Buckskin

Hunters:

Every year Buzzard Bluff we leave between 3 and 5 good deer hides on the ground for buzzards to eat. While there is nothing inherently wrong with that (the buzzards need to eat too) I have decided to try and use the skins to make clothing that we can wear around the camp site. If it works out then I will make a garment for everybody who wants one

I have been doing a little research on the topic and most of what I have read says that tanning a hide the old fashion way, brain tanning, is the best way to do it. It supposedly makes for softer clothing that doesn't impart chemicals into your skin.

To that end, I have purchased a book called Deer Skins to Buckskins.

 
As I have been looking for clothing patterns for buckskin, most of what I have found has either been Native American or frontier style with lots of fringe. I am going for something a little more modern, I think.

I just think that we would be proud to wear clothing that came from the deer we take from Buzzard Bluff. I don't like to waste. On that note, when one makes clothes there is always scrap material left over so I am proposing that we do not waste that material either.

I think that our ladies would be more than proud to wear clothing that we hunted, skinned, tanned, and produced. Don't you?

From what I have read so far, I think that we need three skins to make a shirt. That means that we could possible produce one garment per year. For all of those who want to be included in the project, all you have to do is hunt, help me prepare the hides in the field. and give me moral support.

All of this will be off the table if it is too hard to tan the hides. I may make the first shirt (and bikini) and decide that the effort is not worth the end product. Cross your fingers.

Kit