Fur Auctions- tanned hides or simply dried?

[ivarhusa]

I was looking at Predator Xtreme August 2008 http://www.predatorxtreme-digital.com/predatorx/200808/ and they had a piece on fur auctions.  They list prices.  Would that be for a dried hide or a fully tanned pelt?

[furbearer365]

most fur guys do not tan so i assume that they are talking about dried.  Although if you have the knowledge to tan or maybe no someone who can, you will always get more selling it as "taxidermy quality" rather than just a pelt.  My buddy just bought a wolf hide on the e-bay for just 350 dollars.  It was just salt dried and no skin was left in order to mount it.  Had the dummy who skinned it had thought about it, they may have gotten as much as 1,200 if done correctly.  What a waste

[ivarhusa]

OK, Furbearer, I am a dummy. How can there be "no skin left".  Isn't the skin the 'hide', to which all fur is attached? I spent a considerable amount of time (with marginal tools) fleshing to get a good tan.  It came out great, for my purposes (a nice soft pelt).

Is there something different about processing to 'mount' a hide to a form (as I guess you were describing)?

Ivar

[furbearer365]

What i meant was in order to mount an animal you need to leave extra skin around the eyes and nose, and the lips need to be turned.  If you cut all the skin off the eyes and lips down to the hair line it is impossible to mount.   I guess with alot of pinning you almost could do without the eye skin but most taxidermist, if any good, want that skin so it is done correctly.  You need this skin to tuck into the form in order to hold hide in the correct position.  It may sound a little complicated and i am sorry, i cannot seem to discribe what i am talking about without physically showing you.  Sometimes you will see hides that also have the inner ear completely cut out which also makes for ugly mount. 

[BLKBEARKLR]

Furbearer have your friend look into the castlip system, you might be able to gety a decent mount using one of those.

Joe

[furbearer365]

I have mounted animals on the cast lip and it is a great product for commercial taxidermy but this specific hide is unmountable anyway.  The eyes had been enlarged and the feet were not at all done correctly, not the mention the skinner cut almost all of the inner ear out.  Once he got it and saw the shape it was in i told him that it wouldn't be worth my time and his money.  He agreed and said he would just hang it as a pelt.  Just a word to the wise, never trust a wolf hide on the internet for only $350.  Had he of asked me before he bought it, i would have told him to pass without even looking because he thought he was getting an amazing deal, and had it been taxidermy quality, he would have.