Leaving behind a bear hide

[ICEMAN]

I am a bear novice, only two bears under my belt.

For the guys who have already placed enough bear rugs on the wall, what does it feel like to claim your bear meat from a kill, and to walk off and leave a hide behind....?

[Machias]

Couldn't do it.  Lots of taxidermist will buy your hide for $100+.  No reason to walk away from the hide.  I have two rugs and two shoulder mounts.  Someday and the right bear I'll get a 3/4 mount, but until then I like to have the hides tanned.  I hope it's not common practice to walk away and leave the hide.

[RadSav]

I've never been able to leave a bear hide behind.  Even ugly bear hides have made it home.  Back when there were quite a few hound guys I'd give hides to them for collars.  Guess it's super tough stuff they like for that.  Used to also have a drop off at the local elks club where they raised money tanning hides.  Haven't seen one of those for a while.  Not sure if they still do it. 

I still have about two dozen bear hides in boxes and laying around the house.  Given a few away to guys starting out as taxidermists needing some to not worry about while they learn.  Given quite a few to traditional archers for making quivers and whatnot.  Even made bear hide pillows for Christmas gifts some time back.  It's starting to get dang expensive to tan then just to give them away.  But I feel a stronger respect and connection with bear and their hides than deer or elk.  Probably why I still haven't been able to leave one in the woods.  At the price and delay for tanning these days I should probably learn to tan them myself. 

Sometimes wish I could do it.  Just doesn't seem right to me, but I have no issues with guys that can do it. 

[huntnnw]

left 1..it was horrendous! almost just skin

[boneaddict]

I usually pack the damn thing out then shove it in a freezer for 5 years or so until Momma gives me the sharp stick.

[billythekidrock]

I am a bear novice, only two bears under my belt.

For the guys who have already placed enough bear rugs on the wall, what does it feel like to claim your bear meat from a kill, and to walk off and leave a hide behind....?

I have never felt bad about leaving one (or 10) behind. Meat first, then think about the hide if it is in good shape.

[h2ofowlr]

I don't need anymore bear rugs, so I don't have any issue leaving the hide.  Just packing the meat out.  Same for deer and elk.

[BOWHUNTER45]

A guy would love to have them all but you only have so much room to get all your trophies and rugs take up a lot of room ...Sometimes if it is late in the year when they are fully prime I will pack them out and give them away ...you can always find someone who would love to have one 

[halflife65]

Take it out and sell it to a taxi or get him to trade it for cleaning up the skull for you (bugs or however the guy wants to do it.)  You can also just get the hide tanned for now and store it in case you ever want to use it for something later.  Considerably less expensive and if you get a real big one or a unique color you might be sorry you left it.

[h20hunter]

In a nutshell I'd say it is your bear. As long as you don't waste the meat intentionally I say do whatever you want. My first bear...I had no space for the hide nor the funds to have it worked over. In hindsight I should have offered it to the taxi in trade for work or simply given it to a newbie taxi for practicing on. However, once you shoot and tag it...it is your bear. If you don't want it, leave it.

[ghostshell]

i have no money for taxidermy this year although if i am fortunate enough to shoot a bear or two the hide will be packed out. not one to waste... if i take a bear that is the one, my credit card will have ta do for my rug.

[180-GRAIN]

I have left 2 out of 12 hides in the woods. Took meat, head and claws. After tanning 7-8 and having a couple rugs done it starts to get hard to want to spend the money on them. I left one because i forgot my bone saw in the truck 3 miles away and had no time toget to it before dark, so made the decision to bone it out and take what i could get. The other was 350+ pounds 8 1/2 miles in the wilderness. I had to pack it myself so taking head and meat was all I could carry. my buddy had all our gear so his pack was equally heavy otherwise we would have taken part of the hide for a 3/4 mount. I do believe once the tag is notched its your hide to do what you want with though, if you dont want it dont feel bad about leaving it as long as you take the important part... Meat.

[shanevg]

I've shot 9 bears and only packed out 4 hides.  2 of those 4 just ended up in the garbage can.  Tanning hides is way too expensive to tan every bear I shoot and I don't need a box of tanned hides laying around.  Plus, most the places I shoot bears, it's pain in the but to skin them (and keep the hide intact) let alone pack it out. 

I'm hunting for the joy of hunting and putting meat in the freezer.  I love bear meat but generally I'm not hunting for a hide anymore than I'm hunting for a deer hide.  That's also why it doesn't make any difference to me whether I shoot a bear on August 1st or October 31st. 

[bearpaw]

When I first started hunting and fishing as a child we were very poor, hunting and fishing was about having fun and getting food, I can remember how happy my mom and dad were when I started being more successful because it meant more meat in the freezer and food on the table. I never had anything mounted or tanned until I was 18 or 19. I don't even have a lot of my early horns as my family moved one summer while I was away doing summer work and they were forgotten when they moved. But, I have accumulated quite a few mounts since then and now find it hard to let a bear hide go to waste because there are so many uses for them.

[seth30]

Are you skinning in the field or at home?  I dont know if I would want to stick around too long out there all those darn yellow jackets.