Cow rawhide?

[eastcreekarchery]

Does this work as well as deer?

[Pat B]

Cow rawhide is too thick. It will make a good backing if you thin it.

[Weylin]

Deer, goat, kangaroo and pronghorn work best. It's worth getting good rawhide instead of messing around with cowhide. It's just too thick for the job.

[bradsmith2010]

ok guys I pretty much agree, but the calf skin, from the belly cuts can be thin enough to work with,,
if you order a thin cow skin from a drum shop,, it can work quite well, and have been happy with results,,I have used the scrap peaces from drum repair with good results,, now its not like the Kangaroo for sure, but in a pinch, ok
the smaller african drums use the thin cow, and the big drums use the heavy cow hide, ,and there is a big difference in thickness

[Hamish]

Adult cow skin is too thick, but calfskin was used for backing in early-mid 20thC.  Probably easier to get one of the other types of rawhide, as mentioned by the other guys.

[eastcreekarchery]

Imma go w goat