Commercial Tanning online

[NVDesertHunter]

The main hunt I have planned this year is a black bear hunt in California. After checking some CA based taxidermy shops, the price to tan a hide seems expensive.

I was wondering if anyone here has shipped their raw hides to a commercial tannery. I am looking to just tan the hide without the head or claws attached. My future plans are have enough bear hides to make a queen size blanket. Basically looking to have a tannery flesh and tan a square bear hide.

Thanks for the help

 

[Pelican]

I don’t know of any tanneries that take green unfleshed hides. That is what you pay taxidermists to do or do it yourself.

 

[ZBB]

USA fox and fur says they’ll flesh and tan a bear hide. Might be worth a look. I tried tanning a badger I killed with my bow a couple years ago and it turned into a slimy stinkin mess...never again

 

[Antarctica]

I've heard good things about Moyle's, but that's only from the trapping community.

 

[wytex]

Moyle does a great job but must get a salted , fleshed hide to tan or trappers dried furs to tan.
North Texas Tannery in Denton , Tx takes green hides for tanning and has good reviews on the Texas Hunting Forum.

Moyle has done 2 bison hides and a moose hide in addition to various furs for us. We did our own fleshing and salting an it is not hard, finding a spot big enough to lay out the hides for salting and drying was though.

If the bear is skinned carefully not too much left to flesh. Your taxi probably places most of that charge in the fleshing and shipping to the tannery. Shipping costs can be large for a heavy boxed hide.

The bison hides and moose hide turned out great. For the price they are hard to beat- Moyle Mink and Tannery.

 

[scubohuntr]

Commercial tanners, like any business, must set prices based on worst case scenarios. They have to assume that your hide will come in unfleshed, poorly skinned, and right on the edge of spoilage. A hide in that condition is a huge amount of nasty, smelly, greasy work, and takes a very skilled tanner and a good amount of luck to come out with a good result. Even in the best case, there is a lot of labor involved in a hair-on tan. Large operations have machinery that can do a lot of it, but then the expensive machinery needs to be paid for. It will never be a large marketplace, so there is not a lot of competition to drive prices down. The upside is that a well done hide is a thing of beauty that will last several lifetimes.

 

[wytex]

Flesh it yourself and Moyle will tan it for $157 plus shipping .
As stated, fleshing and salting takes time and some skill but can be done yourself. If you don't want the feet and head then try it yourself or get the guide to flesh it for you and tip him accordingly.
The tanning will take several months so be prepared for that.
The better you take care of the raw hide the better the tanned hide will turn out.

 

[Cheese Curd]

Bears also have to be degreased at the tannery so cost goes up.

 

[Knight.54]

Sebring custom tanning, in Sebring, Fl...you can find them online

 

[JohnCushman]

There's an old addage I've lived by with tattoos....good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good

 

[wytex]

Call some bear taxidermists from near the hunt area and ask about their tanning, they may well tell you who they use or at least where the tannery is.