WHERE TO HAVE A BEAR HIDE TANNED
Bears
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ANY IDEA WHERE YOU CAN SEND OUT A FROZEN BLACK BEAR HIDE TO HAVE IT SOFT TANNED? THE HIDE IS FROZEN AND WOULD NEED TO BE FLESHED AND TANNED. I HAVE 2 RUGS ALREADY AND WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THIS HIDE TANNED. ANY PICTURES OF A TANNED BEAR HIDE WOULD BE NICE, I'M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR IDEAS TO DISPLAY IT.
Since it needs to be fleshed, etc...I'd find a local taxidermist to do this for you. If it was fleshed, salted and dry, you'd have lots of options.
That looks awesome grape nice display.
I've had these fleshed and turned by taxidermists who then sent them in to the tannery. I think it would be fun to do it all myself, but I too have no idea how or where to send them.
Prepare yourself for sticker shock because it ain't cheap to tan a bear hide...at least compared to a deer. I had a deer hide done for $75, but when I brought in a bear hide they told me it would be $400 "due to the fleshing involved"...even though I did the bulk of the fleshing myself, so there wouldn't be a lot of elbow work required by the taxidermist. He also told me the number of tanneries available are quickly diminishing which also raises the price. In the end I traded the hide for a beetle cleaned bear skull.
Not in your home state but Big Sky Fur Dressesrs in Palmyra WI. does a great job. Fairly reasonable too. Find them on Facebook. I used them for a bear and a few coyotes and was very happy
20.00 per foot is somewhere in the ballpark for a tannery. My favorite is the "The Wildlife Gallery, Inc." in Mt. Pleasant , Michigan. They do very good work and have the BEST contact and follow up in my opinion....let you know when it arrives, when it's being shipped etc. There number is (989) 772-4100.
You'll quickly realize you're paying the taxidermist more to prep the hide than the tannery. They can be a greasy pain the butt. You CAN certainly skin, flesh, turn and salt the hide yourself. Remember, there are youtube videos for everything. When I kill a bear, I rarely have the greasy mess that others battle. I take extra time in the field to basically "flesh" as I go. I skin and flesh over a log. I'm careful to stay tight against skin and leave the fat on the bear carcass. You have to learn to recognize what you're looking at as you skin or flesh. Bear skin looks white and when you get down close without cutting through the skin, you begin to see black hair follicles showing through which appear blue as the hide gets thin.
Learn to recognize what you're looking at and I have very little to do when I get home. I'm basically turning the lips, eyes and ears. The toughest part is turning the toes and digging out and clipping off or cutting through the toe joints. Once you get versed in that it's easy and quick too. Wear gloves as that fine bear grease liquefies at room temperature. It's great for making pies, oiling your boots, greasing back your pompadoo etc:)
If you can flesh it I’d send it to Moyles tannery.
Definitely the Wildlife Gallery.
--Bill
Thanks to everyone. It seems like the cost of the bear rug is almost the cost of the hunt. I would like to keep the hide without spending the cash for another rug or a mount. I'm guessing there are tanneries that i can send the frozen hide to and have this work completed.
Wildlife Gallery does it all. --Bill
What you have to be careful of with Bears and also Boars is the hair roots lay in a pattern and are very close to the surface of the flesh side of the skin. If you clip these roots the hair will fall out. Some Bears the roots push through the flesh side during the tumbling or breaking phase.
A Taxidermist will most likely charge you to turn and flesh THEN charge the cost to tan X2. The going rate for Bears is $28- $32 per lf. nose to tail.
I have it done by a local taxidermist. He charges $55-60/ft from green hide to finished product. Will even take them with paws in. I can finish, flesh, and salt one myself then pay shipping two ways to have it done for $20/ft. Not worth my time/effort for the difference to be honest.
That said I won’t be saving many more bear hides. There isn’t much point once you accumulate 7 and have no interest in slowing down on shooting them. I get 3 tags a year and love bear meat.
usafoxx.com will tan a bear hide for $25/ft. They will flesh it for $100. No personal experience but I've heard good things about them. http://www.usafoxx.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=65
You do not want to TRY and tan a bear hide. They are a pain to flesh out even with the right tools. If they aren’t properly done you can end up with a smelly animal. Especially in high humidity. Find someone nearby to flesh it and get it salted for the tannery. Bears are a lot of work.
thank you everyone, I would like to keep the bear hides. I have the 2 rugs made and really can't find a reason to have another one done. The cost was $1350 for each rug. So if i can cut out the taxidermist and send in the hide, pay shipping and have it fleshed and tanned for $225. I think that the will work out for me. I'm not set up at home to do this type of work and do it correctly.
Wildlife gallery does great work. I've had 3 bears done by them.
USA Foxx does fleshing and tanning. You can send frozen stuff to them via UPS... See their website.
I use The Wildlife Gallery for all my capes, bears, wall hangers, etc. I send some dry salted and others I send frozen and raw if I don’t have time during my busiest time of year. A truck comes through Albuquerque a few times a year and I drive the three hours to make a delivery. Gas is a lot cheaper than shipping. Before you ship a frozen hide make sure then tannery you use accepts raw frozen hides. Your best bet to save money will be to turn, flesh, salt, then dry hard and ship to tannery
What butcherboy said. I freeze what I don't have time to flesh and salt, flesh and salt what I can, then meet the WG truck in Santa Fe.
--Bill