Did not put in for any tags this year. Have a two year old (turns 2 in a few days anyway), recently took delivery of a 20 year old 42’ boat that needs an engine rebuild, and going to Alaska 2022 for moose hunt.
As far as hides go…. I sometimes skin and flesh myself. If I skin and flesh, I’m
Also cleaning and processing meat. The hide (if you intended to garment grade tan) is a major pain. Other times I drop off whole alligator for process and flesh / salting off hide. In don’t eat dark meat. Rest of meat is excellent IMO up to 9 or so. Over 10 it can get a bit funky. Also depends, like everything, how quickly it was chilled and dealt with. Although considering I hunt at night and they cold blooded out of water, you have way more time to work with them warm blooded mammal.
Skinning… To be so tough in some spots, it’s really easy to cut hole in others (namely belly and armpits, which are last place you want to cut hole ). To flesh I use pressure washer. For storage I roll them in salt and then keep in brine until all are ready to be shipped to tannery. I do it that way so that hopefully all go in same batch with hopes of reducing variation in color hue or intensity. The brine is salt (can’t use too much and I add a few pounds every time a a hide goes in), a little bleach, and borax. There are some preservation brine recipes online. I think state of FL has the one I use in back of their alligator hunting guide, but it may be Mississippi. Tie salted hides in roll and make sure all air is out as you submerge by slowly rolling about every axis giving time for bubbles work their way out. To ship, pull hides out on a Sunday morning, rinse clean, place in shade and let dry. Re-roll with new salt once dry. Tie on roll. Double bag in contractor bags. Include your name, tag number, contact info and desired color / finish on a ziplock inside trash bag. I usually fill up one Walmart touch pliable plastic bin with hides. Tape shut and place inside house to cool. Monday take bins to UPS and ship to tannery. I have used Sebring Tannery with good results. Sebring, FL. American Tanning, or AmTan, in Georgia is supposedly better, but like 2x the price. I’m
Not spending 2x on wild caught alligators.
