Tanning a deer hide is a great way to use a little more of the animals we harvest. Every year tens of thousands of deer hides are discarded so if you don’t have access to one of your own, it’s not to difficult to find a hunter willing to give you one. I’ve picked up several good deer hides for tanning off the side of the road!

To get your deer hide ready for tanning or making rawhide, you’ll first need to flesh it. Fleshing a deer hide is about as easy as it gets in the tanning world. The fat, flesh, and membrane come off easily with an improvised fleshing knife. I just use my draw knife to push the flesh from the hide leaving a nice clean skin ready for the next step in the tanning process.

This quick video will take you through the process of fleshing a deer hide for tanning, making buckskin, or rawhide. Subscribe to the youtube channel and sign up for out mailing list to stay tuned on future hide tanning videos.