This hunting season, save those hides and feathers

When my physical therapist told me her husband had already arrowed an elk this archery season I was overjoyed for him but not necessarily surprised.

His dad was an inveterate hunter, willing to track and stalk a trophy animal for miles and days if necessary to make the kill of a lifetime. I've known Drew since he was a kid and his old man's blood runs through his veins. And knowing that, I didn't ask his wife - while she was working the knots out of my shoulders - if he had saved the hide. The last elk I asked about had to be cached overnight, and then quartered and packed out six miles by a party made up of him, his hunting buddy and their wives.

The physical therapist made a not-so-serious offer next time for me to hike in and pack the hide out myself if I wanted it, but I declined.

I need enough physical therapy as-is.

Just the previous season another friend ended a multi-year elk hunting drought with a nice bull elk, most of it spent trekking all over the Bitterroots and Big Hole, narrowly missing opportunities at nice bulls every season. He didn't miss shots, but every year there was at least one story - animals that disappeared over a ridge or into a thicket - we've all heard those stories and many of us have told them.

His drought ended with the bull that had the courtesy to walk almost within sight of his pickup truck before stopping and posing for a clean, clear shot.

Immediately when he returned home I got a call.

The whole crew of us, four guys who pair up and hunt or fish together, were running out of elk mane for salmonfly wings, that nice long and fine shoulder hair for golden stones, and the shorter elk body hair that we use for all sorts of flies. Jim's kill was fortunate for all of us - the hair was beautiful and is still producing some beautiful flies.

When I got to Jim's house he had already washed the hide. To do that I like to lay the hide out skin-side-down, and mix about four or five good squirts of a grease-cutting dish soap into a five-gallon bucket of water. I'll dump the soapy water onto the hair, shampoo it real good with my fingers, and hose it off, starting at the neck and working my way down. You'd be surprised at the amount of dirt, weed seed and dead bugs you'll wash out of a clean-looking elk hide.

Then, if weather permits, dry the hide in the sun. Throw it over a fence or sturdy (wet elk and deer hides are heavy!) clothes line, and let it drip and sun-dry for a day or two. If it isn't cooperative, do the best you can with it - strip the moisture out with a brush or a squeegee and bring it indoors.

Unroll the hide hair-side-down on a sheet of plywood or particle board, and starting at the bottom, tack it out with a tack placed every eight inches or so - some closer together, some further apart. I've used everything from long carpet tacks to short roofing nails for this purpose - the carpet tacks work best. Trim the ragged edges of the hide as you go.

Then, dry any excess moisture off the flesh and cut and scrape away any remaining fat. A little extra time spent here pays dividends later.

For the final cure, for fly tying purposes, I like to use coarse salt and Borax. The procedure is the same for elk, deer, squirrel, or bird skins. I spill the coarse salt liberally all over the hide, about a quarter-inch deep. Then I spill the Borax into the salt, slurrying it with my fingers to make sure the whole hide is in contact with both.

You can get a decent cure with salt only, but consider, another name for fat is fatty acid. The alkaline Borax neutralizes the acid while the salt pulls moisture out of the hide.

I'll check the hide every couple of days and where moisture is evident I'll sprinkle more salt.

When the hide is good and dry it's time to brush the salt off, unpin the hide from the board, and cut it into useful chunks.