Winter Project

This winter we finally got to a project that Jessie and I were going to do over a year ago. For some of you this may be really gross and you will be wondering why I waited so long-I procrastinated but the freezer changed my mind when I realized that it wasn't working anymore.

So what is this project?  Jessie got her first deer 2 years ago-a doe, and she wanted to have the hide tanned.  I thought that this was a great idea, at the time, but Bryan wasn't to thrilled so after a lot of talking we decided to tan the hide ourselves. We did a badger hide a couple years before so we had a little knowledge of what we were doing-ha ha ha.  We knew enough to make sure the hide was cleaned of all fat and muscle etc..... and then we put some salt on it and put it in the freezer to be dealt with another day.

 

  This 'day' finally came when the freezer died-it was either 'get it done' or 'throw it out'.  Well, I found a 'recipe' to use to help 'cure/tan' the hide and we got started.  I was skeptical if the hide was going to be any good since it was in the freezer for over a year and the instructions said for up to 6mo but it looked good so we got busy.

  There is a lot of work going into a tanned hide that is done by hand!!   Stretching and scraping and rubbing gives your hands and arms a great workout-I don't recommend doing a lot of them this way.

 For the most part the deer hide is done and it turned out pretty good.  It could definitely use some more stretching and rubbing to get it a bit more supple but it is in her room and out of the freezer. It was a great learning experience as she got to learn about the different ways to tan hides-it was also a great workout. We have both decided though, that we will just pay someone else to do it if we really 'need' a hide tanned.

This is just a misc picture of Jessie out riding with me on a sunny day.  We headed down to the river-something different then the arena.  I'm hoping and praying that all the dry grass will be green this year-all year!!