DIY Taxidermy - Tanning a Squirrel Hide with Alum

If you have ever been fortunate enough to kill the limber and wily squirrel with archery equipment, you may want to find a way to preserve this trophy.

Because the game I am successful at harvesting with my longbow is quite a accomplishment to me, and filled with much satisfaction, I've started on a campaign to preserve a pelt from each animal species I am successful with.

This past season, the mighty eastern fox squirrel fell to one of my arrows.

It is imperative to skin the squirrel fast, especially in warm weather, and get it salted down quickly to prevent the hair from slipping.  I recommend skinning the squirrel in the field, but I did this one on my workbench to document the process.

Staring at the base of the tail, slice down the back of each leg to the foot and start a slice down the length of the tail as far as you feel safe proceeding.  Eventually, the bones will get very thin and you can leave a small section of bone in the tail here so as not to cut off the end of the bushy tail.

 

 Completely skin out the tail from the hide and chop through the remaining bone.

Continue to pull down the hide in an inside out tube.

Extend all the way down the front legs and cut off the feet.  Then, carefully keep pulling the skin from the head.  Use a very sharp knife around the eyes and ears, and don't horse the hide. 

Once done the skinning, heavily salt the hide until you are ready for tanning.  If it will be a while, freeze the hide in a ziplock bag to prevent the hair from slipping.

 

To tan you will need a small bucket and alum available from your grocery store in the spice isle.  

 

One small container will tan an entire racoon hide in a 5 gallon bucket of water. I used half a container for this small bucket. 

 

Dissolve the alum and about 1/2 cup of salt in the water and submerge the squirrel hide for 8 hours, stirring occasionally.

Rinse, wring out the hide, and start the process of breaking it when it is starting to dry.  This is the most labor intensive part, but a small animal is much less work than a deer hide!

Once pliable and dry I will smoke it by hanging the pelt from my smoker just long enough to turn the hide a amber color.  This helps preserve it and keep away insects.

Now you have a tangible trophy to add to your man cave.