Anyone Keep Their Hides?
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: JL
20-Sep-21
Ya don't see this talked about too much, if at all. How many folks keep their full hides and get them tanned? I'm not talking about capes for mounting. I have a few tanned deer hides but now sell what I get. I have my tanned moose hide, a tanned bear hide and a tanned antelope hide. I guess I've been collecting them as part of the trophy and memory aspect. Unfortunately.....I didn't keep my caribou or elk hides back then. I'll need to work on those.
From: deerhunter72
20-Sep-21
I've never killed anything but WT and I've never kept a single hide. I don't see myself ever wanting a hide, even if I ever start hunting bigger game.
From: jmiller
20-Sep-21
I always keep doe hides and brain tan them. They make the most beautiful leather imaginable. Buck hides are generally too thick in the neck and hind quarters to soften completely.
From: orionsbrother
20-Sep-21
I have a couple of elk and deer hides that I got tanned. My intention was to make something with them. I have been unable to get to those projects and am still unsure of what I want to do when I do have time. So, I haven’t continued to keep and tan my hides.
From: Pocoloco
20-Sep-21
I am a tanner, so I tan every single hide for myself. Hair on fur or leather depending on the conservación and hair condition.
From: Grey Ghost
20-Sep-21
In my experience observing other hunter's skinning skills, most guy's hides would look like they'd been riddled by a machine gun. ;-)
I've got 3 large boxes of deer and elk hides my Father had professionally tanned, and I inherited. Like Orionsbrother, I've never found a use for them. I considered having seat covers made out of them when I restored my old Jeep CJ7, but the quotes I got to do the job were outrageously expensive.
Matt
From: BULELK1
21-Sep-21
BULELK1's Link
Yes, for multiple use
Good luck, Robb
From: BULELK1
21-Sep-21
BULELK1's Link
Plus some on these-------->
Brings back memories of my big ole F350......
Robb
From: Altitude Sickness
21-Sep-21
I used to have my hides tanned. I had a very cheap connection. I had deer, elk, bison, Bear. And many small game hides I have given them all away to people that would appreciate or use them. But this post did remind me that I sent away a Cape buffalo backskin to be snuffed and then some products made. never heard back from them. Oh well I probably would have gotten rid of that too by now. I do have a Honey Badger rug left because it doesn’t need much room.
Now to call that company in Texas that takes African hides to make products with. And get my hide back
From: Smtn10PT
21-Sep-21
I skinned out the hide of my buddies first elk last week, going to have it tanned for him. If you take your time and skin them clean there isn't much fleshing work required. A little salt and off to the tannery they go.
From: Catscratch
21-Sep-21
Will someone explain how to ship hides across state lines? I've wanted to have a few hides done but ignorance on how to do it has kept me at bay. Probably really easy, just something I've never researched.
From: Two Feathers
21-Sep-21
A friend asked me if I had any tanned hides and I had a bunch from years ago. I checked around to find out who tans and what they charge. Their rate was $6.50 per square foot and an adult deer being approximately 10 square feet. I gave my friend 13 of my tanned hides. He was happier than a pig in a puddle.
From: bentstick54
21-Sep-21
Has anyone used any of the pre-packaged home tanning kits offered by some of the major retailers that are advertised to do 1 deer sized hide, hair on or off? Are they any good?
From: JL
21-Sep-21
^...good question there.
From: EMB
21-Sep-21
A while back I went elk hunting with an Idaho outfitter. In his home he had a tanned elk hide that he had thrown over the back of a sofa. I liked it. So, I did the same.
From: Smtn10PT
21-Sep-21
catscratch, check with your preferred tannery. If the hide is frozen and unfleshed it will probably need to be shipped quickly, if its dried put it in a box and send however you'd like.
bentstick I have used the rittels EZ 100 home tanning kit before, but not the orange bottle stuff you are referring to. Those products will produce a preserved hide but it will require work to soften them up.
From: MF
21-Sep-21
I do some brain tanning now and then. It is labor intensive.
I do some brain tanning now and then. It is labor intensive.
From: MF
21-Sep-21
From: Buckeye
21-Sep-21
I keep my deer hides much to my girlfriends dismay. I make quivers , drum heads and stuff.
From: smarba
21-Sep-21
While elk hides (and other hollow-hair animals) look cool, the hair is brittle and will fall out. So if you throw it over a sofa eventually you'll have hairs fallen into the cracks and create a mess. The one elk hide and mule deer hide I had tanned I have hanging over a shelf with some skulls sitting on it, but the price of tanning has gone up considerably to the point I'd never bother to tan anything now.
I often save hides/capes since people/taxidermists often need them due to damage in the field or due to poor care (too hot) etc.
From: EMB
21-Sep-21
Smarba, that has not been my experience. I did have it professionally tanned. And, it's on a part of the sofa where it doesn't see much contact with anyone. Maybe that makes a difference. Looks cool though along side everything else in the room.
From: Grey Ghost
21-Sep-21
There is no reason for the hair to fall out of a properly processed and tanned elk or deer hide. If that were the case, every elk or deer mount would lose its hair, too. I have deer mounts that are 40 years old and they've never shed any hair.
Matt
From: Mule Power
21-Sep-21
A couple over the years. I have a Quebec Labrador caribou cape if anyone is interested. Very nice white maned bull. I had 2 tanned and only used one.
From: RK
21-Sep-21
After two decades of this I have quite a few full skins. My favorites I guess are one incredible caribou skin, one seal skin and a tiger skin
Hardest thing is having the room to display all of them
From: RK
21-Sep-21
From: Zbone
21-Sep-21
Thanks for sharing
From: HDE
21-Sep-21
Nope.
From: GF
21-Sep-21
Every last one. I have quite a pile stacked up in the basement. And one hair on Elk hide. Just rubs me the wrong way leave a perfectly good piece of leather up on the mountain to rot.
From: sheds
23-Sep-21
Here’s a Canadian moose I just couldn’t leave did a euro mount of the antlers. Done a couple of elk and a few deer over the years , it is hard to leave em in the woods, but can’t do them all.
From: Dale06
23-Sep-21
I had my deer hides tanned for many years and then had a nice deer skin jacket made for my wife. I kept saving them and ended up with about 10 more tanned hides, and ended up selling those as I had no use for them. The place that tanned and made the jacket was in Berlin Wisc and is now out of business.
From: GF
23-Sep-21
Uber Glove Co in Owatonna MN has done all of mine but the Elk. They ran into a kerfuffle when they were bought up by some “enterprising” type, but last time I needed them they were still offering tanning and tailoring- gloves, vests, jackets, buckskinner shirts and what-not….
Sheds is lookin’ like “I don’t have ALL of my hides tanned, but when I do…..”
From: nijimasu
24-Sep-21
This got me to thinking I might oughta do a few more of these. Where I used to send them is out of business, so I tried looking for a thread here that might list tanneries still doing wild game hides, but no luck. Anyone have a list of places I could send a hide for hair-on or hair-off tanning?
From: FrontierMulie
24-Sep-21
I usually save all my deer hides that I get locally. I trade them into the local fur buyer for elk skin gloves. Two deer hides for one pair of nice gloves. On my non local animals (elk) I have only saved enough for the cape. Less to pack out I guess? I did get all my backskins from Africa saved but I am not sure what I am going to do with them.
From: BULELK1
25-Sep-21
I like my hair on elk hide
I've had it for years
Good luck, Robb
From: txhunter58
10-Oct-21
Good thread
From: Blue Buck
14-Oct-21
Google Veterans Leather Program. Donate your hide to your local Elks Lodge. I give my raw hides to the farmer/landowner where I hunt and he gives them raw to the Veterans Leather Program. They give him a free pair of deer leather gloves for each hide. Occasionally he'll give me a pair. Everybody wins. Check it out. More hunters need to be donating hides to this organization IMHO.
From: t-roy
14-Oct-21
Blue Buck X2^^
From: tobywon
15-Oct-21
From: tobywon
15-Oct-21
From: tobywon
15-Oct-21
JL and Bentstick, I did this hair-on hide on a big doe a shot years ago using this kit. As Smtn10PT mentioned the kit will produce a preserved hide but was pretty stiff when initially complete. It has softened over the years, but maybe because it got damp in the basement. It was a cool project, but I don't really have the desire to do another because it just sits in the basement. I may try a coyote myself some day. It gets damp in the basement and some mold started to form, so I have it in the sun and I sprayed some bleach spray and wiped it down a bit. I'm wondering if it will stiffen up again when it dries out or not. It wasn't terribly hard and the results have lasted several years with no slippage.
From: Grey Ghost
15-Oct-21
Any hide will be stiff when it dries after tanning. There are several methods to break down and soften them by hand, but they require a lot of elbow grease and patience. The professional tanner I've used has a large tumbler filled with sawdust to break them down.
Matt
From: wytex
15-Oct-21
Moyle Mink and Tannery does a great job on hair on hides and not expensive.
From: JL
15-Oct-21
Toby....your hide looks nice.
From: tobywon
15-Oct-21
Yea, GG I know you have to break the fibers to soften like on a wire or knob of some sort. I didn't mess with it because I left the hair on and didn't want to mess that up. With straight leather, I would definitely do that. If I'm not mistaken, I think professionals sometimes thin the hide as well. I don't have much use for the hide. I may try making something with it someday. I have it on the floor temporarily now and the cat is laying on it, so maybe I have my answer...lol
From: tobywon
15-Oct-21
thanks JL, we must have been typing at the same time when I sent the last post. My respect goes out to the guys that brain tan every hide, definitely a lot of time and effort involved with that to get the final product.
