It's a little work, but worth it, there are several ways you can do it. I've just salted them, and I've used cures, and had decent luck both ways. If you want it to be soft, you need to use a cure on it. I've used this stuff...
http://www.buckshotscamp.com/Tanning-Trappers-Hide-Sales.htm and it works pretty decent, and you can do 2-3 deer hides with it.