Hello I was sitting here thinking about the bear I just skinned yesterday, about to render the grease for medicine and I thought I would seek the wisdom and experience of those who m,ay have done this before. A medicine man dropped by yesterday with a 275 lb bear in his trunk. He was on his way to a ceremony and there was the bear on the highway. He thought of me because silly me I shot my mouth off about being a trapper and having a "gift" to make bear grease. So he presented me with this bear. He had been shot prior to being hit by a transport truck. ( The bear not the elder) His skull was fragmented and he had several bone breaks which ripped his pelt. I can sew these up later. My question is about the paws and ears of this animal. The medicine man wants them left intact. Is there a way to preapre or preserve these? Wouldn't it smell? I am thinking I tell him to take the pelt to a tannery for preparation. Is there someway I can as a lay person prepare this pelt? I am thinking of allowing it to dry as a hide. What methods of scrapping are used to get all the flesh and fat off? I'm thinking of fleshing it as I do otter on a pole and later on a board. Any advice you can give me without sarcasm and hilarity will indeed be appreciated.
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Since you taken the jocularity and snideness away, your problem is a little more complex than simplicity will permit. The paws CAN'T be preserved without taxidermy work. Even our ancestors knew that the hide had to be removed, preserved and then used. Your idea of a tannery is best, but even lay people can tan hides. It's just not a simple process and bear, especially with all their grease, make professional options the best choice. Remove all the fat possible, remove all the red meat, turn the ears, split the lips and eyelids and salt heavily. Tomorrow, shake the salt off and resalt. Once it stops dripping, bundle it and send it to the tannery. ONE NOTE HOWEVER, early season (hot season) bears are an iffy proposition at the very best and a "road kill" will be worse. You may have slippage of hair from minor to extreme with this animal because of the circumstances of its demise. Don't expect miracles.
I cant think of ANY state where you can pick up a road kill bear, especially one with a gunshot into it already? Yikes!
.....Since there was no mention of a permit, you may be dealing with a illegal bear. Please forgive me if I am incorrect about this, but first and formost, we need to be sure of the legality of everything we deal with.
Sounds a lot like Indian peoples and Canadians. Theresa's address has that little "ca" at the end and she speaks of a "medicine man". Indian lands have their own soverignty USUALLY and in Canada, I'm not familiar with how their bunny cops work.
She didnt refer to the rez, the reservation, or anything like that. To me Im thinking uh oh. Honestly? After I posted it I thought, hell, I dont really even care, Im glad she got some use out of it. I sure dont want a bear from a trunk in August, native or not, lol!
Thank you for your responses. I am Native Candaian and I did report the bear to the proper authorities, in fact I have a business that is resource based ( ironically nuisance bear) and is based on a reservation within the parameters of exisitng Provincial and Federal laws. I operate within my tribal region which is some 55, 000.00 km .
My dilemma has been more of a spiritual one as the bear did meet with an agonizing demise. I was not comfortable handling this brother fo mine and I intend to try to explain it to the "healer" that brought him forward to me. I don't speak my mother tongue but I think some straight talk in English will go along way to slow this eager one down. I did not put any salt on the hide but it is in my freezer. I was cognizant of the hair loss from the get go and will speak to the man about letting this hide go.
Black Bear season is open here August 15. The OMNR beleives that this rogue was shot either as a nuisance animal or wounded in an actual hunt and stumbled onto the Trans Canada highway where well you can guess the rest.
Thank you all again and I will visit from time to time as I have learned quite a bit from your collective wisdom. I do have a sense of humour and sorry for being so stern with my first posting but I was in a spiritual and emotional flux with the condition of this animal and the intention of its use. My husband says I must learn to say NO.
Beliefs or no beliefs, its getting goofy in here. With all due respect to natives, George, feel free to continue!