omahajimc 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 A friend brought me a whole, frozen pheasant from a recent hunt. I have managed to skin it but I'm not sure what steps to take to preserve the skin and or ensure that there are no little critters on it. I have had the skin in my garage for the past several days..any tips? Also the same guy brought me a dead squirrel and I only kept the tail - I put it in a bucket of de-icing salt thinking that would cure it - am I on the right path? Thanks for any advice. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redwings1 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 The freezer should have taken care of any critters. I use Borax liberally applied to the skin to cure it and store in Ziploc bag.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MIKE*A 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 I asked the same ? on here a couple years ago........the answer i got was: -scrape it well to get off all flesh/meat -freeze it a couple days, thaw, repeat, should kill all critters -borax the hide, scrape again, borax again as needed, keep it in a separate bag/container w/mothballs, just in case you didn't kill all the critters. worked well for my pheasant skins. you can find the borax in the laundry detergent section of your local store, I believe the brand name is "20 mule train" or something like that......I think it comes in a yellow box... Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
omahajimc 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Thanks guys - sounds easy...how about the squirrel tail - should I just apply the same process? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Redwings1 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 yup...just on the tip! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steelie 0 Report post Posted January 2, 2006 Good Day, When freezing a skin or other hunted or found animal part, make sure that is a deep freezer or one that is consistantly below zero degrees F. Keep frozen for at least a week. This is important as some freezers that come along with a fridge do not get cold enough to really kill all of the little critters. Cold enough to keep them in stasis but not enough to KILL. I know of a guy who used dry ice with no ill effect to the materials. A few examples quoted from studies of the tolerance of insects to the cold: "...larvae of the African chironomid Polypedilum vanderplanki were able to withstand exposure to liquid helium (-270 C) for up to 5 min. with a 100% survival rate." - From - http://ufbir.ifas.ufl.edu/chap04.htm "...the mean winter supercooling points of Indiana larvae were approximately –23°C, those of Alaska larvae were –35 to –42°C, and at certain times Alaska C. clavipes did not freeze when cooled to –80°C." From - http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/208/23/4467 Something to think about... Steelie Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
