AnnClaire - the recipe I use is a fairly standard one. I use a product called Safety Acid that is mixed with a brine composed of 1lb salt to 1 gal water. Safety Acid (a product by Bruce Rittel) is added (approx 1/8 oz per gal) to bring the solution to a ph of 2.0 or lower. I usually wind up around 1.5. The salted hides (they don't necessarily have to be, and can be fresh or/thawed frozen)are then added being sure they are completely covered and stay covered by the solution. The ph is checked, normally twice a day. If fresh, no salted hides are added this is particularly important as the ph will tend to spike and more acid will need to be added (it doesn't take much to lower it back down). The ph will normally stabilize after a time and the hides can remain in this pickle solution for quite a long time. A mold may form on top of the solution, but as long as the ph is maintained the pickle is still good. As far as fleshing, a green hide can be rough fleshed (removal of all chunks of meat, membrane, etc) prior to putting in the pickle. The pickle will tend to plump the hide up after which it can be removed (deer normally 3 days) and final fleshed at which point it's returned to the pickle. I use a brush on synthetic tan which is applied after the pickle process. The hide is removed, washed, damp dried and the tan brushed on. The hide is rolled up, skin side in, and allowed to sit for 24 hours. It would be after this point that the breaking process and addition of tanning oil would begin if wanting a soft hide. Rabbit should be easy to get to a soft state with working, stretching etc. as it dries. Deer size would be quite a few degrees harder for a soft hide, as this process is intended more towards taxidermy where the hide ultimately dries hard and hide is tanned for preservation. Hope this helps. As you might have deduced, I had some taxidermy training in the past.