Tannery just called and said one of the 2 bears I sent in was slipping bad. I told them to just send it back so I could see it. Fortunatley its not a client bear, its my partners. What gets me is he shot it May 30. It wasnt real warm that day. We skinned it within a half hour of the kill. Drove back to camp, split, fleshed and turned everything your supposed to and salted the hell out of it. We use non-iodized salt. Took it home the next day, changed the salt after 24 hours, left it for a week then shook the salt off and sent it to the tannery after about 2 weeks. What the heck could I have done wrong? Or was it the tannery. I am still new to this but I havent had any trouble except with bears. The last two sholder mounts I did had slippage at the end of the ears. I quit taking in any bear because I dont feel confident with the slippage problem. I shot a bear a couple of sundays ago and I'm thinking of just trashing it because I've read on here that August bears are notorius for having bad pelts. ( I shot it late that night and recovered it the next morning. It was 75-80 degrees at the time of the kill, stuck it in a cooler and drove home and got it in the freezer that night. ) I would imagine its shot. Now if the hair is nice and tight at the time I send it in then why would it slip. Its driving me nuts. HELP!
Thanks.. Chuck
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Chuck, did you lay it across a pallet or something to get it out of it's own fluid when he initially salted it?
And even just the heat from your partners hands, depending on how long it took him to flesh and split everything. If he didn't cool the hide first after skinning, if weather was tempid or humid. Or possibly a dirty pickle at the tannery. There was just a discussion a few posts back- a guy had a African lion hide that had real bad slipped spots when it came from the tannery.
The one you just killed, try tanning yourself at home or make sure it's fleshed nice and thin, wash and try DP. Instead of ditching it, try something else. You have nothing to loose but time if you're thinking of throwing it anyway.
Yes,
We laid it over a log and salted it. It was at an angle so the fluids would drain. It took us about 2 hours to flesh and turn it.
So you think we should cool the hide before fleshing and turning?
I thought salting right away was better than freezing then salting.
Not sure why I thought that. Let me know if you have any other ideas.
Thanks
you left the fat on the skin ,yes.
Chuck,
After the 2nd salting-about 48 hrs. total ,take all salt off and hang the bear hide up and put a window fan on it and totally dry it out.Never leave a bear laying down in salt for a week.I have never got a bear to dry out with salt on it.I completely flesh and shave it green before I salt.In home tanning you had better buy the special tannery degreaser in the supply catalogs.Using Lutan F, I have never had a problem tanning a bear-with the degreaser!Hope this helps some.-Brian
Chuck, I had a guy kill a big bear, drive it around to show it off, finaly skined it but stuffed it all wrapped up into a hugh trash can to sit in a cooler for 2 days. It smelled SO BAD when I first saw it. I figured it was probably a loss but it was a 500 pounder and he wanted me to save what I could. I poured a few gallons of denatured alcohol onto the face and ears and the greenest places on the skin. Fleshed it clean and salted it 3 or 4 times. When it came back from the tanner it was amazingly fine with only about a 3"x6" slip on one side. Now I alcohol all bear ears and face as a precaution against bacteria. The advise from Brian about the fan is good- getting the hair side dry is very important. When you salt skins, really rub that salt into it and fill the hair side of ears with salt while drying. Also,I don't know that you did but I would not transport hides in plastic bags- even salted. Enjoy, Aaron H.
Try putting stop rot on the flesh side while your skinning.
Thanks guys.. you have given me some great new ideas.. I'll keep trying. Chuck
I have been on hunts and the best thing to do is inform the hunter to skin the bear and get it to the freezer ASAP.Do not salt the hide even with a half inch of fat on it.The salt will not get to the epidermal layer where the hair folicles start,therefore the salt is useless.Bacteria will start eating away and when the tanning process is begun,the outer layer of skin will slip.DO NOT SALT UNTIL ALL FAT IS REMOVED!GET IT IN A FREEZER.More bear hides are ruined because the hunters are uneducated in field care.