Its done..

And its not too bad. Its a little stiffer then I was hoping for. But for my first experience tanning a hide I am happy with it. I wound up using some neets foot oil to soften it a little more. So my goal was still accomplished because neets fort oil is made from bones and hooves.
I plan on making a quiver from this hide so stay tuned for that project.

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Well I managed to do it...

Hide in the rack and tanned

Tan the hide that is. My egg solution worked great and now I am in the softening process. This is gonna make or break the project. There's a sweet spot of time in this phase that makes the hide supple like cloth. Take too long and miss it or don't work the hide long enough till its completely dry and you'll be startin over.

Here are a pic of the hide so far. Its actually looking pretty good; i just have to keep going till its dry and hopefully i will have a nice supple hide to display.

Keep your fingers crossed!

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I have to give credit

Well this was my first experience tanning a hide the old way. And lemme tell yea I give the women of that era alot of credit. There is nothing easy about hand tanning a hide and I wasn't even making buck skin.
The amount of work that goes into making a hide that one could use as clothes is amazing. It is very labor intensive when it comes to making the hide soft. I am physically spent after all the stretching and softening I did today

I will post some pics of todays work asap

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Tanning continued

Ok so I now have the hide in the frame and all stretched out. Its now ready for fleshing. Which is basically removing all the large left over flesh, fat and membrane from when its was skinned out.

Oh i should let you know I have decide to use paleolithic tools to flesh, scrape, stretch and tan this hide. I'll get pic of the tools I will be using  very soon, to show you exactly what I mean buy paleo.

Stay tuned...

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Tanning a deer hide

So I've decided to finally start tanning a deer hide I had in the freezer for about a year. I will be tanning it the natural / primitive way by not using any man made chemicals. Now they way I wanted to do it is called "Brain Tanning". And it is what it sounds like; you use the brains of the animal you killed. Each animal has enough brains to tan its own hide. Except for a buffalo.
However, I have had this skin in my freezer for about a year and didn't get the brains because someone butchers it. So I will be using an eggs solution instead.


More to come a bit later

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Barefoot Bowhunting---Take 1

Well here's an update with my barefoot hunting idea. Its was a cool, rainy day and I hadn't gone hunting in a while. So I figured this would be the day I give barefoot hunting a whirl. All in all its was a great experience, I managed to stalk up on five doe whitetail. They had no idea i was there...well right up until I was about to try and shoot the lead doe. 

One thing I really enjoyed about hunting bare foot was the stealth. You will never be as quiet with any foot ware like you are with none. And to tell you the truth there was a sort of connectivity I felt. Be it toward the earth, hunting or the animal I was pursuing. It hard to explain...one of those thing you just have to do to experience it.

Below is a little video of me getting ready.


Below is the video right after I almost had an opportunity at a doe.


Hopefully I will have some more videos soon, sorry no kills or much action. Its kinda tuff when you don't have a camera man.

Dave

U-Slide Bow Holder

The U-Slide bow holder is one of the most unique bow holders I have used to date. U-Slide comes from JBI. a Division of J&B Industries Inc out of Connecticut.
I think is so unique because unlike most bow holders that attach to directly to your stand or above it. The U-slide attaches below your stand..actually below the seat of your stand. But that's not the only unique part. It called U-Slide slide for a reason; it has a sliding feature that allows you to position the holder exactly where you need it.
On top of the sliding feature, it also articulates left and right to help with the position of the holder.


Other nice feature include:

• Easy self starting screw to securely mount your holder to the tree
• Can be mounted off to your side or directly beneath your seat so your bow sits between your legs while in your tree stand
• Whether you stand or sit to shoot the U-Slide will not be in your way
• Will not swing away from you or fall down like other hangers will
• Requires very little movement to get your bow in your hand
• Works for both compound and recurve bows
• You can slide the U shaped holder to a position that is right for you
• It has a non reflective powder coating so you don’t get any sun glare
• Securely holds your bow in a rubber coated U slot for easy removal
• Light weight and folds small enough to fit in your pack
• So versatile it can be used in a Tree Stand or Ground Blind
• No need to buy extra attachments
• Manufactured and assembled in the U.S.A.

You can find the U-slide at: U-Slide.com or If your are or know a shop the is interested contact me directly My email

Barefoot Bowhunting

Ok so I am thinking about actually trying hunting bare foot this year. At least for NJ's September season; while the weather is still warm enough and probably not all the time?
Last year I hunted and killed a deer in sandals. So I was thinking about upping the stacks this year. It just seems like a cool and interesting way to hunt.

I'll keep everone posted on my progress

Product Review: Ikes Outdoors Reviews The Game Glide

Slow slow slow

The title should actually read lazy, lazy, lazy! Well it feels like that atleast. Life has just been a bit hectic lately, so i apologize for the lack of posts. I am gonna make a effort to get some posts up really soon.

Dave