When drying out skins should maggots be encouraged to eat the excess flesh in and around the wings?????
Would they do any harm to the rest of the skin????

I know they were used to clear infected wounds and after clearing away the bad they fell off.

Could they be of use?

Some time back, I knew a chap who, when he'd shot a rabbit, skin it and eat the flesh, the skin he put at the bottom of his garden for the flies to lay eggs in, then he used the maggots to fish with, the skins were then washed in ordinary washing powder, dried, cured with Borax, laid out in the sun to dry, sold to the tackle shop down the road, the same treatment for the Hares he shot......................

Hope you have understanding neighbours. Looks a bit messy to say the least
Would be better if you just removed excess flesh in the first place.
Effect the skin?, yes I would say but give it a try & see what happens.
Tight Lines

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Where is the best place to get Borax??

This is my first year curing skins and with the amount available I dont think maggots would help.

Lucky enough I havent to worry about neighbours Highlander but it is still where I dye my stuff

Thanks for the replys guys

tescos ,boots ,should have borax in among washing powders ,cleaners etc ,as for getting the flesh of try using a paint scraper,then salt the skin liberally with non iodised salt leave to cure for a day or two or longer ,then place skin in freezer for a week or two to kill off any mites

using a scraper like this gives you the option of different angled blades to access awkward areas

http://www.trade1st.co.uk/productdet...apers/280.aspx

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Excellent!
Thanks Bruce

I would definitely use the borax if you can get it - even table salt will work if you use plenty of it and don't allow it to become "soggy".
Letting maggots do the work of cleaning skins or wings is very risky because there are many species of fly that could lay eggs on your skins - some will only eat the flesh, others will eat the skins too! If you get too many eggs laid by the flies then you will get too many maggots and they won't stop eating until they are fully grown - or starve - and if they have to eat the skins and feather/hair roots they will do so!

StickMan