What to do with bear hide?

I'm already looking forward to spring bear season here in MT and was wondering what some of you guys do with bear hides that you don't want to have tanned? Will a taxidermist or tannery buy a fresh, green hide? I can't find anything on FWP commenting on the legality of this...

It is legal to sell the hide of a legally taken bear. I can't say what kind of market there is for them. I would try to check with taxidermists in your area before the season to arrange a deal with them.

The North American Fur Auction sells them at most auctions. I think the price is usually over $100. I don't know what type of prep that they need on them, though. Go to their website and you can probably find out.

Thanks for the input guys. In case I can't find a way to sell a hide, do you guys know of any inexpensive ways to preserve it? What happens to a hide that is salted and fleshed a couple times, left to dry out, and then just tacked up in the shed?

I really enjoy spotting/ watching bears in the spring, but have never shot one and can't afford to have the hide tanned. I'm just trying to come up with a plan before I pull the trigger...

I'm not sure what would happen if you did what you mentioned but you could try and brain tan it.

easiest way to preserve it is to salt it for a day or two, rinse the salt off, roll it up in a garbage sack with as much air pressed out as possible, and freeze it. then you can take your time deciding what to do with it. Eidnes hide and fur out of moscow Id. buys all kinds of hides, so they are always an option as well. good luck!

I haven't seen this published but it works very well with deer and elk. You don't need anything special and the end result is a clean hide that is about as flexible as heavy paper.

1) Hose off the hide real good to get the blood and other stuff off.
2) Soak it for one or two days in soapy water. For soap use about a cup of borax and a cup of laundry detergent. Use about 1.5x the water that would require to just cover it and stir it to dissolve the soap/borax. (Quantities are swags.) Stir it a couple times while soaking. If you are single, or want to be, the tub works great, otherwise I guess use a garbage can.
3) After the meat on the hide turns white remove the hide from the water. Rinse off the soap and squeeze most of the water out of it - don't wring it as you might tear it.
4) Lay the hide out on the floor and remove the meat. Since the meat is soggy it usually can be just scraped off. Small thin scraps (say 1 inch square) can be left on.
5) Stretch the hide on a rack. You want to get it thin, but don't tear it.
6) Salt the crap out of the non-hair side and let it dry until the salt is completely dry.
7) Here is the important part - take a putty knife and scrape off the salt and any remaining meat. After the salt is removed you will notice the leather is dry and fiberous. Continue scraping a few layers of this fiber off until the hide is flexible. Be careful not to let the corners of the putty knife cut through the hide (perhaps round them off?).
8) The edge of the hide will still be stiff since it wasn't stretched. With a utility knife trim this portion off.

That should do it. I don't know if it is feasible to stretch the face or the feet, but the rest of the hide should be nice and flexible.

Try this maybe... a little cheaper than having someone do it, use their leather softener after this to make it flexible.
http://www.mckenziesp.com/Tanning-Chemicals-C71.aspx

Thanks for all the advice guys; I think that if I'm fortunate this spring and do get a bear I'll try something like RobG's method and see how it turns out.

Have any of you ever heard of using car battery acid to "pickle" a hide? From what I've read it sounds effective, but I would be worried about getting it neutralized once finished...

I have heard from a friend that the battery acid pickle works really well in the short term but the acid is never fully neutralized and eventually the hide deteriorates like it has been eaten by bugs. There are acid alternatives that would work probably work better.

Patrick

Dont use battery acid! If you want to sell a bear hide, heres what you do! Skin the bear out and get the right measurements. Talk to a local taxidermist and get pointers on that. If you dont want the skull, leave it and the paws in the skin. Take lots of pics, both before and after skinning. Then, go here http://www.taxidermy.net/forum/index.php/board,5.0.html. List it and the pics. Turst me, someone will buy it if its skinned right and lloks decent.

One thing with bears, you need to get the skin cooled down soon. Get it in a freezer as soon as you can. The biggest mistake Ive seen with bears in all my years as a taxidermist, people will roll the skin uo with the head in the middle of the roll. It takes days for the head to cool down when its rolled up like that. All that time that its cooling down, bacteria is eating the skin and causing hair slippage. Believe me when I tell you taht a bear with no hair on its face is not worth much.

Good luck!

I agree with Mthuntinfool. Prep it, freeze it.

When you get flush, get it garment tanned with the hair on. My opinion.

FYI --- think ahead on where you plan on fleshing out your bear hide (unless it's chilled it's going to be a LOT messier dealing with the bear fat than what you've probably dealt with when working on deer/elk capes) ...

Lv2hnt said:

FYI --- think ahead on where you plan on fleshing out your bear hide (unless it's chilled it's going to be a LOT messier dealing with the bear fat than what you've probably dealt with when working on deer/elk capes) ...

Click to expand...

This is very true. when Im working on one in my taxidermy shop, it always amazes me how fast the fat breaks down, and how greasy it gets. With bears, you have to degrease them when your pickling them (when they are in the acid). After I get them out of the oickle and thined on a fleshing wheel, Ill spend a good amount of time washing them with cold water and Dawn dish detergent, and a soft bristled brush. That gets them really nice and clean. Plus, after its mounted, if helps make them fluff up really nice.

Seariously though, If you do get one, its really important to get the hide cooled down pretty fast if its warm out. Archery season here (Arkansas) started Sept 15 a couple years ago. Its still in the highn 90's and sometimes over 100 degrees here then. One of the taxidermists that I tanned for had me tan a bear for him. His customer killed it a few days before he took it to the taxidermist. The dude had it in the back of his truck for like two days before he skinned it out. Guess what happened! Yup, it was slipping even before it was completely unfrozen. It was a shame too. It was a beautiful bear, and a dang big one. It weighed just under 450!

If you get one, get it skinned, and put it in a freezer for a few hours. Dont roll the head up inside it. After is is cooled off really good and almost getting stiff, then go back and flesh all the fat off of it. Thats the safest way to go. Im paranoid about heat. I know it usually isnt as hot up there, but its always better to be safe.