[Paul C]

Salt does NOTHING to preserve, bug proof or tan the hide. All you are doing is saving food for bugs so they can eat it later. Salt is a dessicant--it draws moisture from the skin and locks the hair in place. The only way to "safely" and "permanently" save hides is to properly tan them. Bird skins and some small mammal skins can be adequately preserved with proper fleshing and dusting with borax.
Salting is temporary at best.

 

[Paul C]

Not to contradict you tundragriz but saying salting a way of preserving hides and that bugs won't bother it is terribly naive. Salting is only a way to TEMPORARILY preserve a skin and bugs LOVE salted skins. So do mice. Don't think, for a second, that they don't.
A properly fleshed, well salted skin can be stored for a while. How long depends on how and where it is stored but it is only a temporary fix. Animal skins MUST be tanned to be completely preserved and bug proofed.

 

[Paul C]

You completely missed what I said Tundragriz. I said salting was only a TEMPORARY preservative and hair fixative. It is NOT permanent and if a salted hide is left long enough the bugs WILL eat it. Not to mention the fact that salted hides will pull moisture from the air and can actually rehydrate with high humidity.

I have a little bit of experience with taxidermy as well as the chemistry behind tanning. I have been a professional taxidermist for 30 years! Long enough for ya?? In my 30 year career I have seen SCORES of "wannabe taxidermists" try to mount something at home that later results in a bug infested disaster. I get no fewer than 3 calls a month from people complaining about a mount they have picked up that is now eaten by bugs and they want to blame the taxidermist. Almost invariably the problem gets traced back to a "home taxidermy" item that they did on their own--salted deer tails, home tanned skins, dried deer feet, or improperly cleaned or SALTED turkey tails.

"If you had experiences with dried salted hides going bad then you didn't know what you were doing."
--LOLOL. I kinda know what I'm doing there TG....I've won 2 National Championships, a World Championship and more State Championships than I care to count. I also administered the State Taxidermy exam for 12 years---so I have seen PLENTY of wannabe taxidermists with know-it-all attitudes and ideas about how things should be done.

Keep looking for articles on skin prep, tanning and other taxidermy processes---eventually you'll come across some that I've written.

Paul
http://www.tristatetaxidermy.com