If you live out of town you can just scrape all of the meat and fat off of the hide and hang it up to air dry. If the neighbors or your mother is likely to complain about the smell of doing it that way you still have to scrape all of the meat and fat off. When your done with that you rub borax (from the grocery store laundy products area) into the skin side of the hide a couple of times a day for several days. Leave the excess borax on the hide between times. When the hide is dry and sounds like a big sheet of paper when you flex it your done. I would reconmend a twelve point buck. It won't tie any better flies but you can brag about it for years whenever you pull out a chunk of the hide. If you don't mount the head be sure to dry the mask (face) too. It makes good compadun hair.