I was given two bull bisons, I want to make a rug out of one and a shoulder mount with the other. Will I be able to tan the hides by hand? I work out of my house and don't have all the fancy tools. I have done deer that turn out fine, but I have a feeling this will be totally diferent. How much do tanneries charge for Bison?
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Sean:
I'll bet the tannery guy smiles when he sees a shipment of bison hides come in. I use a couple of tanneries and most will charge between 9-13 dollars a square foot for a flat hide. Do the math and you'll find that an average 36-40 square ft hide will cost 400-500$. A bison cape will cost between 200-350$. You might ask why so much? Well these hides arnt whitetale's they are heavy, bulky and hard to handle. It takes an increadble amount of chemicals to tan and time to shave properly. I've tanned my own bison capes with safty acid and Lutan F it does a great job but I was tuckered out after I was done. My advice is that if you dont have a quality fleshing machine and experience in tanning you might be better off sending it out.
I have only done two, but have done lots of whitetails. I decided not to try and tan them myself after reading recommendations here. It was enough work anyway just to flesh and salt them. Make sure you flesh that forehead skin way down, its thick. I don't know how you'd get the hair clean on them. I would try a reputable tannery. I sent mine to Moyle, the hair turned out great, but they are just one tannery and I haven't seen the work from others. I know I was not as happy with the deer capes I sent them as I was from other tanneries.