Want to learn how to make real buckskin.

I've been following that guy that travels in the southwest on horseback with pack horses. I've been interested in primitive skills and crafts for /quite/ a while, and I've processed plant fiber before, as well as I have extensive experience camping.

I'm about to buy a general use 20ga shotgun, and I'm interested in hunting deer, but haven't done it.  I have friends who hunt, and I'm looking forward to asking them for their hides while I learn how to shoot.

Naturally, if I'm able to successfully make buckskin, I would be able to expand that into other things as well. I am already a serial crafter (it's a common freebie in the neurodiverse package) and on the days I'm not working at a soul crushing job I want to work on soul feeding projects.

I'd love your favorite techniques that don't involve the brain (mother has Parkinson's, I don't want to potentially endanger her) thanks and props.

Hi Amanda,
That sounds like a great idea for a hobby. Unfortunately I do not have any experience with it. I do know that besides the brain, some people use alum (not sure I would recommend) and eggs for preserving the hide. I think eggs were used more on smaller animals, but google says it can be adapted to larger animals.

Hi Amanda
I attempted tanning leather many years ago.
I don't remember much of the process now, but it was a miserable failure.
I recall that using brains for tanning was just one option.
It produced a hide that was whiter and claimed to be softer than other methods.
I do remember salting and scraping the flesh off, then working the hide over a log to soften it.
Like I mentioned, I failed miserably. It takes a lot of work to prepare leather.

Where you live, are shotguns the only allowed firearm for hunting?
Shotgun slugs tend to create a rather large hole through your hide.

Since brain tanning is my preferred method, and I've learned through my nutritional and herbal pursuits that ingesting an organ from a healthy animal is generally beneficial for the same organ in the person consuming it,  I started researching - and failed. I can't find anything other than how chrome-tanning is bad(which I already knew). I also have had family members with Alzheimer's, so, I'm very curious to know how brain tanning is bad for Alzheimer's patients. This is important information and I hope you'll share, because as a direct descendent of a few people who have died of the disease, and already having lupus, I'm personally at risk. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction to find this information, please?