Anyone get their bears soft tanned, not rugged? Other species as well?

[DOUBLELUNG]

I had the back half of my mountain goat soft tanned, its usually draped over the back of my wifes rocking chair

[Okanagan]

I would almost consider not having the head on a soft tanned bear hide, but I'd have to see it first. I suppose if it gets done head on and it creeps everyone out I can just get rid of it.

I probably won't shoot another bear but if I do I plan to cut it down before having it soft tanned.  Unless it is a monster for size I will either make an oval out of it, or a semi bear shape with feet and head cut off kind of rounded.  Then I would probably cut wedges out of flank and armpit and sew it flat.  If you trim it first, it should cost considerably less to have tanned because they usually charge for bears based on length of the hide.

Re ragged eye hole and mouth on a garment tanned fur:  When I get it back from the tannery I take tiny fly fishing scissors and carefully trim off the strings and excess tanned material.  They come out tidy and look very good. Of course, it helps if you kept all of the eyelid and lips when skinning and didn't make any oops cuts in them!  Ditto for "button hole" cuts anywhere in the hide!

[Humptulips]

I like the idea of trimming it into an oval. Been thinking about doing this if I ever get another big elk with that blond color to it. I'm thinking even garment tanned it would be stiff enough to be much like a rug.
Kind of wondering if you had something like that and got it to lay flat could you paint some kind of non-slip backing on it like a rubber coating. I like the idea of just the hide but fear it would be a little slippery. Probably put t somewhere it wasn't getting walked on so maybe not necessary.

[lewy]

I’m gunna flesh and salt my spring bear and send to moyles, it saves you quite a bit over having a taxi do it. I just got a batch of my fur back from trapping season and am very happy with the work they did along with the turn around time.

[Jpmiller]

Anybody ever do it themselves? I read a book about making buckskins and it seems to be a pretty involved process. I've done the do it yourself regular tanning kits but a soft finish seems even trickier.

[Alchase]

I have a white tail hair on tanned, so I could hang it. Buck was just a legal buck but the skin is nice. It has been relegated to the garage wall, lol

[Born2late]

Anybody using moyles should call them first and see if they do a garment tan on bears.We sent a cougar to them this year and they do not garment tan cougars. Only taxideremy tan. It wasn't listed on there web site so i called them and they said Nope thats all they offered. Not sure on bears though.

[Johnny Doe]

Talk to some WA taxidermist before you get your bear.  From what I have learned on the East Side is that almost nobody does a soft tan, 90% ship out of state to an actual tannery, so your taxi basically ends up just being the middle man and doing the fleshing/pre-work before tanning. Other taxidermist in ID and MT will do the soft tan themselves and it will cost you less or find someone who deals furs that do their own tanning.  I have had a rug made and one soft tanned, personally I like the rug best, but it's gonna cost ya!

Just my 

[Jonathan_S]

While that's generally true, there are a few very talented Eastside Taxi's who do a bang-up job in house 

[Pete112288]

Maybe I haven't talked to enough taxi's. It seems like such a HUGE difference between sending it out yourself and going through a taxi. Several I have found are between like $300 and $600 for tanning an average bear hide.
I really wouldnt want to mess up anything in the process of doing things on my end to prepare it to be sent out though. I never done all that before with hides.
Am I making a bigger issue out of the fleshing it and drying it and such than it really is?
Does anyone know of anybody local (within the state, or Oregon) that does the whole thing?
I thought about doing it myself as a few other people have mentioned as well. I am just not sure of the whole thing.

[BlackRiverTaxidermy]

Pete112288 or anyone else for the matter...

Something to consider when contemplating your own skinning/fleshing and/or sending to a tannery... Yes, its usually cheaper to send to a tannery yourself, however make sure you know what your doing when prepping the hide (turning the lips, ears and eyes and fleshing) and salting. Some tanneries wont accept hides from private parties for this specific reason. If you do it wrong your going to really mess or even ruin your leather/hide. If you've decided to do this process on your own I would  highly suggest to NOT start with a bear as due to their size some guys get part of the way through the process and just give up due to length of time and frustration 
The other consideration in sending to a tannery vs. taxidermist is what your overall plan with the hide is? I have a ton of customers that want the hide sent to the tannery for a dry tan or 'trapper tan' as I refer to it, for their bears to just have the hide preserved. If your looking at ONLY doing that for your hide then a tannery may be worth it after you've done all the prep work. HOWEVER..if its a hide that your thinking of turning into a mount or rug later then I would highly recommend sending to a taxidermist unless you extremely proficient at turning the lips, ears, eyes, paws, etc CORRECTLY. If you don't do this efficiently then your chance of being able to have the right amount of membrane around the all the said areas could be slim or full of un-needed holes. I recently had a customer bring me a bobcat that was fleshed and dried for the fur market, however he decided to have it mounted. Unfortunately he took so much of the membrane off around the mouth and eyes that I have nothing to tuck for a rug.
And your right....the prices can really vary from taxi to taxi for a dry tan job. Some charge by the foot, some a flat fee. The leathers can also be differing depending on which tannery or method they use. The best way to find the one that meets with your approval is recommendations, or better yet to see their work in person and see the hide and leather quality; I would highly recommend this as the quality of the leather greatly dictates the longevity of your hide. 
Best of luck and hope this helped...Joel/BRT

[HikerHunter]

After a 3/4 mount and a rug, I had my third bear tanned and have it draped over the couch. I was running out of wall space! It's a lot cheaper than a rug so I don't worry about my kids spilling things on it or pulling the hair out, etc. I also cut off the head and paws which reduced the cost too. Its been a couple years and has held up great.