Rookie Fur handler here. I have a few coons and coyotes that I want to send off for tanning. I fleshed them and put them on stretchers. After a day on stretchers a friend told me to take them off the stretchers, salt them and hang them up to dry. This way they would be "more dry and more compact "for shipping.

I noticed after a day of hanging up salted that I don't think I fleshed some of the heads and upper bodies very well. They still seem soft and don't seem to be drying like the lower half of the hide.

Any suggestions? will the salt eventually dry the upper bodies. Should I keep adding more salt? Thanks

Re-hydrate, flesh what needs completion, remove salt and put back on forming boards and dry the pelts or put in freezer until shipping time.

Dry salted hides are prone to damage.Folding a dry salted hide will cause the leather to crack.Also dry salted hides are a lot more prone to grease burn and then you will have inferior leather.
Best is to stretch and air dry the skins.This is how professional manufacturers that buy millions of skins require raw pelts for a superior end product.

Thanks for the reply. When you say re-hydrated do you mean fully submerge them in water and let them air dry over night before fleshing or just using a wet towel and getting them damp?

Just using a wet towel and getting them damp.

If I know I am sending in a fur for tanning I will salt it because it can be made so much more compact for shipping. 4 - 5 beaver in a large flat rate box is a heckuva lot cheaper than shipping 4-5 stretched and dried beaver for example. Salt well till drained then remove as much salt as you can. As the pelt dries roll it up before it gets too dry and brittle. Saves big bucks in shipping costs from AK. Down there, with ground ups may not be such a big deal but I can get my shipping cost down to $5 or so each way which adds up.