Elk hide

[Chopit]

What do you do with the hide? If I am lucky enough to kill I think I would like to keep the hide. Have it tanned.

 

[Felix40]

It would be cool but theres no way Id pack it out more than a mile. Not to mention the work getting it off in one piece. If you killed one and could drive a tractor to it then thats a different story

 

[William Sublette]

Some people gather up all their friends and neighbors elk hides and sell them to the traveling fur buyers.

The price flucuates but usually $8 to $12. I would think closer to $8 this year while we get China lined out.


When you take it to a taxidermist to tanned the price they quote will shock you.

If you cut out the taxi and go direct to the tannery it helps a lot, but you can still buy them on eBay for cheaper than you can get them tanned.


Or you can YouTube and DIY.

 

[cnelk]

Just cut out a piece of the hide - 2'x2' and send it to Moyles. Cheap
Thats what I did for my son's 1st elk

 

[FlyGuy]

I've yet to take an elk home with me. If my 1st elk turns out to be a (trophy) cow, then I am tanning that hide!

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[ElkNut1]

I've never saved one yet unless it was to be mounted, I leave them behind.

ElkNut/Paul

 

[orionsbrother]

I've tanned a couple without hair. I haven't decided on what I will ultimately use them for. In the meantime, I put them on the sofa as a decorative cover. My wife packs them away from time to time... and then I pull them back out of the chest.

 

[wytx]

Moyle Mink and Tannery, good job hair on tanning not too expensive.
Good leather tanners are harder to find.

 

[Chopit]

I was watching mountain men and the old dude in montana took a tanned elk hide and made gloves with beaver fur liner. I think that would be sweet with my first elk. I would like to tan the whole hide. Its the packing it out part that makes it a hard decision.

 

[William Sublette]

Just shoot the ones on the uphill side of the road.

 

[rayporter]

dad tanned my first elk hide hair on, in 84. it was quite a talking piece till it fell apart. it started to lose hair about 2005 and was pretty ragged by 2009.

I often wondered if it was a poor tan. but I guess 20 years it not too bad.

and they are pretty hard to pack with out a bag. the smallest hole will allow them to ooze out. and they are not light wt.

 

[willy]

I packed out my first bull's entire hide as my wife told me if I got an elk she wanted to have the tanned hide in our house for display.(yes I got a great wife)

I did a european of the bull and the tanned the hide.

As has been mentioned it is very heavy and it took a couple more trips to get all of that out.

Good thing it was all downhill and only 800 yards of beetle killed timber that hadn't fallen much yet. It was tied up like a roast going into the oven with netting. Any less tied up and it would have squeezed out for sure.

I forget the price but it was close to 300.00. My wife still signed off on it.

Good luck to you. I'm leaving in 5 days for WY, can't wait.

 

[deerhunter628]

I leave mine in the woods

 

[tlowell02]

My parents tanned the hide of a cow my sister shot last year. Other than the sticker shock ($600) it turned out beautiful. So much so, my fiancé shot her first elk last week and we dropped off that hide for tanning.

 

[6mm Remington]

I've had a couple elk hides tanned with hair on and gave them to friends. They look great over a stair banister of on a wall hanging. I want to do one for me next time I get one with the whole hide skinned out. I'd also like to have one tanned hair off so that I could try and find a place that would make a pull over shirt out of the tanned leather. I think that would be pretty cool!

David

 

[robie]

This thread brings back good memories.

My Dad saved our deer hides from when we were kids and had gloves and jackets made for us.

When I shot my first cow elk I had a purse for the wife and a rifle case made.

Uber Glove tanning now called Century Leather Products in Minnesota is the place we've used:

Custom Tanning

Its not the cheapest but I think about those hunts every time I wear the jacket/gloves or use the gun case.

We would just fold and freezer our hides until we had enough then send them in.

 

[Kootenay Hunter]

I'd save a few different areas for some home tanning for fly tying.1 kill would probably give enough for a life time of flies, even if a portion was taken home.

 

[Wapiti1]

I've seen them used as canvases for paintings and I've seen where an artist shaved the hair into a picture. The second one was very cool, but makes a really large wall hanging.

Used to be you could trade an elk hide for a really good pair of moccasins from Pacific Hide and Fur in Great Falls, but I think those days are long gone. They do still give out decent leather gloves for deer and elk hides.

Then again, packing out an un-edible 30-40 pounds isn't appetizing to me. I've done it, but only on a gimme.

Jeremy

 

[spaniel]

This thread brings back good memories.

My Dad saved our deer hides from when we were kids and had gloves and jackets made for us.

When I shot my first cow elk I had a purse for the wife and a rifle case made.

Uber Glove tanning now called Century Leather Products in Minnesota is the place we've used:

Custom Tanning

Its not the cheapest but I think about those hunts every time I wear the jacket/gloves or use the gun case.

We would just fold and freezer our hides until we had enough then send them in.

Thank you for the link above. When I came of age hunting in the 90s, I sent in every deer hide I shot for tanning. I must have 20 of them. I planned on getting a jacket and other things made when I had the money to pay for that. I think tanning the hide cost about $20-25 at the time.

By the time I could afford to have something made, all the places I knew and used went out of business. This was pretty early internet days, I couldn't find other places and gave up and haven't sent one in since perhaps 1996-1997.

 

[robie]

Here is one more place I know of for just tanning.

North Texas Tannery

PRICE LIST


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