Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Mesophilic on September 12, 2019, 08:16:16 pm
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Anyone ever preserve squirrel tails? Or any critter tails for that matter?
Squirrel season is upon us and my daughter is making me save the tails. Why? "It's for a craft, daddy."
She also made me save her some feet :o
Just dry them out?
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depends, you can salt them but never wash the salt off, it will kinda infuse into the hide it will then turn into rawhide if the project dosnt need them to be soft. worked for my deerhead and it hasnt started rotting. if they need to be soft, put commercial tanning solution on it and work it in. dont get it on the hair and leave it be, then later work the tail untill soft but dont tear the tail in half. worked for a youtuber. :OK
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All I've ever done is dry them out. I wouldn't salt them. Unless you remove all the salt it will attract moisture and that can lead to rot. I've never tanned a squirrel tail but I never needed to.
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I do the same as Pat. Air dry is just fine. You can pull the tail bones/skeleton right out of the tail If you get after it while they are still warm.
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As soon as you kill them you can reverse peel the hide from the meat and bone and then air dry them or do as Pat and Pearly do.
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For any hides just fur on rawhide. You split the tail. For my fur bearers I have a tail stripper and splitter. The stripper is kinda like a nut cracker pliers. It has two different diameter holes. Skin down the tail a ways. Then clamp the appropriate sized hole around bone and pull tail off bone. Then I use tail splitter. Which works kinda like a letter opener to split th tail. Then pin it on a board to dry. Scrape any fat or meat off. You could put a little borax mule team on leather to keep bugs off.
Bjrogg
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The Mepps Spinner Folks buy tails. They tell You to split and remove the Bone and then salt. Kids have been doing this for Years. Bob
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They tell You to split and remove the Bone and then salt
actually they say not to remove bones:
Do NOT remove the bone from the tail. Deboned and split tails have no value.
Salt the butt end of the tail generously. Use either dry salt or dip in a strong saltwater solution.
Be sure the tail is straight before drying. Tails that dry in a curled position cannot be used.
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Really. I knew they used squirrel tail but I've never looked up their requirements.
I've never heard of anyone leaving bone in tail. Never tried it though. I have saved turkey legs by liberally rubbing borax into the cut off ends. Then I zip tie them to a form to dry them the shape I want the feet to be in.
Bjrogg
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Glis is right and you get paid by the quality and size of the tail. Brian, the way I skin the tail is ring it at the base with a knife then split a small branch 3/4 down and put it above the fir. Squeeze together and pull the squirrel up and the tail fur will come off.