[tundragriz]

Salting is used as a means of preserving hides. It dries the hide to prevent rotting and hair slip, insects won't bother it either. Normally it is used to temporarily preserve them until they are tanned, however they will last pretty indefinitely if salted correctly. I say temporarily because a dry salted hide is hard like a board and usually folded up for shipping making its use in this condition limited. Taxidermists will soak a salted hide before attempting to unfold it.

If you ever hunt overseas you will likely receive your capes and hides back within a year in a totally dried salted state. I have kept some like this for years. I have also sold a number of them on ebay after a couple years.

Here's a bear from Alaska I did at home earlier this year. I think this was around the 6th and final salting over a period of about a week. Just before it hardened solidly I folded and rolled it up, put it in a burlap bag in my basement. Several weeks later I took it to a tannery. Without salting I would have had to keep it in a freezer all that time.

 

[tundragriz]

Well you simply have no experience with it. It is used ALL the time to preserve hides. Tanneries often only tan hides in batches and at certain times of the year. In the off times they will only receive goods that are dried and salted so they won't go bad. In the bush it is the only way to preserve a hide and protect it from bugs. In remote areas of Africa there is only one trip in and one trip out for the year, there's no electricity and a great many hides from a lot of hunters are preserved in African bush conditions for several months. To clear US customs, USDA, and USFWS hides are salted and dried. Sometimes it takes more than a year to get them out of the bush and into the US. Like I said above I've had them for years and then either mounted them or sold them on ebay. If you want I can show you lots of pictures and video of salted hides from the bush, its simply the way its done and I have a bit of successful experience with it. http://picasaweb.google.com/tundragriz

Here are the instructions from a few tanneries. Read through them, they don't want wet hides that will go bad. This is the universal way of preparing hides for shipping and storage.

http://www.lonestartannery.com/lone-star-tannery-TIPS-ON-TANNING-HIDES-PREPARATION.html

http://www.sivkofur.com/ship.htm

http://www.wildlifedesigninc.com/shipping.php

http://www.goldenstatetannery.com/shipping.html

http://www.thetanneryinc.com/hide_shipping.html

http://www.kandktannery.com/policies_and_shipping_procedures.htm

http://www.carolinafurdressing.com/shipping_information.htm

http://www.cftannery.com/services.htm

http://www.eastcoasttaxidermy.com/site/Tannery.html

http://www.keystonefurdressing.com/custom.asp?id=96591&page=11

http://www.mistyridgetanning.com/

I can list twice this many more if you like, and I can provide personal pictures and video if you like.

Not sure what your definition is of "terribly naive". Have you ever had anything mounted? Are you under the impression it wasn't salted for preservation before it was sent to the tannery? If you had experiences with dried salted hides going bad then you didn't know what you were doing.

Salt has been used as THE preservative for many things for 1000's of years. If it was good enough to preserve raw food supplies of fish and meat from spoilage and insects then I think it is a good enough product to preserve a well fleshed hide in modern conditions. Have you ever washed your mouth with a brine solution to kill a bacterial infection?

http://natural-products.suite101.com/article.cfm/salt_as_a_natural_preservative