Big game hides
 

Just curious with this upcoming season if there is a market for big game fur? Is this a furr buyer thing or direct to taxidermist? Where could I start digging info on this?
I’ve got an offer on some frozen mule deer hides, generally I work on them and tan them myself but my freezer and my available time is full up. Hate to have em go to waste…
Might possibly have some other stuff like elk etc.


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Some capes have value, not much though. I have heard sheep capes can be valuable, but not sure how much. Taxidermists might buy these if they need one for a mount.

Regular deer, moose, elk hides have little value if they are raw. You might be able to find private buyers for tanned hides but don't expect to get much. Fur buyers are looking for fur bearer hides like coyote, fox, lynx, etc..

We used to get all of our Big Game hides tanned and then have jackets, gloves, mitts and the like made from them. Some we made ourselves, others we had made. I am still using Moose Hide Mitts I made 40 years ago.

Problem today is, getting the hides tanned is so expensive it no longer makes sense to do it. Cheaper to just buy a set of deer hide gloves or mitts than have them tanned and made. I can only assume that tanning has moved offshore for them to be able to sell finished product for less than we can get hides tanned. Hope you find a solution, it is a shame tens of thousands of game hides get wasted every year now.

Smoke tanned moose and elk hides have a good value. Takes alot of effort to brain tan and smoke a hide but a garde "A" full moose or elk hide sells for up to 3500.00.
A half dozen moose hides that would otherwise be left in the bush could be turned into as much as 20K.

Where are these being sold for that kind of money and who is buying them because at those prices there would be a ton of guys willing to Tan and sell them. Also, if brain tanned and smoked sells that high, why is a commercially tanned hide basically worth only the price of getting it tanned? Not saying I don't believe you but this is the first I have ever heard of that kind of premium pricing.

Halford’s Hides is a retailer that will buy smoke brain tanned moose hides. They have advertised purchasing amounts up to $5000 in the past. Cut the middleman and sell direct to a buyer and it can be even more lucrative.

Https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/tr...ll-lemoosnstss

Thanks, learned something today. I am amazed there isn't a long line of guys buying up moose hide, if you can make that kind of money from them. Even with the work that Brain tanning involves, that is really good pay if you do 4 or 5 a month, heck, 1 or 2 is still a pretty good living.

It has always baffled me why hides of big game are allowed to be wasted. Even tanning just one hide pays for the year's hunts.

One year I had hunters save me their moose and elk hides and I had 10 moose hides and 3 elk commercially tanned. I sold those hides for double the cost of tanning and the fellow that bought them made many pairs little booties for new born infants. I was happy, the buyer was happy and the new born infants were comfortably happy. It didn't have to be about the profits but rather the utilization of a great natural resource.

Even tanned fish skins have good value. Some fish skins tanned are worth up to 50 bucks each. A strong durable leather for fashion or accessories. So 10 lake whitefish skins tanned could be worth up to 300 bucks.

That is fantastic.

Leaving the hide in the bush always felt wasteful to me. I know at one time I would just drop off my raw deer hide to Halford's because they donated them to indigenous craftsmen at one time. Not sure if they do that anymore.

I always donated my deer hides to Halfords too. They also used to tan them and donate the proceeds of the sales to worthy causes too.

I save lots of my hides and brain tan them. It’s lotsa work and I still haven’t perfected it even after 15/20 hides.

I could be wrong but I if I remember correctly a year or two ago there was a brain tanning and hide smoking class taught by two or three native elders at the Banff School of Fine Arts. The teachers were from the Stony reserve. Maybe they would have the course again if there was enough interest.

I believe that the ATA puts on tanning courses

That's great how you were able to put that many hides to good use and resource without them going to waste.

I have kept a few elk and moose hides myself and had them tanned along with bear hides. I don't make or have anything made with them but like the way finish off a living space in the house.

I've always thought a burbot skin wallet would be pretty cool.

This Finnish company has lots of different tanned fish skins and items for sale.
https://www.kalaparkki.fi/

You can buy burbot skin wallets for 200 to 300 dollars. They look pretty nice and probably very durable.

I’ve brain tanned a few hides. Moose are a ton of work, and I have the utmost respect for anyone that can finish a hide to Select quality. The entire process of scraping, thinning, and softening with no or very few holes is quite an art that I suspect doesn’t happen without tanning a few to “C” quality at far less value. Not wanting to waste the hides and the intrigue of how this was done traditionally is what got me interested.

The book “Deerskins into Buckskins” by Matt Richards is an excellent resource.

One more thing. If you are starting with any hides your friends have saved for you. Make sure they didn’t skin them like they used a hatchet. It’s hard enough work with a perfect hide, let alone a hide that already has holes and knife marks throughout. Good luck!

https://i.imgur.com/rXWW2AU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JLsrUOh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/52gUS0X.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ltut68F.jpg

Camdec, well done, looks like you have got most of brain tanning figured.

The thinning is my biggest issue. I’ve dry scraped for thinning and don’t really have the patience and physical stamina to do the ideal job. Try and stick to calf moose helps. Some of that hump hide on a 3 year + bull is 3/4 inch thick. That’s a lot of scraping to get to a thickness that it softens to a useable hide.

Just out of curiosity, is there anything similar to a hand held electric wood planer or something that can be adapted, for doing the thinning/scraping on a moose hide.

Sure is, but it's kinda rich...

I thought about one of these. If I was in it to make money I’d consider, but for a part time hobby at best I can’t justify. Besides what would one plug it into when keeping “traditional”? My musket? Lol

I do alot of custom skinning and other work and thought hey maybe I'll try a moose. I watched a few you tube videos and that's as far as I will ever go lol. Theres a reason they're worth so much it's a ton of work.

Do any hutterite colonies still tan hides?

Brain tanning
 

I wanted to try one of these but I have read a ton of reviews on these from taxidermist and almost anyone who used it doesn't have a lot of good things to say. they all use fleshers like the Dakota's. I have a flesher but it is old and takes practice to get used to but a new one is $1500 USD and up plus shipping. So for brain tanning I still use the old labor way lol.

As for the brain tanning my wife and I do it and learned from her grandma and family, the reason guys are not lining up to do it is the amount of labor intense time and effort it takes to do them. If it was easy your right everyone would do it and the value would show, much easier to go to even a low paying job and make money way easier and quicker lol. Also that $3500 to $5000 hides are big in SQFT and are select, meaning no holes or weak spots(if your knife blade marks the hide it will be a weak spot), No hard spots anywhere, smoked in uniform color and no deficiencies. Also thickness of hide matters(time of year).It is not an easy task to do and the value drops very quickly on hides that are not select. I do it because I enjoy doing it but sure not making a living doing it.

I used to do rawhide for my brother when he was into braiding. What worked for me was an angle grinder with a sanding wheel attachment. It worked well for initial fleshing, and then for rough thinning after the hair removal when the hide had kind of "set". Getting a consistent thickness would be a matter of experience; brother had a pretty good skiver for thinning the strings after we cut them so it wasn't critical for me. I could peel it right down to the backside of the follicles, though.

Pro tip: If you try this, do it outside, a long ways from anything. Don't do it inside your nice warm shop. Trust me.

Hides
 

Try a electric belt sander.

Wow great discussion thanks
I’ve tanned a couple hides, lots of lost/learning projects. Dealing with lack of available time on elk and deer has lost me some hides, trying to time soaking times when I can’t be around to monitor and get it to its next step. Get it in a solution thinking “work won’t go long today, I’ll be back in time this evening…”
I’ve done a few deer leather tanned in diexertan paste which turned out amazing and soft. More of a soup, soak a bit, wring out, re soak, repeat multiple times, then broke and stretched over 3/8 cable
I’ve had my beaver finally start coming out pretty near commercial grade, thinned with orbital sander, luftan kit, and run over 3/8 cable. Use a high quality leather conditioner at the breaking stage.
Working on a bear I’ve salted, thinning with wire wheel, then buffing smooth with sander….seems to be working nice. But again available time and space issue…I started that two years ago and only got it half done. It’s waiting for life to slow down again (that’s a good joke!)
Still have a freezer full of project hides…

What have people found for tanning thicker hides? I’ve lost three elk hides at the tanning stage because the tan didn’t penetrate deep enough soon enough. One just a vinegar pickle, one a luftan kit…can’t remember the third. So salt and then thin first? then tan process?


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What is diexertan

https://www.wildlifecontrolsupplies....al/SODTTP.html
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...518d9debb4.jpg
Sorry spelt it wrong. This is it.


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