![]() ![]() Place a fan blowing over the hide and let it sit for a month or two. Once the hide is completely stretched out and nailed down, rub oil on the scale side of the hide. I stretch the extra pieces out and nail them down as well. I cut the excess hide off to make a perfectly flat mount. Stretch the feet and legs out at the angle you want them on the display. Place a nail close to the edge of the hide through every other scale. Use 1 inch galvanized finishing nails that can easily be removed after the hide is dry. Start at the tail and begin nailing the hide down to the plywood. Bigger gators may take two or three sheets laid together to make it fit. Lay the hide on a sheet of plywood flesh side down. Apply warm (I set it out in the sun) True-Tan Reptile Tanning Oil to the flesh side. Remove the hide and wash thoroughly with a hose. THE HIDE MUST COME OUT BETWEEN 24 AND 48 HOURS!!! When you are ready to remove hide, add a small amount of sodium acetate to the solution, stir, and let sit for 90 minutes. You may need to place a weight on the hide to keep it under the solution. Make sure the hide is completely covered by the solution. Completely immerse the hide in this solution. I usually mix up 10 gallons for one hide, but had to mix 15 gallons for a bigger gator hide. Add 1.5 ounces of Lutan-F per gallon and 10 ounces of salt per gallon. ![]() Lutan-F is a powder that can obtained from many taxidermy supply sites. Pour out the brine solution and start over with the next solution. Remove the hide from the brine solution, unroll it, and wash it with a hose to remove all of the old salt. When you are ready to tan the hide, you must time the remainder of the process to fit your schedule. I leave it in this solution for a week or more. The salt will wick the brine solution up into the hide and help with the preservation process. Tie the hide with large rubber bands or pieces of inner tube like you use to tie a gator's mouth with. Salt the hide with a 1/2 inch of salt and roll tightly. It is tough to get 50 pounds of salt dissolved into solution but it can be done. We mix 25 gallons of water, 50 pounds of salt, 1 pound of Borax, and 1 pint of bleach. We take a barrel with us to create a brine solution to place the hide in. You CAN tear the hide if not careful! This is a very simple way to completely flesh your hide to remove almost 100% of the remaining flesh. ![]() Remove as much meat from the hide, especially from the tail and the back under the thick hide and scutes.Īfter skinning is complete, remove the meat, bag and store.Īt this point, I take a pressure washer and GENTLY wash the flesh side of the hide. Care must be taken to remove ALL of the tail bone. Cut the toes off of the toe bone at the last joint and toe nail will remain on the hide. Care must be taken to remove all of the bones and meat from the feet. The feet can be left on the gator hide by making a cut from the center of the foot straight to the center cut on the belly side. An incision is made down the center of the ventral side of the gator from the chin down through the end of the tail. The next day, we skin the gator using the "horn-back" method. I have always had everything ready to begin the curing process before the hunt, and I begin immediately after killing the gator.Īfter checking in our gator, we immediately ice the gator down before going to bed. I have never stored a hide by rolling in salt and freezing. The hide can be stored in this manner until you are ready to begin the curing process. Several have commented on this forum how to preserve a hide after skinning a gator. Please feel free to ask me questions about it, but realize I am simply an outdoorsman like the rest of you, and that I am not a professional taxidermist.įirst, you MUST make preparations for curing your gator hide prior to beginning the process. I have constructed this method by reading everything that I could find about curing a gator hide. It is not a professional method, but has worked for me. This method has been used on many alligators taken by Team Amos Moses and has worked great for the display of the gator hides. After many requests, I will now post my method of curing an alligator hide for one's personal use and display. ![]()
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