Okay, so I have my first Elk skin, and I'm trying to figure out what I should do

[UniversalRanger]

So, there are a few options. I don't want to do one only to find I can't do something else.

Should I tan it so that I can turn it into leather, should I cure it, or should I de-hair it?

I was thinking I could maybe make a leather cuirass or maybe several leather cords, or normal cords.

My situation is that I just learned about this game and started playing it. I chose the advanced world in winter. I chose the start where two buildings are partially done, and my parents never came back from what they were doing.

I was going to starve, but I found a bunch of berry bushes close by. Then I managed to kill an Elk because when I threw my axe at it, I injured its legs, and so it got tired easily, or something. Maybe it was just that it had a calf on the other side of the area that I plan to look for eventually and kill also, if I can find the time. Anyway, I eventually killed it.

So, now I have this skin and over 200 Elk cuts. I'm trying to figure out what would be the best thing to do for my situation.

I would like to dry the elk cuts so they don't go bad, and I can eat for the whole winter. But maybe it would be better to find some nearby village and trade for other items.

I can't figure out what to do because I'm not sure what I can do with this stuff yet, and I still want to go see if I can find that calf, but I don't want the meat to start going bad before I figure out what I'm going to do with it all.

Suggestions, ideas, advice?

[Privateer]

~if~ you have a fireplace you can smoke the meat which takes about 10 days less to complete.
~if~ a village is close by you can also smoke meat at their fireplace.
(smoking and drying both require cord)
You can roast the cuts but will loose some to spoil, figure you can eat about 9 cuts a day and roasted spoils fastest of cooked food.

~if~ you have a cellar you can place raw or cooked food in to make it last longer before spoiling.

As for the hide; curing is generally used to preserve hide(s) to be processed later (preventing spoilage)
Both leather and fur can be used for cordage. A hide can be worked into a fur 'OR' leather but not both.

[PALU]

There are only a few, optional specific cases where you want to turn a hide into leather, and starting out is not one of those.

Since you start in winter you should be able to dry the meat using the wall of one of the partial buildings, or even a shelter (you can't dry meat in summer), and dried meat is lighter than smoked meat while yielding the same amount of nutrients. As mentioned, it takes longer for the process to finish, though.
As long is the temperature is below freezing, meat does not seem to go stale in a cellar, but I don't think you can build one during winter. It may be that meat won't spoil outside of a cellar either, though.

Thus, tan the hide, make cords from it to dry the majority of the meat, possibly smoke a little bit to act as a buffer while the drying takes place (but I wouldn't bother), keep raw meat for cooking, provided the temperature is below freezing to see you through while the rest dries. You CAN sell roast meat, but I'd rather keep it myself if I can keep it from spoiling (i.e. during winter).

It can be noted that spoiled raw meat can be fed to dogs, while spoiled processed (roasted) meat is completely useless, and spoiled meat doesn't deteriorate further, so you can just keep a pile of it for when you get a dog, if some if it spoils.

I'd probably use the hide that didn't get used for cords to make fur clothing, as you're probably going to need some to combat the cold.

[Dungeon Smash]

Fur clothing is generally better than leather, since if you think about it... leather is just the same as hide but with no fur.  Fur has both and leather and fur, so fur is going to offer more protection from both cold and wounds.  Leather is sometimes useful however.

[Dungeon Smash]

In your situation, what I would do:
1) Do you have a cellar?  If so, put the butchered meat into the cellar first.  Otherwise, leave it nearby and go to 2:
2) prioritize tanning the hide.  Turn it into fur.
3) While hide is tanning, dry (or smoke) any meat you can with the cords you have.  If you have none, you could consider tearing up any clothing you can repair or replace with elk fur - elk fur will give you about 21 pounds of fur.
4) Once hide is finished tanning (keep in mind you will need club + tree trunk or table for the final step), make enough cords to finish drying (or smoking) the remainder of the elk carcass.  Remember that you can dry/smoke up to 19 cuts at a time with 1 cord.  Save a few cuts for cooking in the short-term (5-20)
5) Use the remainder of the hide for cold-weather clothing, or use it for your bed blanket if you already have enough clothes.


It also depends what you need.  If you are lacking basic tools (quality axes, knives, weapons) then it may be better to go trade all of the meat.  Meat will stay good for a long time in the cold, as long as a week or more depending on the temperature, so you have time to go to town or to dry/smoke it all.  If you are still in fall or early winter, however, with no snow on the ground, you will need to act quickly to avoid losing meat to spoilage.

[PALU]

Actually, you don't need a club to make hides. A stone or rock (I don't remember which one, or if either can be used) will do just fine.

[Tom H]

A feature of the villages is that goods like meat last a LONG time without going bad. So, you could take your 200 cuts into a village and, essentially, store them IF you put them down. Strangely, the villagers pretty much ignore your goods.

So, if you don't have the cords needed to dry/smoke the meat, you could roast it all and leave it in a village building and/or trade it (it can be more valuable when prepared). Also, villages have smokehouses and dwellings with fireplaces in which you can start a fire and smoke the meat (if you have cords) and leave it there until it has finished the process. It'll be there when you come back for it.

Drying the skin for leather actually limits its use. While villagers will still give something for it in trade, it's useless when dealing with Foreign Traders. Otoh, if you intend to make leather armor, you'll never find leather by trading so you'll have to make your own. While the process is not tricky, it is SO easy to get sidetracked and forget to check the hide's status. That's how your Fine skin gets reduced to a rotted skin. Making fur takes less time and, thus, makes it easier to keep track of the hide's condition, avoiding that disaster. As someone has already said, fur is superior to leather against some types of damage (which you can verify with Shift A).

When you're in a village you might trade a few pieces of prepared meat for cords and ropes. For my part, once I've made a good kill I'll trade with every villager that shows a cord in his inventory (F3) for a few bits of meat. Additionally, a clutch of decent javelins should trade for a rope, likewise, for loop snares.

You asked, "Should I tan it so that I can turn it into leather, should I cure it, or should I de-hair it?". IF you de-hair it, you can only make leather of it. If you cure it, all you've done is postpone the tanning process while adding several lengthy procedures to it.