Contributors to this thread:
hello everyone, where can I bring deer hides ? is there a place that will buy them ?
Be careful, in most states, its illegal to sell parts of a game animal that you harvested with a regular tag. You would usually need a furbearer or trapping license. If the hide is untanned, I doubt you are going to find a buyer. It will cost between $80-200 to have a hide tanned. Once you have have paid and tanned the deer hide it is considered processed. If you had it tanned with the hair removed - the leather can be used for many fine, high quality projects. When it is tanned and finished - you can normally sell them on ebay with no fear of doing anything illegal since it has been processed. It is the selling of untanned hides that really, really gets you into hot water. Good luck.
I saw an ad on craigslist where a guy wanted to GIVE them away to someone who could make something out of them.
I looked into it. Check out trapping magazines. But basically unless you have dozens forget it. Places pay $5.00 per but that was a few years ago. I go thru 4-5 pairs of deer skin gloves every year working outside. I was hoping to at least make some gloves. Companies will make stuff for you, even jackets if you ship them the hide but its american labor costs and buying one from Pakistan is half the price.
If you want to tan it for your own use (or I suppose you could swap/sell it), try Uber Glove Co in Owatonna, MN.
I've had a BUNCH of hides done there over the years, but their prices may have gone up... Some joker bought the whole outfit, tried to take it up-market, and screwed up the whole business. I believe it's back under the original family's ownership and they're putting it back together. Not sure what has happened t their pricing....
But they'll send you back your hide, or make something of it for you...
Well, GF has it right. The Uber Glove charges $46 per hide to tan it without hair. See the link above. Not bad price but shipping comes into play as well.
Thanks guys for your input
I used Rocky Mountain Tanners at about $75. Be sure the company you send it to is making it the color you want.
That's a fantastic price at Uber.
How to properly salt your hide.
If you do not think you can perform the following procedure without cutting the hide, follow directions on the shipping instructions page and ship the hide frozen (Fleshing and salting is included in our prices).
For Leather tanning, remove any meat or fat thicker than a 1/4". For Hair On tanning, remove all meat and fat. Lay the hide flat with flesh side up, or at a slight angle to allow for draining, in a cool, dry place. Spread a fine granular salt (table salt, canning salt, solar salt...NEVER USE ROCK SALT!) on the hide to completely cover it. You will need approximately 15 to 20 lbs. of salt for elk and 8 to 10 lbs for deer. Never let a hide air dry or dry out without using an adequate amount of salt. The hide should be left open to dry for one to three days. When the salt crusts over, you can fold it (flesh side out) and bring or ship the hide to us. Again, if you do not feel comfortable with this process, we will flesh and salt your hide for free.
The sooner you can get your frozen or dry salted hide to us the better the results will be! If you have questions or concerns, you may call us for further instructions at 303-293-2882. RMT
One other thing about the guys at Uber - if you send them more than one hide, they will ship them all back to you in a single package, whether they arrive together or not... Saves a coupla bucks, anyway...
Good post WB. Send it out or do it yourself. Yes tan your hides yourself. There's tons of how to links out there. I've had some good luck tanning. Gave a tanned hide to a cowboy action shooter who makes his own holsters and gun belts for his .45 long Colts. Nothing like the real thing. It's not hard. Just takes a little elbow grease.
