Why not tan yourself

[Matt]

A few have already summed it up. I am a one man show as well and it is alot easier and believe it or not, more profitable to send everything out. While my capes and l/s are at the tannery, I am busy with birds, fish, and everything else. Plus every six weeks I get a shipment back from my tannery and I have more than enough to keep me busy until the next round comes in. For me, when I get really busy, it just makes more sense to leave the tanning to a reputable tannery.

[michael p.]

I've done it all, DP'ing myself, fleshing everything myself, tanning everything myself, having help do my fleshing......i've benn through every scenario.  The way it works now (and will for now on) is I give everything out, including rough fleshing all the way to prep work. When I thaw the skin I rough up the inner ear, bondo and mount it.  That's the extent of my prep work. I do not use a 'tannery', I use an individual who lives about 250 miles away.  We meet half way and I give him the new stuff frozen and he gives me back the last batch wet tanned.  I generally bitch about his turn around time because it's about 2 weeks and i'm not ready for more LOL.  This last time though it was 30 days becaus of the volume and alot of larger animals (AKA longhorns& elk)

All I do now though as stated is skin it and freeze it....that's it.  I'm a one man operation except for having a part time young lady that sews and another man who is disabled so he does odds and ends.........but I make absolutely no money fleshing, no taxidermist really makes money tanning and fleshing.  The only time you are making money is when you are mounting something.  Now if you are not that busy I can see it, but if you're busy enough to where you still have work from the last season left over...and you are tanning anything....you really need to check your prerogatives.

Some may say i'm taking the easy way, they can say anything they want......i'm taking the smart way.  I cannot afford true 'burn out' in this business and thats a quick way to get it, standing behind a fleshing machine when in your mind you know you should be mounting something