Bear after he is down

[butts]

#7349

I have applied for , well rephrase that, I have got on the internet at the prescribed time and date dictated by CDOW and purchased a license for Bear the past 4 years running. Sows and cubs, sows and cubs sooner or later the opportunity will present itself with a lone bruin. I have carried this whole time a great photo’d write up from an Alaskan Taxidermist on preparing a cape for a rug. I have not seen on any site or read, how should I roll the hide up for the pack out8)

[Bert]

#60971

Butts- the best way to roll up a hide, esp. a bear, is if you’re still alive! Or you could skin it, bone out the meat, and then drape the hide and skull over your body like an ancient shaman- do not do this during rifle season! Actually pepper or salt, then flesh-to-flesh then hair-to-hair-get a couple of big Alaskan game bags and wrap it in orange marker ribbon and hopefully your journey is downhill! Have a deer, black bear, and cougar tag here in Washington- none fulfilled but hope springs eternal in the human heart!
Good hunting-
Bert

[Daniel]

#60987

If your going to use salt, make sure its not table salt because it causes the skin layers to bond together and is very difficult to tan. I always recommend people to use coarse salt when they brought their hides over for tanning. If you need to freeze your hide, I always used either a cardboard box or burlap bags, never plastic bags.

SB

[butts]

#61436

Gents-
Do I need to do either the salt or pepper? Assuming everything went well, I could have the hide at the taxidermist after being inspected by DOW easily within 30 hours after he is on the ground.8)

[rayborbon]

#61464

When I hunt the backcountry I do not carry any salt with me. I have some non iodized salt in the truck sometimes. I fold the hides in an “S” pattern and leave the head on top.

If it’s a big bear you’ll want to consider taking the time to remove as much fat as possible from the hide to reduce weight. Also you may want to consider leaving the head attached to the hide if you are not that familiar with taking it off the skull. In that case you may want to remove as much neck meat as possible. You can save weight if you remove a fair bit of the feet too.

If you’re out there too long you may even want more tips from a taxidermist. I am not sure if they are concerned with anything around the ears on the bears if it’s been sitting in a camp for a while.

If it’s cool weather and the hide is not in direct heat then you could be good with 30 hrs. I usually get my bear hides into a freezer within 10-15 hrs of the kill. They usually sit there in the freezer for a maximum of 24 hours.

Most of all – Good luck if you go on your bear hunt. One of my favorite animals to hunt.

[William Warren]

#61471

I’m with Standing Bear on using plain un-iodized salt for packing out your bear hide. I think the outdoor ambient temperature and humidity levels of the area you are hunting will also determine how much time you have before natural deterioration will begin to damage your hide.

Standing Bear,
have you ever used Borax? I dried a buck skin with it with the intention of using the rawhide to back a bow. I would then cut the strips needed and then soak it to rinse out the Borax. Have not got around to trying it yet though.
Duncan

[Daniel]

#61528

Duncan, I used the following ingredients/chemicals, coarse salt, oxalic acid, sodium bicarbonate, aluminum sulfate and baleine oil, never really used borax but heard it works quite well.

A very important point to consider is, once bacteria sets in, which does not take very long, it still continues its devastation even in the freezer which is why the quicker its salted or in the freezer or at the taxidermist or the tanning outfit, the best results your going to get in my honest opinion of course 😉

SB

[butts]

#61732

I could leave some un iodized salt in my rig of course for when I return. I would imagine put it on thicker than molasses when/if I get so fortunate to use some ??8)

[Author]

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