Cleaning a bucktail

[slammingjack]

Pal of mine gave me a buck tail. So last night I tired cleaning it. I think I messed up. He told me he would have more to give me, so I want to get this right. I started off removing the bone. White side up I tired cutting a slit from the bone end to the tip. Didn't work real well so I turned it around and start at the tip. That worked a lot better. Then I cut around the hide to get the end of bone loose. Then holding the bone and meat in one hand I pulled the hide off the bone. This worked fine until I got 2/3 the way down the tail. When I got to the end of the bone the hide tore off. So I'm left with a lot of hair at the end of tail, which I couldn't get off. Ended up just throwing it out. Seem like a lot of waste. Then I washed the hide and then remove meat and whatever from the hide. Not sure what all I should have remove. Dried the water up with paper towels and with the hair side down covered the skim with Borax. Please let me know if I'm messing up here.

 

[luremaker]

You've not done anything other than done it differently than I do.

Here is how I do a fresh tail. First, cut a slit from the base of the tail along the bone up to about half way up the tail. I have a tail stripper so I use it to pull the bone out and then finish cutting the slit to the tip of the tail. But, without a tail stripper, just take the slit all the way to the tip and then the bone should pull right off the hide.

Trim any excess fat or meat off the hide, put a thick layer of salt on the tail and let it cure until the tail is dry. I usually re-salt every day until there is no more moisture in the salt and everything is good and dry.

Haven't used borax so have no experience with using it.

I always get my deer hung up and skinned asap after killing it and getting it checked in with the conservation dept. The hide comes off a warm animal much easier than a cold one. Same goes for the tail. If you wait until a day or two after killing the deer to strip the tail it doesn't work as easy. But, with practice it is still pretty simple. But, with some tails they just seem to break on you like your did no matter what you do. When that happens, I just cut the rest of the bone out and cure the tail in pieces.

 

[hookup]

Hate to admit this, but I've cut the tail off of a fresh road kill deer with a set of rose cutters and put it into a plastic bag mixed with borax & salt.

Leave for about a week, wash well, dry, then tie.

Figure the deer didn't need the tail anymore.

 

[AtticaFish]

I've done a few in the past that were given to me from others and used a similar 'curing' method as what Luremaker mentioned. When i heard they got the deer just told them to cut the tail, put it in a ziplock and freeze it. Thawed it out and washed it good when i had time and skinned the bone out. Slit it first and then used a very sharp knife to separate it the rest of the way. Only had a couple so did not matter how long it took me. Scrape off any meat/fat and then salt it down good, changing out any wet salt every day or so and leave it till it is completely dry. Only thing i do different is lay it flat and nail/staple it to a board with the flesh side up so it doesn't curl up when drying.

slammingjack - If you lost some of the hair at the thick base of the tail, i wouldn't worry about that a bit. The base of the tail has hair fibers that are a little tougher to work with and they will usually really flare out when you tie with it. It is all usable, but the tip has the best hair in my opinion.

 

[Jay Wirth]

I do the same as luremaker but for salting I have a few large cardboard trays (like from a case of soup) and hair side down cover the exposed skin with the salt. I have a few shelves in the garage where I let them sit usually till summer. This salt I re-use on any tales I come across and occasionally scoop out any dirty / old salt. With the tail salted a few months I wash in warm water with a bit of dish soap, scrape any fat that is left on and set out in the sun to dry. It doesn't take too long for a salted tail to get finished (a couple weeks) I am lucky to have a space to allow them to sit a month or more.

Drying can also be done inside, as a kid my father was a fur buyer and died all our tails for tying and resale. We had pizza racks with sheet trays with salted tails and clothes line to hang tails once washed (also to dry after dyeing).

I don't dye anymore since now we have many different suppliers of tying material - just as well, the wife would never have put up with tons of fur every season and the mess from dying tails.

 

[Fatman]

Same as luremaker - I get as much extra meat and ANY blood off the tail, I wash in a mix of borax and Dawn dish soap - I have an old brush and run it through the tail and really clean it out then rinse. I put some non-scented hair conditioner on it and rub it in let sit then rinse well and one more brush.

Tack it on a board flesh side up and cover in borax. Check every couple of days for any wet spots and if any are there use a spoon to take the off and put fresh on. If after dry the meat side still isn't as thin as I want I'll thin it more and cover back up with borax.

When totally done I put it in a heavy duty zip bag with a piece of dog flea collar. Even after doing this it stays in a separate box till I'm totally sure there won't be any bugs.

 

[slammingjack]

Thank you guys for the replys. I think next time I will take more time removing the skim. Being as I lost the tip of the tail and some good hair. Thank ya'll for your help with this. Now I have a better idea on what to do.

 

[gaspumper]

I just finished 66 tails I picked up from the abattoir, I cut the bulk end (base) of tail then wash them and rinse well, with a sharp knife I cut the centre of the white hair from base to tip then skin out the bone,I then take large pieces of cardboard and staple the tails to and salt the tails down well with pickling salt, stand or lean the cardboard up to let the salt draw out the moisture from the tails,about 2-3 days,I then take 1/2 lb of alum and dissolve in 5 Gal. Of water put 33 tails in one pail and 33 in another pail I leave them in for 2 weeks stirring every other day,at the end of 2 weeks I take the tails out of the alum solution and rinse with cold water and whip the tails to get access water out then re-staple to cardboard and let dry,I put a fan on them to speed up the drying.when done there is no smell from the tails.To store them I put 6 or so tails depending on size in a vaccume seal bag and seal it Will be doing another 50-60 next week.

 

[redear]

I don't take the bone out anymore and I don't want any salt or anything on the tail either. I wash the tails in a bucket of water with some dawn in there, then I keep rinsing them till all the soap is off and then use paper towels to pat them semi dry, then I lay them out for 1/2 day to dry a little more, then I put them in a plastic bag after stroking the hair legthwise with the tail, might put 6 in a bag. then I put them in the freezer. when I want to tie crappie bucktails I will take one out of the freezer and tie with it, if I don't use it all up right then, I put it back into the freezer, it sure beats boning and salting and drying those tails trust me.