Tannery cut off my ear cartilage tags

[PJSpikeGirl]

I decided to use the little round plastic number tags that the wildlife gallery had pictured in their brochure for the first time. I thought i could get away with not having to poke and count little code dots in my capes anymore, but i guess not.  Out of the 14 capes in the shipment 3 came back with no tags and i have no ideal what customer they belong to.  I called them (wildlife gallery in Mi) and they said that it was weird and that they don't know what happened. Of the 3 capes 1 sill had the zip tie still in it with the tag gone and it looked like it had been cut cleanly in two. The other two were not ripped but the tag and zip tie were just gone leaving the 2 little holes in the middle of the cartilage.  They still have 2 more shipments of my capes (around 20 more) and they said they would go check and make note if any of the other tags were gone.  All i can do is hope for the best when those shipments get here.

Anyone else had this problem or am i just dumb for not coding my capes?

[Doug Bridges]

Punch codes don't get lost from the skin.

[boarhunter67]

I put tags with zip ties through the nostrils and so far they always come back intact.

[michael p.]

Fit the capes to the antlers.  Many times the burrs will have an odd shape that is unique to the deer.  Knock on wood I have not had this problem in year, but once about 6 years ago when I stupidly used paper tags 6 capes got washed amd lost all identification.  After an hour or so I was able to match up 4 out of the 6 because of pedical uniqueness and the other 2 on size.  Do not panic and test fit them on the antlers.... I bet after 5 or 10 minutes you will have a pretty solid idea of which goes with each cape.

Good luck

[Cole]

I can't imagine sending a hide to the tannery that wasn't punch coded. I've always found poking and counting little code dots in my capes was a reliable way to identify them when they come back. Most tanneries I've dealt with specifically tell you not to tag the capes.

[ccook63]

That is the cost you pay for being lazy. Trying to save time by not punching and counting punch codes just cause you a lot of time and grief. I also learned that the hard way by tagging and not punching.

[Bill Yox]

Being lazy as I am,  Ive tagged for many years. But what Ive learned is...I put the tag in the ear with a cable tie I know I can count on, and a plastic jonas tag that I know will not tear or break or be brittle. Also, I tag them so the tag ends up inside the ear opening, so even an errant shave stroke most likely will not touch the cable tie or tag. Theres really no other place to put an external id that wont get cut, block the shavers ability to do a good job, or have it in harms way of his blade when he doesnt wanna hit it and have to clean his edge...or worse!

And like these guys say, you still have to back it up with a punch code system regardless.

[joe simmons]

I use the plastic truck seal tags and put them through the ears and have none rip out(knock on wood)


OutdoorHub Mobile, the information engine of the outdoors.

[PJSpikeGirl]

Thanks for the input.  lesson learned -its back to code punching.

[PLTannery]

The only issue I've had with punch coding is on Buckskin Hides... It seems about 20% come back with either a Big hole where the punch is supposed to be or that bit of hide missing completely..   But for hair on stuff the truck seals work really good.  They only seem to break off in my drums if they are thru something hard... like dried in a nostril or in a VERY small hole in an earbutt.  Use a big enough hole that the tag can wiggle and usually they won't get damaged.

[michael p.]

I can't imagine sending a hide to the tannery that wasn't punch coded. I've always found poking and counting little code dots in my capes was a reliable way to identify them when they come back. Most tanneries I've dealt with specifically tell you not to tag the capes.

That is the cost you pay for being lazy. Trying to save time by not punching and counting punch codes just cause you a lot of time and grief. I also learned that the hard way by tagging and not punching.

So far this year I've gotten back 60 or so capes back from my tanner and every one of them have 2 separate Tyvec tags attached to them.  Only 1 has lost a single one of the doubles.... so yes to each his own.

I have been called a lot of things in my life, lazy has never been one of them.  I guess if the new definition of preference is lazy I have to wonder what they now define judgmental as?

[kikkertinz]

dooms day prepper

[west1542]

Good lord I hate to do this after what happened last time but..........I finially got my order the wildlife gallery switched up........I first called them because I was sending them raw capes and wanted to see how they wanted them tagged  ...they told me they could put tags n the ear butts for me to just bag them seperate and put the name on the trash bag of who I wanted on the tags.......I recieved 8 hides back with 2 having a very cheap paper tag on them......they even had it on the work order to put the tags in the ear butts I WILL NOT make this mistake again.......a lesson learned.

[Cole]

I can't imagine sending a hide to the tannery that wasn't punch coded. I've always found poking and counting little code dots in my capes was a reliable way to identify them when they come back. Most tanneries I've dealt with specifically tell you not to tag the capes.

That is the cost you pay for being lazy. Trying to save time by not punching and counting punch codes just cause you a lot of time and grief. I also learned that the hard way by tagging and not punching.

So far this year I've gotten back 60 or so capes back from my tanner and every one of them have 2 separate Tyvec tags attached to them.  Only 1 has lost a single one of the doubles.... so yes to each his own.

I have been called a lot of things in my life, lazy has never been one of them.  I guess if the new definition of preference is lazy I have to wonder what they now define judgmental as?

In 12 years I've never had a single punch code fall off, just sayin'...

[Matt]

(LOL) Cole! I can see the good points some of you tagging guys have made, but sometimes things do happen in this business. I used to tagged them way back when and had them cut off, but Cole is right, that punch code isn't going anywhere. I have had them cut and holes through my code, but one in maybe 200 have been like that, and it's not hard to figure out who's cape it is.