SKIN PREPARATION

Prepping The Skin 

1. Firstly, check that the animal is not moulting. An animal that is heavily moulting will have less hair when completed, providing a sub-par end result.
2. Remove the skin as cleanly as possible. Make your cuts as central as possible, from the neck through the brisket, belly to the middle of the base of the tail. 
3. If the skin is to be delivered frozen or fresh, leave the tail attached to the skin as we will trim out the bone and glands as part of our service.
4. If the skin is to be salted in the field, you will need to remove the tail bone and glands before salting.
5. Make your leg cuts the same on both sides, front and back. This gives us the best opportunity to make a symmetrical trim at the drying phase of the process.
6. Try not to knick through the skin. If there are any present, they will be hand stitched before the skin is dried. These knicks will show on the leather side of the skin ( as stitches), and excessive cuts will incur an extra charge.
7. Remove head, ears and hooves.
8. Do not wash the skin, as we will wash it with special products on site.

Skinned Hot

If you are in the field and can get to a freezer the same day , please use the following procedure;

1. Skin the animal hot (while the carcass is still warm).
2. Lay the skin open in a shady spot, skin side up, and leave it like this until the skin is cool to touch.
3. Fold the skin in half – skin to skin. From the neck to tail, roll up and keep the skin cool. Bag the skin up, and either freeze or deliver to us the same day

Skinned Cold

1. Hang the carcass in a chiller overnight, making sure the ribcage and back legs are opened up to release any internal heat in the carcass.
2. Skin the animal the next day as per the instructions in skinning (above).
3. Do not wait more than 24hrs to skin the animal  as the skin will deteriorate due to bacteria.
4. Fold the skin in half – neck to tail, skin to skin (hair on outside). Roll up, put in a plastic bag and freeze.
5. Drop the frozen skin off to us at your earliest convenience.

Salting

If you are in the field on an extended trip and can’t access a chiller or freezer the same day, you will need to salt the skin. Without salting, bacterial issues will cause the skin to breakdown which can cause hair loss.

To salt the skin, use the following procedure;

1. You will need to take 4-10 kg of non iodised salt into the field with you (depending on the size of the animal you expect to harvest)
2. After skinning, remove all meat and fat. This is an important step as the salt needs to touch the skin membrane in order to preserve it.
3. Do not wash the skin.
4. Lay the skin out and cover the skin side with a generous amount of salt. Rub the salt into all areas of the skin, including the edges. The skin should be completely covered in a layer of salt.
5. Fold the skin in half – head to tail, and roll up.
6. Stand the rolled skin up against something to support it on its open end. Leave it in a cool spot to drain for 24 hours, un-bagged.
7. After 24 hours, open the skin up and wipe the wet salt off it. Then, apply a fresh layer of dry salt, fold, and roll up as per the day before.
8. Put the skin in a plastic bag and keep in a cool spot. The skin will keep well for a few weeks once salted properly. Drop it off to us at the end of your hunting trip.

Please note, if skins are to be couriered, double bag them so no leakage occurs.

We also would like the skins to turn up on site still frozen, to avoid any deterioration and ensuring no hair loss issues later in the process.