I had been thinking of sending out part of my capes to a tannery next season, but in talking to a couple of people at tannerys it sounds like almost as much work as doing them myself. I have a fleshing machine and a pressure tanner but have gotten a bit behind from time to time doing my own stuff. I always though that if you got most of the red meat off, turned the ears-fleshed the buts, split out the lips nose and eyes and salt that that was tannery ready after it dried out. The guys I talked to want ALL the meat off lips fleshed, the nose area taken down to the hair follicals and chin muscles taken off-- you know completely fleshed as you would do after the pickel.
Hell, if I do all that I might as well do it myself and keep that money.What does your tannery expect? Is this the norm?
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Dave, I send my capes and furs to the tannery frozen. For 50 bucks a deer head, and 60 for the furs for me its the only way to go. All I do is skin of the head, put a tag on it, roll it up, and ship them second day air in a styrofoam lined box. No doubt every ones situation is different, but for me I can make a lot more money mounting instead of fleshing and tanning. I really think in the future allot more taxidermy shops will be doing this.
Also, I have sent hundreds of capes and furs frozen and have not had one problem.
Good Luck (Dave I do freeze them solid before I ship)
My company, Tarheel Taxidermy Services will split lips, nostrils, eyes and ears, flesh and salt dry for $18 a deer head. We will then ship it back to you or take to Carolina Fur Dressing for tanning. We also do bears $70-110. Call Kevin at 919-365-4643
I'd rather the taxidermist didn't try and get fleshing done real close before salting. It's much easier fo us to shave the cape if there's a little meat left on, instead of haveing it taken down real thin and ending up with a bunch of spots that are so close you can't get near them without fear of getting too thin. I would suggest talking to a couple other tanneries, and find one that does some detail work when shaveing, then you won't have to hand flesh the faces to the point of being ready to mount.