Help!! Bear Hide Smells Like Its Rotting

Firstly, I'm not a taxidermist. I shot a nice bear and decided to try to tan it at home using a tanning kit. I'm a trapper and so I wanted to try to tan a bear hide for practise before trying a wolf.

I shot it a little less than 2 weeks ago.
I fleshed they bear very very well the following day. I'm fairly good at fleshing so I know I did it well. Not a ounce of fat or flesh was left on the hide when I was done.

Then I threw it in the wash machine with a bit of dawn soap. I put it on the gentle cycle, cold water with extra rinse. I repeated this two times.

Then I draped the hide over a stand in my garage with a fan and the furnace on very low. Within a few days the hide dried to hard leather.

I kept checking on the hide and it seemed fine. I wiped out some grease droplets each day until no more appeared

I did not salt the hide. I basically prepared it like I would prepare a coyote for auction. I figured if someone can buy my coyote hide and use a home tanning kit on it, I could do the same with a bear hide.

Finally my tanning kit showed up in the mail. The first step in the kit is to soak the dry hide for 2-3 hours. When I brought the hide into the bathtub, I noticed it stank. I did notice a small section on the leg which didn't appear to dry (it was slightly folded). So I cut that section out.

I'm about to take the hide out, let it drip dry and salt it like the kit says..

But I'm worried I'm wasting my time as the hide has spoiled.

I'm not sure what I would have done to cause it to rot, aside from the folded peice I cut off..

Is this just how a bear hide smells? I read they are very greasy which makes them smell.

I will go ahead and drip it dry then take it to the garage to salt it for a few days and hope for the best, but any advice would be great.

 

Head/paws were taken off..

Honestly, I'm looking for help and advise, not to be talked to like a 4 year old.

I did the hide the same way I do coyotes before sending to an auction (I have always gotten top dollar for my coyotes).

I was told by a taxidermist whose done a handful of wolves for me, not to salt hides if they are going to be dried right away or frozen right away. I was drying the bear hide right away, so I didn't salt it.

The auction house will refuse a salted hide by the way. All hides sent to a auction need to be dried to a hard leather, not salted.

YEs I'm working for pennies, but believe it or not, I'm doing it because I want to learn and I eventually do more hides.. No where did I say I was doing it to save money. I said I just want to learn how.

 

I washed it twice to get rid of grease..

I rehydrated it in water because that's what the tanning kit instructions told me to do. It said to tan a hide that has been dried previously, rehydrated in water and salt for 3-5 days than re salt again. So I'm just following the steps in the tanning kit.

 

I paid for express shipping for the tanning it the day I shot the bear. Kit was supposed to be delivered in 1-2 days. It didn't show up after 3 days so I called the company and was told my order said I paid for 1-2 day shipping, but the forgot to label it 1-2 day express shipping. So the kit was mailed regular mail. They also admitted that they didn't actually sen the it out until a couple hours before my phone call. So the kit wasn't shipped until 3 days after I ordered it and then it was sent regular mail. Yes a error on my part to decide to tan a bear without having the kit in my hans.

To answer your question, yes I still want to learn how to tan a bear. I'm not sure why people try to discourage others from learning how to do something just because it takes a long time or its a difficult process. I've never been one to shy away from something because its difficult or hard, the fact is still i want to learn to tan hides at home. Trapping is a past time of mine so I want to learn more of the entire process.

 

For anyone whose actually willing to give me some advice.. Here's where I am at

The hide is rehydrated in water (like the kit says to do). The rot smell is gone. The hair is not slipping. I'm confident the rot smell was just in the small part of the hide that folded over. I cut that off.

So if the rot smell is gone, should I just follow the steps in the kit which are heavily salt for 3 days, adding salt to any area which absorbed the salt every 24 hours. And then re-salt and begin adding the chemical's in the kit.

I'm fairly confident there is no grease left in the hide.

 

Thank you for the help.. I knew going into this that there would be a learning curve with mistakes along the way. I accepted that and I'm ok with it. If this bear doesn't turn out very well, but I figure out my mistakes and how to do it better for the next time I will consider this adventure a success.

 

I'll add, I know MANY trappers who was all coyote and wolf hides in dawn dish soap. Once they are washed, they are thrown on the stretcher and air dried (like I did). Once the hide has been dried, they "snap" the hide a few times by flicking it, then give them a brush before sending them to the aution and the hides look amazing. I used this method with the bear thinking it would be the same.


I'll also add, aboriginal people have been tanning bear hides for centuries. There must be ways to do it without sending them to the tannery and using all the chemicals and steps. I actually tried to sign myself up for a traditional hide tanning course, but it was a 3 week course that was 8am- 3pm each day. I couldn't take 3 weeks off work to do that.

 

Thanks for the reply.. It helps..

The kit I ordered is "the complete home tanning kit".. I ordered it from one of the few places on line I could find that sold tanning kits.. It's literally was the best one I could find based on reviews. When I ordered it, I spent a long time on line trying to find out the steps to using this kit to no avail. So I went with drying the hide.
The kit includes
-tanning crystals (ALum and sulfuractans)
-tanning oil

there's other stuff to ehlp with the process, but thats the chemicals in the kit to do the actual tanning process.

Theres instructions in the kit for sure, but like I said I had to do somethign with the hide while the kit arrived. So I did what I do with coyote/wolf skins because I know with those skins the buyer can tan them using a home tanning kit after they've been stretched and air dried.

DO you think I should proceed to salt the hide and use this it? Or just throw it in the freezer and get another kit? Which kit do you recomend?

BTW, I didn't know this forum existed otherwise I'd be much further along.

Also, I live in an area way up north in Canada.. Lots of aboriginal culture here.. All the brain/smoke tanned hides I've handled had no smell other than smoke and the smell of te fur intself. I've handled a brain/smoke tanned bear hide and it didn't stink at all. Not a rotting/bad smell anyyways.

 

Thank you so much..

Do you think my hide will survive after being air dried like I did?