Tanned bear hide

Jasonlester · 07-27-2008, 10:30 PM

My mom bought a black bear hide (tanned) in AK at a yard sale (of all places) and she is going to give it to me. I havent seen it yet but from her discriptions its a brown phase black bear and the claws are still on it and the head was all skinned out.

My thoughts were to take a look at it and see if its worth doing anything with. I may want to back it with felt and make a rug out of it. If it is ok that is. While I haven't doe this before It would seem to be an easier way if the hide is ok...as opposed to skinning it out....basicaly it may be worth a try,,,,

so what do you think I'll need? how hard is making a rug (with the head mounted etc.)
also do they make the fake teeth?

TimberlandTaxidermy · 07-27-2008, 10:42 PM

Tanned hides get a memory very easily, and if it is older than 6 mos. - 1 year then it will probably not mount up. As for the difficulty of rug making, very difficult if done properly. Getting the skin stretched evenly can be tricky for an inexperienced taxidermist, especially if the hide is old, like I said. After stretching and trimming, and industrial strength sewing machine is needed to sew the felt border to the bear leather. Of course once that is done, it still needs to be padded and a backing must be hand-sewn to the rug. This is why most taxi's get anywhere from 700-1000 for a standard sized black bear. Lots and Lots of time involved in a quality bear rug.

Jasonlester · 07-27-2008, 11:05 PM

Ok thanks for the info. like I said I haven't seen it yet. I may just hang it up as is. I know it is a bit older. not sure how old either.

We'll see when I get it I guess. I had thought it would be easier since its only the head realy never thought about sewing the felt etc....

Thanks for the reply.