it at home depot, fill it with water and boil. Put foil around the antler bases and keep out of the water.

Two key ingredients are "washing soda" and Dawn dish soap. Buy the washing soda, it is not hard to find but not everyone carries it, search online so you can see what it looks like, made by arm and hammer. Not exactly sure but put a couple cups of the washing soda into the water and stir. Then place skull in water and enjoy. Every so often take the skull out and scrape off the flesh until it is completely clean. There are areas that are a pain to get clean, like sinuses, that require the probes, or tweezers. I used a spoon to scrape so you don't damage the skull.

After cleaning many recommend new change of water and put the dawn in and set the skull in it. I boil, you could decide not too, or just warm water. I cannot vouch but if you look online purportedly Dawn is better at degreassing than other brands.

Once it is clean, you need to find a bleaching agent to make it white. Then you are done. Hang it up and enjoy.

Cabelas and Van Dykes Taxidermy used to sell kits, that came with the washing soda, and degreasser, etc.

Monitor it while boiling so it is not in the water too long, as it may warp or you will lose pieces. You can glue them back on. While you can boil it without too much scraping and work, it takes longer and may warp the skull.

From This

35675

to this
35677

[brianakell]

Oh, i understand.
You need to freeze your hide as I believe you have alot work ahead of you before you tackle tanning the hide.

I used to be buds with a marine who brain tanned hides. Cut the ties when he went head over heels apeshit in love with Oblamer.
Anyway, brain tanning a hide is a very labor intensive process. You need to build a big frame to stretch the hide. You need to flesh it out and then there's the cow brains and you need to be careful handling them. I don't know the process but there's alot more to tanning than I believe you're aware of. If you just flesh it out and salt it, it will rot. The brain tanning is the original way of doing things, and the chemical way of tanning is regulated by the environmental nazis. I'm unaware of tanning 'kits'. Hopefully someone else can help you out, and you need to do your research, best of luck and do report back if it works out.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/node/57386
I just read this, maybe it is easier than I thought...

Brain method seems like a pain, with a lot of chance of error due to real limited supplies

I found this method as well
http://www.texasmonthly.com/story/how-tan-deer-hide

RMT says once theyre salted, theyll preserve for quite a while. Just need to finish the tanning process to make them useful. Figure I want to get it scraped and salted first, then nail down a method and go for it.

[sniper7]

Looks good co Hugh!
im working on my antelope right now. Although I should have put the head in the freezer to kill the maggots....oh well! Got it all pretty much ready to go and boil. Just need the time to do it

[davsel]

Tanning kits are readily available. Just get one and follow the instructions that come with it.
http://www.mckenziesp.com/Tanning-Kits-C1943.aspx

European mounts are not difficult.
boil, de-meat, and bleach. Try to keep the heat off the antler bases when boiling - it will discolor them.
There are also kits for this.
http://www.mckenziesp.com/Skull-Bleaching-C2025.aspx

[Great-Kazoo]

Rock / water softening salt, applied heavy and rubbed in to flesh side. You need to salt ,if you're not going to flesh right away. If you don't salt and the hide is rolled , you get mold & bacteria. The salt does a real nice job of drying the flesh / fat on the hide, making it easier to scrap. I have a nice scraper for fleshing, somewhere in the shop.
For sausage i suggest 2 parts pork to 1 part venison, depending how moist or dry you like the brats.

[JohnTRourke]

http://www.rockymountaintanners.com/

I've had a couple things done by them, 6 months, reasonable prices good quality
salt it or freeze it or both, they don't seem to care
salting definitely dries it out

[Robb]

I've gone to RMT's and had great results. However I believe it was on this site, a member or two had bad experiences, didn't get their hides after they paid 50% or something to that effect, so I hesitate to recommend them now. I probably last used them 5 years ago or so.
It would be good to hear if others have had no issues with RMT.

And I sure stand corrected on the tanning kits, I had no idea they existed. I saw what my friend did with the brain tanning and it was a chore, but the kits seem pretty easy. Live and learn.

[Rucker61]

Rock / water softening salt, applied heavy and rubbed in to flesh side. You need to salt ,if you're not going to flesh right away. If you don't salt and the hide is rolled , you get mold & bacteria. The salt does a real nice job of drying the flesh / fat on the hide, making it easier to scrap. I have a nice scraper for fleshing, somewhere in the shop.
For sausage i suggest 2 parts pork to 1 part venison, depending how moist or dry you like the brats.

We use 40% pork for our sausage, which seems to work well for summer sausage and ring bologna, but our brats seem a little dry to me.

[CO Hugh]

Looks good co Hugh!
im working on my antelope right now. Although I should have put the head in the freezer to kill the maggots....oh well! Got it all pretty much ready to go and boil. Just need the time to do it


Sniper, my friend did antelope, the horns will come off as they are different than deer and elk. I think you just glue them back on.

Some of the articles for European mounts talk about leaving the head outside for weeks or putting in water, so maggots good. I was going to try ants, but it rained and messed it up.

[davsel]

You can find a taxidermist with Dermestid beetles to do the skull for you, or buy, or even find, your own beetles - smelly, but interesting.
http://www.skulltaxidermy.com/kits.html
http://deepwater.org/bioteacher/11-Ecology/dermestids/colony-maintenance.htm

[Great-Kazoo]

We use 40% pork for our sausage, which seems to work well for summer sausage and ring bologna, but our brats seem a little dry to me.

Kick it up to 50-60% we did 50/50 and they're slightly dry. A few lbs , prior to cooking marinate in dry sherry and garlic 30 min, then grill. I think next time i'm going to have my process guy throw in 50% pork and say 1-1 lb wise with pepper bacon.

[sniper7]

Sniper, my friend did antelope, the horns will come off as they are different than deer and elk. I think you just glue them back on.

Some of the articles for European mounts talk about leaving the head outside for weeks or putting in water, so maggots good. I was going to try ants, but it rained and messed it up.

My last antelope I forgot about and left it in a game back in my dads boat. Didn't get used for over a year. When I finally found it the skull was super clean, beetles still in the bag but dead and I just used textured white spray paint on the skull and black on the horns. The horns slid off easy since the beetles got up and under them. Painted those black and made my own panels and it turned out awesome. Hangs in the den now.

This one I won't forget about and will boil it and bleech it so it turns out better.
I'm still thinking about doing it in bronze or nickel

[Robb]

I was at Steve's Meats in Arvada and see they offer those taxidermy services of putting metal on the skull along with engraving etc. How is that done? Anyway, cool ideas, I had never seen the metal skulls before.

[sniper7]

Pretty sure it is just paint. I figure I can spray mine for under ten bucks. The airbrush stuff is really cool though.

If you want a great taxidermist let me know. Better than the guys at Steves and better than the Jonas brothers as well.

[CO Hugh]

Here is an article http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hunting/2013/10/diy-taxidermy-how-make-classy-european-mount-1-day

DIY Taxidermy: 3 Ways to Make Your Own European Mount -
Tweet (https://twitter.com/share)
by Mark Kayser (http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/40564)
http://www.outdoorlife.com/files/imagecache/photo-single/photo/1001321579/diyeuromount.JPG
Photo by Nick Ferrari; Dermestid beetles courtesy of skulltaxidermy.com (http://skulltaxidermy.com/)
Some trophies just don’t deserve a trip to thetaxidermist for a shoulder mount, yet they don’t deserve to be tacked to the tool shed, either. European skull mounts are the answer, and it’s a cinch to produce a classy mount in a single day. Which route to a clean skull should you take?
1. Skull Stew
Boiling a skull doesn’t actually involve boiling, but instead uses gentle simmering to loosen tissue. Hard boiling will cause the bones of a skull to fall apart.
For best results—and to preserve your marriage—conduct the process outside or in the garage. Use a propane stove and an old canning pot large enough to submerge the skull up to the base of its antlers. Fill with water, and add a dash of dish detergent as a degreasing agent.
Remove as much excess meat and brain as possible, and protect any portion of the antler that might be submerged with clear plastic wrap (http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com% 2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dplastic%2Bwrap) secured with packaging tape or tin foil. This will preserve the antler’s color and natural look.
Now simmer. The chore may take several hours, even all day. After each hour, remove the skull and scrape meat away. If the water gets too goopy, dump it and refresh the bath. If you want the nose cartilage to stay intact, be careful when removing the fleshy portion of the nasal canal.
A moist skull cleans easier than one that has dried out, so if you can’t simmer soon after you kill your animal, freeze the skull until you have time to process it.
2. Beetle Juice
A hands-free method for removing meat from your skull is to employ dermestid beetles. A colony of these ravenous insects can make short work of a skull that’s had most of the large chunks of meat removed. In days, the beetles will eat away dried leftovers, saving you a stinky cooking job.
If you don’t want to grow your own insects—free-range bugs can eat everything in sight—send your skull to any of the many beetle keepers you can find online at beetlecleaning.com (http://beetlecleaning.com/) or atcleanbone.com (http://cleanbone.com/). A clean skull is only a UPS truck ride away, for $50 to $100, plus shipping.
3. Power Wash
Put that power washer in your garage into play for skull cleaning. Restrained power washing (http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=power+washing)removes meat with pressure and, when combined with simmering, can hasten the skull-cleaning task.
Don old raingear, rubber boots, latex gloves, and goggles to protect yourself from splashing gore. Wire the skull to a board or a fence, and then start with low pressure, since deer skulls are fragile. Increase the pressure as needed. For best results, use a rotating nozzle. After you’ve removed all the meat, give the skull a degreasing bath in dish detergent.
4. Post-Clean Bleaching
After the meat is removed, enhance your mount by boosting the skull’s whiteness. An easy path to a white skull is to purchase kits available through taxidermy outlets like Van Dyke’s Taxidermy (http://www.vandykestaxidermy.com/Default.aspx). You can also use the hair salon products referred to as “basic white.” Mix this with a 40 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide and paint the paste on the warm skull, fresh from the pot. Wrapping the skull in foil or clear plastic wrap (http://skimlinks.pgpartner.com/mrdr.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fskimlinks.pgpartner.com% 2Fsearch.php%2Fform_keyword%3Dplastic%2Bwrap) allows the concoction to soak in, enhancing the whiteness. After a day or so, brush away the flaky residue.
The Lazy Man's Euro Mount
If bugs and boiling sounds like too much work, don’t toss the rack just yet. Mountain Mike’s mounting kits ($43; masterofskulls.com (http://masterofskulls.com/)) come complete with an authentic-looking European skull reproduction. You simply saw the antlers off your real skull and use the hardware to mount them on the plastic-­reproduction skull provided. Available for deer (in white and camo) and elk.

[brianakell]

For me, I just did up backstraps and tenderloins int steaks, a few other steaks and a roast or 2. Ground the rest. But did the ground into 1-2lb packages. Figure this way I can thaw, and regrind with whatever to try different recipes as I choose. FWIW, those kitchenaid stand mixer with grinder attachments work well. Ground still-nearly-frozen critter without missing a beat.

As for the mount, just cut the skull plate, boiled that, and planning to epoxy/screw/glue to to small board to put on the wall. A lot less work of course, start to finish about 2 hours. And cleaned most of the meat/hide off before boiling so the wife didnt even kill me when I did it inside!