Very unlikely you'll need a whole deer hide, same as I don't need a whole
moose hide. Here's my solution:

I tried to buy Alum - none available locally but I did recall seeing the
ingredients of Dr. Scholl's foot powder, and one of them was Alum. So, sez
I, why can't I use this....I'm not dying the hide, nor do I want soft
leather, I just want a few pieces for fly tying.

What I did was cut off a few pieces of hide (one of which may have been 2' X
2'). I soaked the hide for a couple of days in a brine solution and then
soaked it after in fresh water (not sure why but I read somewhere that was
a good thing to do :O). In the meantime, I made up a frame to stretch the
hide on ( another thing I did was simply nail it hair-side-down on a piece
of plywood, not as good but it works too. The nails are hard to get out once
it dries so # 1 is better or you can simply cut around the nails after).

Anyway, back to the foot powder. I drilled a bunch of holes in the frame and
the hide and ran nylon twine through to stretch it on the frame. Next I
scraped it as clean as possible and then sprinkled the foot powder on. I
did this a few times until the hide was completely dry and I considered it
ready.

The hide will be hard, of course, but that doesn't matter because it's the
hair you ware interested in. The pieces can be cut into smaller pieces to
use.

Good luck.....It does the job.

Keith P
Newfoundland




wrote in message
ups.com...
My bother-in-law has taken up bow hunting. This is producing some
delicious venison as well as leftover deer skins. How should they be
treated for use tying? Thanks.