Thanks for the update. I followed this recipe perfectly for my Ontario black bear hide which I had in the freezer for about 8 months. Turned out pretty good I'd say. No slippage of any kind. The only thing on my tanned hide that confused me was that the arms, legs and head dried perfect and very quick but the whole stomach area did not. Somehow the stomach area remained more greasy but it is actually slowly drying (I actually rewashed the hide twice to make sure I got as much grease out as possible after I wasn't satisfied with it the first time). Week by week it dries more and the grease is no longer there. So I'm not sure what part of the process caused this minor flaw. Either way in a couple weeks it'll be dried 100% and put up on a wall. *See below for possible reason for slow drying* A couple things I learned from tanning a bear as a first timer: 1. Fleshing takes a while and it takes a FEW times to get it down to the "blue" like he said. In some cases it was actually easier to flesh once it had been through all the solutions and began to dry. Like Sask Hunter, I fleshed the whole thing with a single knife. I could not get my fleshing pole and knife to do a good or quick enough job for me (probably a rookie mistake on my part). What I found really helpful was to drape the hide (flesh side up) over the fleshing beam, run the knife blade from the base of the skull down to the tail carefully so you don't cut through the hide. From there start separating the flesh from the "blue". If it works like mine did, you'll be able to keep cutting away the flesh in one large piece until it becomes too much to deal with. Have multiple sharp knives with a sharpener near by. The smaller blade will help the the areas that need detailed work (claws, lips, nose, eye lids, ears). A sharp knife makes this process so much easier. Sharper often! 2. For the tanning solution I could not find Neats Feet Oil so I read online that you could use oil coconut oil as a substitute. It seemed as if the hide never absorbed it and I was stuck with white residue all over the hide. This may be the reason why my hide didn't dry as quickly. Unhappy with my results I rewashed the bear and used Minks Oil which you can find in the shoe section of many stores. This time I didn't make a solution out of it, I just dabbed it on with the provided sponge. This seemed to work good enough. No parts of the hide got extremely hard. Everything was able to be stretched. Maybe because I technically "tanned" it twice is the reason why it is taking a while to dry. 3. Make sure you have large enough area to work in with this hide. I used two white tables, similar to the ones you see in this video. The arm and leg span of a medium-large bear can be pretty big and when I was allowing mine to dry I had to pay attention that the arms/legs weren't falling off the tables and creating a fold in the hide. You want to have the hide lay flat for both the salting and drying stages. 4. Tanning a bear hide isn't impossible and it can be done with patience and effort. Yes, it is very hard work but it will be worth it in the end when it's hanging on your wall. It feels good to use the hide and not throw it away. I will be tanning my next bear with the exact same process (using neats feet oil this time to see if I can get a better drying result). That being said, it is 100% worth it to get the hide done professionally. It is worth every penny for a job done right! I spent A LOT of time working on this thing and I underestimated how long it was going to take!
Hi, sorry for the late reply; Fleshing is the most important part of the process as I’m sure you have realized! It’s exhausting to say the least! I didn’t have a single proper tool! Ha BUT, it can be done with an $8 Canadian Tire Jack knife lol! Now, if I were to do it again there would be a few changes I’m sure…but I wouldn’t change that first experience for the world!! It doesn’t matter what you have for tools and equipment; what does matter is the plan, execution of that plan and patience! 🤣 This wasn’t an experiment to see if I could save a buck!! NO! This was to see if I could accomplish a preservation of a hide with my own two hands! That’s it! Would I recommend someone to try this technique on their prized trophy? No, I would not. But, if they were broke and had it in the freezer going bad, why not;)
I just got my first bear. I’m going to tan it with those orange bottles. The $14 ones. I used those on a coyote like 35 yrs ago and it’s still great. You did a great job. I always wondered what exactly was just necessary to preserve a hide. My dad did brain on some rabbits and he did battery acid too. I think that hair you just combed out was undercoat. It was probably already loose and spring shedding. It’s so tangled within itself deep down that it would have needed combing to come out. Or rubbing by the bear itself on trees or brush
Great series! Just from my experience I would like to suggest soaking it in quebracho for a about a month after you pickle the hide. It would fully tan the hide and be no additional work. Thanks for posting.
Hey your vid was inspirational to me. Watching you vid three years ago i did my first bear and i still do them the same way. Only thing i do different now is i have a fleshing beam and a really good fleshing knife and with practise i can do alot of the hide fairly quickly then finish by hand the hard parts. Thanks for your vid👍
It was a recap of a tan I previously did; some people are very concerned that this method is crap. So, I did a 2nd check up video on this tan. So far it has held. So far so good.
Hey loved the video i'm going to do mine the same way what was the neats foot oil that you used I was looking at a few and I would like to know what one you used.
Honestly, can’t remember. I threw it out when I moved. Any tack shop will have it; I wouldn’t worry about the brand! I have only used neats feet oil. I’m not sure of a suitable substitute. I got this recipe from an elderly lady from moose county located at turtle lake, Saskatchewan.
