Region 7 Captain of the Hunt Greg Garratt, Vicki Jenkins
and MNO Georgian Bay Métis Councilor Justin Dumont
help prepare a deer hide for future projects on Jan. 28.
Click here to view a largerr version of this picture.
Submitted by Greg Garratt, Region 7 Captain of the Hunt
Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) citizens from the MNO Georgian Bay Métis Council (GBMC) area travelled through a snowstorm to attend a deer hide workshop led by Region 7 Captain of the Hunt Greg Garratt on Jan. 28.
During the workshop, the deer hide was fleshed and prepared so that it could be used for glove making, other crafts and even tanning.
Garratt spoke about traditional practices of brain tanning, smoke tanning, fur removal and short-term preservation using salt.
Traditional tools and methods were discussed, such as using edged bones for fleshing, as well as a variety of more contemporary methods.
“I am so grateful I got to learn how to clean a deer hide with Greg Garratt Captain of the Hunt Region 7,” said MNO Georgian Bay Métis Councilor Justin Dumont. “As chair of the Harvesters Committee for the MNO GBMC, I hope we can do many more with the citizens.”
As usual when Métis communities get together big or small, there was friendly discussion about the MNO Harvesting Policy, using feathers for crafts, fishing and so much more. It was a great Métis social time.
“I was grateful for the opportunity and the invite to participate in a little deer scraping activity this afternoon,” said Gary DuBeau following the workshop. “It was good to see that some will still challenge not only a winter day, but also a deer hide. I was able to share in some good conversations about the processing of, the mostly today discarded, harvested hides.”
Hides were provided by various harvesters who wanted to see them used by the community rather than discarded.
Almost a dozen were donated this year, some for use by other MNO Chartered Community Councils for their own educational events.
Posted: Feb. 12, 2019