Baymule
Herd Master
I'm very interested in how you do this!Thanks folks. Our bow season will most likely open in October so I will touch base with them closer to the time. I am waiting for the state to release our game seasons and bag limit details. Generally mid October to mid February I think is our range - from what I remember, when Alabama had to restock their deer years ago, the seasons are later that most of the country and have a wide range due to the way the deer settled here and the ranges they came from.
I'm hoping to actually video some of this process (not the processors, but explain in the videos how it goes) along with showing bits of the setup in hopes to encourage others to get involved and help reduce waste like this. What started as my husband's hobby turned into something really enjoyable for me!
We plan to have two fleshing stations with duel equipment so either my husband and I - or - my mother-in-law and I can work on it (if I can convince her to join, she says it wouldn't bother her!) I have one setup but I will try and work with my husband so he can build another Poplar fleshing beam for us. I saw the layout for a log one at the Fort Toulouse (if I spelled that right) Frontier Days in Wetumpka, AL years ago and took a photo of it and we used that as a plan ever since. I'll be getting three or four big sturdy plastic trash cans for the hides to process, tan, dehair, etc. - I am stocked on Aluminum Sulfate and Salt via the local feed store from last year. I have lye for dehairing still. My husband is going to build me a smoker to hang the hides in to preserve them with the "true tan"
I'll make a list of some of the things we get and use later on for anyone interested.
This will be the first year I've actually offered to compensate for good skinning, I usually just take what I can get but to help reduce waste I hope they'll consider using careful cuts.