I'm starting to think I might just salt a few to keep and sell the others whole this year, and use the off-season to plan better. I got excited and resent off half cooked when I really wasn't in the position to be getting into all of this.thanks for the answers and keep them coming because I'm committed now! I'll figure it out. I'm not interested in the money I just want to be outside participating in nature.

Nope salt works better for the do it yourselfer, he probably already has some in the cupboard too. And ask any tannery how they prefer their hides prepped. None will say borax them. in fact it messes with their tanning PH.

I was raised using salt on squirrel and deer hides with my pappaw, only ever used borax if bugs showed up.. . If it ain't broke don't fix it..

Do you plan on tanning these skins yourself or ship to tannery?
Drying,freezing,or salting raw skins is just a temporary measure to slow down deterioration of the skins until they can be tanned.
They need to be tanned to achieve longer term preservationt.There are different degrees of tanning geared to end use-for example at one end of the spectrum - as a wall hanging decoration or at the opposite end - as a hard use garment subjected to repeated wetting and drying.

Don't know if snares are legal in Ohio or not but they ae good cheap alternative to traps when you don't have many traps. Probably about $1.50 each now a days. You can make your own lots cheaper.

Is your storage unit large enough to handle your fur?
just

Salt draws moisture . Borax doesn't. If I was gonna do them myself....I'd use borax. If I was gonna send them to a tannery...I'd use neither...just air dry after fleshing and boarding

Salt draws out all the water and fluids so it dont rot, Borax is mostly soap mixed with a little borax. That really don't do anything except absorb liquid. It dont permeate the hide like salt does.
And if it has an antibacterial effect (it dont say it on the box) it would not permeate the hide anyway if it did.

Tannerys get alot of hides, and turnaround time can be years, Tanneries dont store pelts in their freezer while waiting to be tanned.Every taxidermist I know salts hides before sending to a tannery, or while waiting what could be years to be mounted.by themselves if they dont have freezer space.

A Boraxed hide will grease burn within a year at room tempeture with the oils still in the hide.

It's a 5' by 10' filled to the hilt with decoys... I'm just trying to make something work. And I'm interested in making snares I plan on it next season but there's a few neighborhood house cats I'm found of so I'm trying to stick to footholds where I can.

For now I'd just concentrate on trapping. Anything you catch can be put in a freezer and dealt with later. Good luck!

Bold of you to assume I have room for anything in my tiny freezer or that Mt girlfriend wouldn't kill me in my sleep for doing that hahaha

But I agree with you, I've found a way to do everything so far, thank you!

What ever you decide to use do not use just borax to try and save the pelt, it will not work contrary to what is always said here about using it.
It also sets the PH off on professional tanning and may cause you to actually lose the pelt all together, tanners do not sort out and tan separate batch's of boraxed fur LOL

Borax helps in preventing bacteria growth from rotting the pelt, it does not preserve it in any.

This comes up every year with some one saying it does just fine, it is a preventive only not a preservative like salt !!