what to do with these darned buffalo hides ???

M

Magnum Wheel Man

New member
I knew a guy that raised them, & we ( 2-3 of my wifes cousins & I ) would split one each year... we got the chance to shoot our animal out of a very large pasture... the 1st year, the cousin that shot it, wanted the hide, the 2nd year, the cousin that shot it that year didn't want it, so I took it & salted it, rolled it up & put it in our chest freezer... the next year was my turn to shoot, & I got to shoot one of the biggest bulls, & it was prime...of course I kept the hide, doing the same thing as the previous one...

well that was 2-3 years ago... & one of our small chest freezers has been full of buffalo hides since then... I need the freezer this year, we have a 2nd hog coming & it's deer hunting season...

I pulled the hides out & thawed them, & the newest & best appears fine & doesn't seem to be losing hair yet...

my thoughts originally was to have them tanned with the hair on, but I've never been able to put aside enough money to do that, & it's a long term process & only a couple places do hair on tanning... so I'm thinking about resalting them, & drying them flat, like I used to do with squirrel skins when I was a kid...

any other options for self tanning or storage that doesn't require the freezer???

we already have a bear rug on one wall in the living room, I could probably use one as a wall hanger some where, & the other older one, ( I haven't got that fully thawed & unrolled yet ) if the fur looks like it'll stay, I could probably stick it on a wall somewhere upstairs or at least store it in the attic if it's dryed

suggestions ???
 
thats a lot of hide. i would think you could stake them out and dry them in the sun, as long as you could keep the dogs away. would probably kill your grass beneath them by the time they had dried.
i used to tan my deer hides like you are thinking, and after i got them dried and stripped down, i soaked them in a luke warm tea made from brains and oak chips. the oak was for color only. after the skins were removed from the tea they had to be keep moving until they were dried. that is going to be alot of work with your buffalo hides. maybe a trip to the laundro mat with a bunch of coins. good luck.
 
+1 on checking Moyle. If they do buffalo hides, their work is excellent.

I had a taxidermist friend do one for me. It completely covers a recliner in my living room.

Daryl
 
this is an old pic of the one I shot...

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BTW... I'm betting those coats blankets etc. with the fur on were pretty warm I had a hide rolled up in the mid 80's temps for over 24 hours & it was still frozen in the middle... way longer than a block of ice would have lasted... & that was the early fall hide before it was so fluffy...
 
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