11 year old soft tanned bear skin

[earnhardtgw3]

I met one good ole boy taxidermist over the weekend who was selling off all of his supplies and tools because his body won't allow him to do the work anymore. He has some black bear hides that are extreamly full fur and very nice skinned for lifesize. The skin has been tanned since 1996 by New Method fur dressers. Now my experiance with old tanned skins is that they will fall apart when rehydrating or have no stretch to them. Is there anything out there that someone knows that may save this skin, or is it a lost cause and should be just left alone and use as a decoration.

[oldshaver]

Cut a piece off the bottom, and rehydrate it with a little salt.1/2 cup per gallon of water. No problems there, proceed on.

[Becky P]

I have a caribou cape that's been tanned since around 2000, but have no idea who it was tanned by, and have been wondering the same thing. I'll try that.  (Wonder if Stop Rot would help any)