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cowboy-up69
01-18-2006, 12:49 AM
Whats all of your guys' best way to tan the hides of squirrels and rabbits? I wanna shoot a rabbit and tan it and put it in my house as a decoration or sumthin, by my buck rack.. Is it an easy job or hard or what? Is it somthin worth doin?
Also any one got any pics of hides they've tanned ? Put them up and lets see em!
Let me know
Cliff

Iron-Head
01-18-2006, 12:13 PM
I actually never tanned a squirrel or rabbit hide, but i have shot lots of squirrels and have given most of the skins away. i Found that the easiest way to keep a squirrel hide was just to take a flat piece of board and nail it down streching it as you go after that take some course salt and salt the hell out of it,once it is thouroughly salted iether stick it out side on a sunny day or under a high wattage light bulb and let it sit for a cuple of days after that it wil be very hard just take it and scrape it on the back edge of a knife and it will start to break the membrain that makes it so hard. After it is broken it will have like a leathery feel to it and i have had a couple for about 4 years now and they dont seem to expire in any way.
p.s. just dont let them get wet or else you wil have to salt them again.
Hope this works for you,Symon.

cowboy-up69
01-18-2006, 01:52 PM
Alrighty, that sounds good...I kinda had that idea in my heead, but jus wasnt sure if it was a good idea....Anyone got any other ideas??? Also, how do you guys' like to cook the squirrels/rabbits up after ??
Cliff

Iron-Head
01-18-2006, 02:00 PM
Any spices you want with some butter,wrap it in tin foil and bake it or you can pan fry em,with rabbits i like to debone em and then you have very nice meat to do whatever with:wink:.

Steeleco
01-18-2006, 04:29 PM
Not quite what your after but close. My son as an affinity for the tails of some animals we've got while he's been tagging along, I open the tails and clean them out, a tiny bit of salt and I put them in my dehydrator for about a week, They're stiff as board but they never stink or have the hairs fall out later. Good thing we don't hunt Kangaroo!!!!!!!!!1

moose hunter
01-18-2006, 05:41 PM
just trhow em in the oven with ur potatoes cliffy lol i dont do that stuff i mena all that troublef or a lil tree rat

Jager
01-18-2006, 11:10 PM
I've heard of guys using a mix of salt and alum (I don't know where to get the alum). Dissolve the stuff in a bucket of water and soak the hide for a few days. Remove the hide, dry it, and work it until it becomes supple. Then rub in some neats foot oil. --- Try a search on google for tanning hides.

CHilko21
01-19-2006, 12:35 AM
My boyfriend's dad does something with Martins? I think, some furry critter that he traps, lol. He skins them starting at the rear and kind of peels the hide off and then he stretches them inside out for a few days, and then right side out....I'd have to ask him for the specifics, but they don't stink when they're done, and they keep really well....I tried salting a muley hide once, still have to scrape the bugger....it's a lot of work.....brain tanning a squirrel or rabbit would be interesting...don't know how that one would work. Amanda

Steeleco
01-19-2006, 03:02 AM
I heard it said where "god gave each animal enough brains to tan it's own hide!"

RiverOtter
01-20-2006, 06:30 PM
I may be able to help a little, as I'm a trapper. If you want your hide dried flat like a rug, you skin it and remove all the fat with a tablespoon(cheapest tool that will work). Don't worry about the thin meaty membrane next to the leather, it don't make a difference(fine sawdust will help soak up the grease, but squirrel and rabbit don't have much, so it may not be necessary). Buy a box of Mule Team 20 (Borax) and rub it into the leather and then tack the hide out on a piece of plywood with thumbtacks or nails(1/2" spacing). Put the hide in a dry place like your basement and let it dry for a few days. Brush off the excess Borax and your done. As long as the pelt does not get wet again, it will keep indefinately.

On a rabbit you will have to split the ears so they don't spoil, but a squirrel doesn't matter. Splitting ears is not hard, but not easy to explain with a keyboard.

RO :)

willhunt
02-03-2006, 09:05 PM
borax is what the pros use they wont tell u that but the pioneers used the brains of the animal to do the tannin im sure if you can find the Fox Fire books the brain tanning technique will be explained.

Blacktail
02-03-2006, 09:18 PM
SIR mailorder sells a tanning cream that can be used to tan these small hides,
I have used this stuff and it works pretty good if you follow the directions
It is inexpensive and does the job.
Just remember when you are preparing the hide to scrape of all the fat and meat and connective tissue

Gus
02-03-2006, 09:36 PM
I have quite a few rabbit and squirrel hides. All i did was skin them, flesh them, then stretch and dry them. They've kept for quite a few years now and are in perfect shape, as long you dont play with them too much.

mmcleodk
07-11-2008, 04:20 PM
If you want to make a tough hard wearing fur heres an easy one:
Skin it, make sure your ot cutting it off the animal, you want to peal the skin off using the natural division of muscle and skin. (cut from heel to heel and hang by hind legs) and skinning should be done asap after the animal is killed (so the skin doesn't shrink as it cools
Stretch it as it cools out on a drying frame fresh side out (or can pin it to a board stretching in each direction)
Clean by scraping off as much flesh, fat, dried blood and dirt as possible using a blunt knife, a kitchen spoon or the dull side of a fleshing knife. scrape off as much loose material as possible without cutting or gouging th skin. small or tightly attached pieces which are difficult to remove may be left.
Wash in warm soapy water scrubbing with a stiff brush where necessary to remove blood or dirt. Rince in clear warm water, spread out in the shade until almost dry, pulling and stretching as it dries or put it back on th stretching frame or board
Salting: slit hide down belly and pour one pount of salt for every pound of hide in the middle of the skin and begin rubbing the salt in working from the cetner to the outer edges of the skin. cover every inch of the skin and be careful not to get any on the fur side.
Fold skin in half flesh sides together then roll up and place on sloping surface (such as drain board) so the solution will drain out of the pelt as it forms
After thirty six hours, unroll the skin shake out the old salt, flesh side up and resalt it, again using at least one pound of salt for each pound of hide.
After 48 hours spread the hide out flat and let it dry in a cool airy place away from heat and out of the sun.
Can be stored or tanned immediately. Salted hides will not keep through warm weather and should not be frozen.
Fully dried hides can be kept through warm seasons but will be brittle and fur will deteriorate. Soak a stiff hide thoroughly in water before it can be handled or folded.
If you want to tan the hide immediately you can soak the skin six to eight hours in salt water, one cup of salt to each gallon of warm soft water. and skip the soaking stage.
Prepare a soaking solution of one ounce borax for each gallon of warm soft water. Soak the hide until the flesh and tissue have been loosened. here an agitator type washing machine is a huge help as it produces a better product for a lot less effort (you should be agitating with a padde or hands occassionally) soak for 4-8 hours
Fleshing: flesh the hide by scraping the flesh side to remove all remaining bits of fat and flesh. Be very careful not to gouge or cut the skin or cut so depely as to expose the hair roots.
Tanning:Spread the flesh side of the skin with a paste made of one part washing soda, two parts salt and four parts alum mixed with enough soft water to make a thick paste. apply to the flesh side and leave it for 2-3 days. Scrape off and aply a fresh coating. repeat three or more times then rinse.
Soak hide in solution of one lb borax in every gallon of water. rinse the skin for ten minutes stirring and working in the hands to make sure the borax water removes all tanning solution. then rinse in several changes of clean soft water.
Squeeze the water out of the skin and lay it flat, flesh side up. work over the skin with a slicker to remove most of the water, working from the center. work every inch of skin. tack skin down on board to do this. Apply thin coating of neats foot or castor oil. Leave skin stretched in cool dry place out of the sun and away from heat until almost dry.
When it is just damp take up the skin and work over the flesh side over a stake or any rigid wooden surface, work it vigorously back and forth in a regular rhythmic action. this is hard work and requires a lot of muscle power over a long period of time. but this is the stage that will make your fur nice and soft and supple. You may have to redampen as the skin dries as your working it.
Your fur will probably look like crap at this point from all the soaking, it'll be matted and soiled. Slight soil may be removed by cleaning with warm sawdust, cornmeal, oatmeal, powdered borax, bran or chalk. warm the dry cleaning material by spreading it out on a baking sheet and putting it in a 250 degree oven for 5-10 minutes. lay fur flat on working surface flesh side down and work the warmed cleaning material into the fur side. rub vigorously and work in all hte material possible.
Shake the fur gently over a clean surface or newspaper to collect it. then go over hte fur with the cleaning attachment of a vaccuum cleaner ( I reccomend using a small end so that your fur doesn't get sucked in as your doing rabbit)
When the fur has a slight soil with only a few spots of oil or heavy dirt. the spots ma be first treated with commercial cleaning fluid or compound, then the whole fur cleaned as above.
Furs with all over soil may be washed in warm soapy water, rinsed in soft water and partially dried. then rubbed iwth sawdust or other materials as described above.
Finishing:
lay fur down flesh side up on a flat surface, use a fine sandpaper or a damp cloth dipped in pumice stone to remove any rough places, leaving the flesh side uniformly smooth. shake the fur well and lay it flat again and apply warm neats foot oil or castor oil rubbing it in with your fingers. apply it evenly over the entire flesh side using only a very small amount of oil. and rubbing it in well with teh fingers. do not allow the oil to get on the fur and do not use too much just make the leather soft and smooth.

hope that helps! contact me by email if you have any questions

mmcleodk
11-07-2008, 01:07 PM
for mounting small game like rabbits in taxidermy we usually flesh them, salt them and then use borax powder to mount them.

Rackaholic
11-30-2008, 05:39 PM
Here are some really detailed instructions on different ways of tanning a rabbit hide, this should work for squirrels too:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1983-01-01/How-To-Tan-Rabbit-Hides.aspx

don't thank me, this is not mine, i just found it somewhere..

hannibal
11-30-2008, 05:48 PM
cool now i can give the wife some actual bunny (rabbit) slippers!

mmcleodk
11-30-2008, 06:13 PM
tons of different ways to do it. dry preservative is easiest if you need it to be stiff. Borax, alum and Talcum powder are generally the mix for that.

Or if you want flexibility you can pickle it and then rub in neats foot oil, should do the trick for you, just don't get any of the oil on the hair side!

thats the tanning, for fleshing and whatnot get all the meat off and break up the membrane a bit, lots of different ways to do it.

Pete
11-30-2008, 06:35 PM
When it comes to squirrels the Greys, Blacks and Fox Squirrels are fair game. The Reds are classified as fur bears and as such can only legally taken by a licensed trapper on his or her trapline.

ElkMasterC
11-30-2008, 06:54 PM
Here are two examples.

The upper one is tanned, the lower one is yet to be tanned.
It should be obvious from their appearance.

http://i275.photobucket.com/albums/jj313/Heliox18/Squirrel.jpg

You can do it yourself here:

http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_l/l-103.pdf

Just a question: Why wouldn't you just do a search on line?
There's thousands of folks with good techniques from all over. Took me 2 seconds.

steelheadSABO
12-30-2008, 10:37 AM
you should be able to buy a tanning kit.i would tan the rabbit furs but its not worth tanning a squirrel fur just salt them.Take the squirrel and cut a slit in the fur from one back leg to the other then pull the fur down and off the head(this is where a clamp comes in handy).Make a board by taking a wire coathanger and bending it into a u shape just a little bit bigger than the squirrel put the fur on the u inside out let it dry for about a day then pull it off dampen it.then flip it so the fur is facing out and its done.For rabbits just stretch it onto a piece of plywood skin side up and tan or salt.Both squirrels and rabbits are good eaten.

Bighorn hunter
12-30-2008, 10:47 AM
Just a question: Why wouldn't you just do a search on line?
There's thousands of folks with good techniques from all over. Took me 2 seconds.



there's no need, you just did it for him:p