Would you keep a cow moose hide?

buffybr

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Feb 3, 2024
Messages
157
Location
Bozangles, MT
Many years ago Joe Jonas Taxidermy in Denver had a deal where they would tan, with hair on, any elk hide for $35. I had my first 6x6 bull hide and a rag horn and a cow elk hides tanned. That bull hide has covered one wall in my reloading room for close to 50 years, my Sister still has one of my other elk hides along with a bear and a buffalo hides on the upstairs railing in her house. I had given the other elk hide to my parents, and before they died they sold it for $100.

Hides take up a lot of wall space, and they are not made to be walked on, on the floor.

When I shot my American Buffalo, I took the whole animal to a local meat processor who completely skinned him and gave me back the whole hide. When I took that hide to my taxidermist to have a shoulder mount, he asked me what I wanted to do with the rest of the hide. When I told him "nothing" he said "Good!"

I have not kept the hides of any of my other elk or moose.
 

NRA4LIFE

WKR
Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
1,652
Location
washington
I posted earlier in this thread that I wish I had kept it, and I still wish I did. However, circumstances get in the way of your wishes sometimes. It was just my wife and I butchering a 750 lb animal with night approaching, mid-November in Eastern WA. We needed to get off the mountain and the hide was last on the list. Their hides are heavy duty.
 
Joined
Mar 24, 2024
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3
Up here in Maine people used to sell the hides to lobstermen for bait until it got outlawed due to the hair causing issues with the lobster
 
Joined
Aug 19, 2019
Messages
832
I absolutely would. Not quite once in a lifetime (but close) is my Nebraska cow elk, but I have the whole thing tanned as I was able to use my FIL backhoe to butcher/skin her haha when I finish the rest of my basement it will go on the wall.
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wytx

WKR
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
2,298
Location
Wyoming
We have 3 tanned moose hides and one just leather. Happy to have them all.
Euros for the bull skulls.
Hair on hides are on a bed, leather is over the sofa back.
Not sure where you can get a full moose hide leather tanned these days though, most places split them for leather tanning.
 
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
4,906
Location
Colorado
My son killed an oil bull moose in Colorado. We did a shoulder mount and saved tanned the rest of the hide. It hangs on a banister. It’s pretty cool especially since they are rare to draw.
 

AKBC

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Dec 22, 2014
Messages
235
Perhaps a shoulder mount would be a better keepsake than a tanned hide and might not be that much more expensive? A cow shoulder mount would be unique and fun.
 

Mojave

WKR
Joined
Jun 13, 2019
Messages
2,274
It won't matter either way. You'll spend $650 to tan it, and then something will happen to it.

You might as well see if you can get a shoulder mount for $1100 and you'll have her for life.
 

Stalker69

WKR
Joined
Apr 12, 2019
Messages
1,801
Why not, hair on I would put on my bed, or something. Hair off ( leather) I could make sooooo many things out of it. Why would it matter if it’s a bull or a cow, it’s just the skin ? Kinda makes you wonder how many would hunt if all animals didn’t have antlers or horns.
 

bobco

FNG
Joined
Jul 19, 2023
Messages
25
it would be cool but I had my hands full just packing and taking care of the meat. left at 12600" for the rodents.
 

wytx

WKR
Joined
Feb 2, 2017
Messages
2,298
Location
Wyoming
About $500 for tanning, a mount would be way more than that. Moyle does great work too on tanning.
 
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Messages
6
Location
VT
I had a bull moose hide tanned and am glad I did. I even traded the balance of the hide for a custom traditional archery back quiver hand-made by a local craftsman. Because the moose hide is so soft, he lined it with bull hide to get the necessary rigidity. That was 25 years ago, and I still have and use that quiver, and it reminds me of the hunt.
 
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