Roe Deer

The woods here are thick with them; it is hardly possible to walk along the river bank or through a bit of covert without disturbing them, so I was pretty pleased when I made contact (via "The Legend") with a local marksman. He has permission to cull the deer on the local estate and does so, with determination and startling accuracy. I am now on my third deer and am delighted by the quality of the meat - even on the big old bucks it is as soft as pâté in the fillet. And what happens to the non-meat parts? Bob's teeth are benefitting from the bones and I have found myself another way to use up the free seconds I have to start trying to cure them. 

Cured roe skin



I followed a suggestion from the internet, and because the curing method required only salt it seemed a pure and simple way to go ahead. No point trying methods that rely on industrial chemicals and protective clothing. 

Skin side of roe pelt

The cure took only a couple of days with the 1/2 cm thick coating and rubbing with sea salt - I found an old slatted frame which was about the right size and nailed the skin in place, lots of flies came to inspect it but soon went away because of the salt. The only place they stayed and left little babies was where I had not salted the skin properly, a handy pointer.  Once the skin was dry and stiff it was simply a matter of taking it off the board, brushing off the salt and then rubbing the skin to soften it and get off the last of the sat. A very satisfying result I think. It still smells very wild but I like that. I am hoping with more rubbing it will get even softer to the point I might wear it.



The skin side is white and floury, almost and as I rub it the floury-ness goes and leaves a parchmenty skin behind. So far there has not been any loss of hairs, apart from around the edges where I have been grabbing and rubbing, which is what I'd expect. There was still a bit of very dried poo left around the stern but a quick few strokes with the Furminator spruced that up.

When I have removed the skin from the carcasses (they arrive head and hooves off, also gralloched) I can then butcher them. While dealing with the whole carcass, one slightly sinister thought keeps coming back; (maybe it's not sinister, maybe it is just that they are perfect prey and predator) how very much the alike are the build and size a roe buck and those of large greyhound dog... So if the coat fits, I thought...

Now, to be frank, Bob's hunting days are over, if they were ever here; racing greyhounds are too fragile for rough country and anyway, it's illegal. But just a thought, if I could combine this idea with some small antlers, created from a plastic reindeer set from Christmas, that clips on like and Alice band (Bob tolerates this for a few hours each year)  I might have a cunning disguise for him to wear whilst stalking roe deer. As you can see from the one of the few parts of him showing, he's not happy about this new coat, and during the 2 hour photo-shoot (ahem) he followed me about folornly.