What do you make of this tanned hide I got back

S

So. Dak.

New member
Sent this hide away to get tanned. Just got it back. All I know when I sent it in it was a beautiful, big, primed coyote.

I noticed in a few area the fur is totally missing.
coyotehide1.jpg


Fur is missing from the ears and from the base of the ears.

Coyotehide2.jpg


Tail was 3/4 gone!

coyotehide3.jpg


Any ideas what the heck could have happened. I'm certainly not paying for the item. I'm going to email the company to see what they say about it. When I got it in the mail there was NOTHING in the box but the hide. No note or anything.

Jeff
 
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My guess would be that someone had it stored for a long time before it actually got tanned.
Those are pretty much tell tale signs.

The tail on any varmint/predator hide is the first thing to go, if not handled right....right from the start, from the bullet to the tumbler.
The ears are always second.
The two areas on the hide with the thinnest skin, and the two spots that get neglected the most.
If handled and prepped right...it CAN be avoided.

You didn't have the hide hanging to dry for any extended period of time prioir to sending it in to be tanned did you?


Oh, one more thing...now that I stuck my neck out here /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Make sure it don't have a tattoo like this does near the base of the tail?
CTstamp.jpg
 
I think you'll need Jim to get on here and let you know what might have gone wrong.I'm sure he's had a few furs come back from the tannery like that.But,,,,they could have put a note in letting you know that the fur didn't tan out in an acceptable manner.Instead just seeing if you would accept it or not.That doesn't seem like good business to me.I would guess your not going back there to tan your next hide.So they lost a customer and all the people who find out who did the lousy work might not go there either.

That is taking into account that you had fleshed the hide of all the fat,which I'm guessing you did.Good luck and take care,daveyboy edit: for Jim is a little quicker on the draw,I'm glad he was able to give you some heads up on the fur.
 
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I would say that the ears and hair off the hide could be slippage where the hide went bad before the tanning process. Now for the tail, that's another matter, looks like it was torn off. How was the hide prepped prior to shipping to the tannery? Coyotes, foxes, and most predators are notorious for hair slipping and the ears are one of the first areas to go. Was the hide salted, allowed to drain for 24 hours, old salt removed, resalted and then allowed to dry hard? This process sets the hair and retards bacterial growth in a green hide. You could have done everything correctly and the tannery messed up with a bad pickle (ph to high) which would allow the bacteria to set in. Even with the above I think I would look for a new tannery.
 
I'd have to say that if you prepared the pelt properly, then the tannery is too blame. The pickling, tanning process probably wasn't done correctly....happens quite a lot esp. with Taxidermy mounts, etc. That sucks....what company did you use so I know what place NOT to send my pelts?
 
I called the company before I sent it to see what I should do to it.

They told me to cut away the big pieces of fat and meat. He told me to hang dry it from a nail and salt around the front legs. I did all of this.

The hide was in the freezer for 5 months before I did all this. It showed no signs of freezer burn. Before I put it in the freezer I folded it up placing newspaper between the folds. Maybe I allowed it to hang and dry too long (3 days).??

When the company recieved the hide they mailed me a note saying thank you for the beautiful hide and they said it was nice and prime and prepared and handled nicely.

I'm not going to devulge the name of the business until I hear from them and see how they will handle it.

Maybe this is my fault (I don't think so due to the letter that they sent me) but I think it's funny that they didn't send me a note or anything along with the hide. And get this, I was supposed to send them a check for the hide before they were supposed to send it to me. I hadn't sent them the check yet and there was no invoice in the box. It's almost like they were saying they messed up and there is not charge.

Wouldn't be that big of a deal but it was my friend's first coyote and I was going to give it to him as a gift.
 
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When the company recieved the hide they mailed me a note saying thank you for the beautiful hide and they said it was nice and prime and prepared and handled nicely.

So. Dak.




I have to agree, they seemed to have done something wrong, if they were complmenting you on the handling etc.
 
Was it hung to dry on a stretcher? Or just hanging loose?

If it wasn't salted and dried in that manner, I can imagine all kinds of bacteria growing in the folds causing those bald spots, etc.

Ears and tails are always a bugger though.
 
Did you prep the pelt like you would to sell at auction? It sounds like you didn't flesh it properly. Also, did you split the tail and take out all of the ear cartilage? Hard to say whos fault it is but you do need to have it prepared correctly or even the best tanner can't help you.
 
No better time to get in trouble than your first night on a forum...so here we go. This is sort of a he said/she said kind of thing, but I have been on both sides of this fence myself.
I hunt foxes and annually tan for sale a dozen or so. I also get asked to tan for friends and acquaintances, which I have grown to dread.
When I get back from a nights hunt, I immediately skin, flesh, split tails, remove the majority of ear cartilage, split the lips, peel down the nose cartilage, and get on stretchers, everything that I shot. A few hours earlier they were all running. I take care of my hides before I take care of myself. Tanning my own hides, I have never had any slippage of any kind and they turn out great.
My experience with hides brought to me by others is not quite as good. Overall OK I guess. But I know that the guy that just shot his first coyote probably took it to work or down to the fire hall to show all the guys. (I know that happens because thats what I did with my first one!) If the guy doesn't skin and cool the hide immediately, he is already on the downhill side headed for problems. The proud hunter probably doesn't have a fleshing beam, or a fleshing knife, or a stretcher to put the hide on to keep it from laying on itself till it drys.(Salt or no salt.) (Properly cared for hides need not be salted.) If you don't have the expertise or means to process a dead animal into a top quality hide, there are two routes to getting the best result possible. Depending on the value you put on your trophy, I would find either a reputable taxidermist or a local trapper that routinely handles hides like the one you have. Both know what needs done. I would skin and help all I could to save a trophy for a guy.
I was taught a long time ago that in order to have a top quality hide, you need to take better care of the hide than you do of the meat. The hide is certainly more fragile and prone to spoilage than the flesh. There are no magic chemicals that the tannery can add to the broth that will make the hair stick once the bacteria have had their shot at it.
Thawing a frozen prime coyote hide is in itself a daunting task for a guy that is bacteria concious. The subject of another whole thread.
It's not impossible that there were problems at the tannery, but hold the seller and the buyer to equal standards when you make your final judgement.

Tom
 
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The hide was in the freezer for 5 months before I did all this. It showed no signs of freezer burn.



I did up an elk hide for a friend that he had frozen for a few months before he dropped it off and it did almost the exact same thing. Very spotty hair loss and generally a once nice hide turned bad. The above comments on processing a hide are spot on though. Once hair slippage starts its hard to stop, and it might not even be noticable slippage until you start really working the hide in the pickling and tanning solutions.
 


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