Black Bear — Best Preservation Method...?

You can invert the toes, Take the toe bone out at the last joint, where it joins the claw. It is best to suspend each foot so that the weight of the skin will aid in inverting. Splitting the legs is OK if you plan to rug it. If it's to be mounted, I would leave only the ventral cut (or dorsal). Remove all fat and flesh, turn the lips eyelids, and ears. Salt heavily and allow to brain, then resalt and dry. I seriously recommend you send it to a tannery. Request a full tan rather than a wet tan. This way, it can be stored at room temperature until you are ready to rug or mount it. You can rehydrate before mounting.

 

You can salt dry them but prior to that they need to fleshed properly. That’s getting all that fat off.
Reason being when bear fat dries on a hide it can and will lead to grease burn and give you a poor tan.
Once cleaned of fat and membrane you can salt well, fold on an incline to let the fluids drain. The next day 24 hrs later shake off the salt , resalt it and hang to dry. Using a fan will speed the process up.
Tanning bears isn’t easy but personally they should be done by a tanner with experience on bears as it’s way different than doing a deer.

 

You don't fix grease burn, you can prevent it by removing all the fat before salting the hide. You will need to degrease the skin. I would highly recommend using the Trubond method for bears. You can find it on their website

 

Grease burn ends up with the skin disintegrating in those areas in time . It can be 6 months to see it or a few yrs when your client asks you why is my bear rug or hanger getting holes in it.
Most don’t witness this on mounted animals until they see hair falling out.

 

Here’s a pic of a fresh bear I just fleshed . If you get it to look like this you’ll have no issues

 

As for shipping or who carries it in Canada check with your association ( join it if you’re not a member) as they can help you with taxidermy supply companies .

 

You can also contact them by email or phone
https://trubondtanning.com/

 

I use a round wheel. Their necks are the thicker areas and they need it more than most any other body part on a bear.
I own a eager beaver fleshing wheel
It’s a commercial grade machine that’s used in the tanning industry.
I always suggest if a person is seriously thinking of getting one it’s that one or raw hide. There two of the finest machines out there. There are others for sure but I’ve seen them , worked on them and they don’t compare. Jmo

 

Just noticed that Lone wolf taxidermy supply in Alberta has the Trubond chemicals (think this used to be AAA supply)
Look in the Shop supplies section. It's not in their online catalog.

 

Hi, the best way to preserve a Bear is to send it to a tannery and get it tanned all the meat and fat should be removed and salted hang and let the fluids drain for a day and shake off all the salt and resalt is again . taxidermist