Caring For Bird Skins Or Pelts

[BadKarma]

I got a nice Pheasant skin from S Dakota off of E-Bite and it arrived yesterday. But it's not quite completely dried out yet. It's still a little juicy.

What should I do to be sure this thing doesn't start smelling a bit?

Should I just drop it into a bag with some Borax?

Thanks

Lee

[duckydoty]

Borax, or a combo of borax and salt rubbed on the skin then set out to dry should work just fine.

[Jeremy Hunt]

Another thing that I do when I lay them out to dry is put newspaper on top of cardboard and set them on top of that. I also do this when I wash my necks or saddles with dawn soap in my washing machine. Sometimes you can get bugs and if you do this is a great way to get rid of them. Also put a few moth balls when bagging it.

[snagged in outlet 3]

Hey guys

I was reading this post and I've got a somewhat related question. Speaking of mothballs, would they leave enough scent behind to put trout off of the fly tied with materials stored in them? In other words, the materials are stored with mothballs, and you tie up a fly, would trout detect it and refuse the fly?

My dad has a fly tying bench to give me but it litterally stinks from all the mothballs he has kept in it over many years. Are the materials shot? I wouldn't think it would affect dry flies but the materials used for nymphs would stink of mothballs and trout most certainly would smell it.

What about if I threw out all of his stuff, would the remaining smell infect my materials? It's a nice bench but it stinks of mothballs.

I appreciate any thoughts.

SIO3

[Jeremy Hunt]

Yes, moth balls do make the material have a scent, but so does any material that's been dyed. The easiest way to get rid of any smell is to rub your flies over moss, sand, algae or that brown stuff you see in creeks from the over exposure to sun. Another thing that works is the product you use called Sink, they make another one called Gink. The sink works against smells. I also air out my flies if it has a real potent smell for a few days or so.

Great question though and I’m sure there’s other ways to get rid of the smell. It’s kind of a catch 22. Glues have smells and there’s been many times that I just glued a fly and started fishing it. And the fish didn’t seem to mind. So is smell the most important thing? I guess we’ll have to be the judge.

[jdmidwest]

Be sure to freeze it for a while to kill any lice or eggs on it. I don't know about pheasants but ducks are usually loaded with duck lice. The lice may not ruin the pelt but other bugs that may have laid eggs on it will.

Or you could separate the feathers from the skin and bag them in airtight bags.

I have been using citronella in my tying supplies to keep bugs out. I also cut up a flea collar and toss it in every now and then for good measure. Both smell a whole lot better than moth balls.