What did/do you do with your bears?

I think a with a smaller bear a rug looks really good.

I also shot a smaller bear on my one and only bear hunt. I walked up to the damn thing and thought for sure that wasn't my bear LOL!

I had the taxi make a rug and it looks great.

I had the same experience. On our recent hunt, both of my cousins had killed ~250 lb. bears that I helped retrieve and skin. When I saw and shot my bear, I figured he was smaller, maybe about 200 lbs. - but I couldn't believe it when I got to him, he looked really small. Turns out he was 100 lbs. This was my first bear and they proved difficult for me to judge in the woods.

I would rig it personally. I very much dislike open mouth/snarling rugs or mounts and most 1/2 mounts look silly imo. But whatever floats someone’s boat.

a headless rug?

Twolftg said:

I got my first into a run and the last two I hosted tanned out and hang by the nose. The fur is too nice just to trash. I got two tags this year yet. One here in Minnesota and then another in Montana would like to get a shoulder or 3/4 if I get a good sized one.

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I would be careful hanging them by the nose. In my experience the hide will tear after several years. I hung my tanned hide by the nose and claws on the wall and after probably about 15 or 20 years it became so brittle and weak that it started to pull apart. The first thing to go was the nose, then the legs started to rip. It sounds bad, but mine was in such bad shape that I ended up hot gluing it to a southwest style blanket and now I hang it by the blanket instead of the hide. (Actually it sits over a wooden chest at the foot of our bed now). It was a small bear that I shot almost 30 years ago, but before I hot glued it to the blanket you could barely touch it without it falling apart. I've been told that having one rugged goes a long way toward helping the hide stay in better shape because there isn't any tension on the hide that way, all the tension is on the felt. Maybe mine just had a bad tanning job.

I'm getting my bear I shot this spring rugged with a closed mouth at the request of my wife.