Big bison hide.

Yukon Mike

Yukon Mike

Well-known member
Some of you guys will remember that I was lucky enough to get a big honkin bison two winters ago, but we left the hide on the meat to keep it cleaner to get home, so no hide to tan.

View attachment DSCF1825.jpg

View attachment DSCF1844.jpg

Well, I kinda regretted that and put the word out I was looking for a good hide should one come available.

A couple of young fellas I know tracked this big bull down around Christmas time. Literally, they hit a hot track in the snow on snowmobiles, took off jogging on foot and caught up to him in about 8 km. That's hard core.

View attachment IMG_0019.jpg

It has been rolled up and frozen outside so they put it in a tub to thaw a couple of days ago. Today I got to have a look at it.

View attachment DSCF4960.jpg

I don't know how much it weighed wet.

View attachment DSCF4961.jpg
 
I can't imagine fleshing these things for a living, terrible work. Worse that a big bear even. My friend there was just giving it a little try, I'll start fleshing it for real tomorrow.

View attachment DSCF4969.jpg

View attachment DSCF4981.jpg

Its a nice woolly winter hide, 8' x 8' about, good color, well skinned and I couldn't be happier with it. Lots of work to go yet though.

Working on these critters for real puts wild west stories in a different perspective for me. I can't imagine wearing one of these as a winter coat, if you got wet it would so heavy. I'm hoping that after I get it salted and dried it will come in under 100 lbs, we'll see.

Mike
 
Thought I read somewhere that the natives would chew the hide to soften it, that would be a mouth full!

Have always thought a Bison hide in front of the fire place would be a cool addition to the house.
 
Mike, I can tell you from first hand experience when I lived in Alaska, that just preparing a full shoulder mount bison cape about drove me nuts. I used to work part time for Denver Jonas Brothers.

That is a monster hide that they have. Thanks for those pictures.
Al
 
The hide is super good, but when I see the size of the Bison and all that delicious meat. Man that makes me smile and hungry...
 
I'm with Vince. But a pair of bison hide moccasins would be nice, maybe with that wooly fur on the inside.
 
Mike, I forget how big those critters are till seeing the pictures. I had a great uncle who had a small herd years ago. I thought it would be neat to have a head mount. I talked to the taxidermist about getting a mount. I do not remember the price I was quoted but it was way way more than I was willing to pay. Also, I would of needed a bigger house to hang it on the wall. Neat pictures. Thanks for posting.
 
Fur-in moccasins would be pretty darn cool. A younger bison would have better, thinner leather to work with so I'll have to see if I can get one.

My plan is to use this one just as a rug on the floor.


UPDATE on the fleshing proceedings...


"Heroically optimistic" best describes this undertaking. As I recline with heat on my back and ice on my shoulder and still more work to go. Its not just that its so big and immovable soaking wet, the connective tissue is amazing. Way tougher than a grizzly bear. If you've ever caped a sheep head you know the "stringy" stuff that attaches the skin to the skull on the forehead? Almost all of the bison hide is like that. Lots of cutting, and touching up the knife. Scraping is futile. Good experience for sure, and I know now how out of my league this thing is. I'll finish it tomorrow morning and get the salt on it, but I wouldn't do it again, not even for money, which makes this one even more valuable to me personally.

Mike
 
Fur-in moccasins would be pretty darn cool. A younger bison would have better, thinner leather to work with so I'll have to see if I can get one.

My plan is to use this one just as a rug on the floor.


UPDATE on the fleshing proceedings...


"Heroically optimistic" best describes this undertaking. As I recline with heat on my back and ice on my shoulder and still more work to go. Its not just that its so big and immovable soaking wet, the connective tissue is amazing. Way tougher than a grizzly bear. If you've ever caped a sheep head you know the "stringy" stuff that attaches the skin to the skull on the forehead? Almost all of the bison hide is like that. Lots of cutting, and touching up the knife. Scraping is futile. Good experience for sure, and I know now how out of my league this thing is. I'll finish it tomorrow morning and get the salt on it, but I wouldn't do it again, not even for money, which makes this one even more valuable to me personally.

Mike
Click to expand...

Imagine doing it with bone and stone tools! Those natives were tough.
 
Mike,

Are you fleshing on a beam or on the floor? I can imagine how hard it is if you are on the floor.

When I was trapping the two hardest animals to flesh were beaver and the necks of coon. Beaver in particular had an almost gristle like layer for most of the hide. The first beaver I fleshed took me an hour and a half.

I eventually got that down to 15 minutes and the number one tool I used was a fleshing draw knife but used in an unconventional way. I took the convex part of that blade and sharpened it to a razor edge so when the hide was on the beam I could shave the really tough parts of the hide very easily. I had to make sure I combed out the fur side before putting it on the beam so I wouldn't cut it but once I got used to it neither beaver nor coon posed any more fleshing problems.
 
I fleshed & stretch two 35# beavers back in the day and said I'd never do that again, sold the others I caught green.
Cant imaging fleshing a freakin bison!!!
You dah man Mike!
 
[font=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]
Imagine doing it with bone and stone tools! Those natives were tough.
Click to expand...



As a voting member of the male contingent, I hate to admit this but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, That's why this was "women's work".
[/font]
 
I tried working on the ground, you can imagine how long that lasted Pete. Managed to get it on to a 4x8 table and worked on it like that for a while.

I've seen your beaver "shaving" method done by a fella from my hometown, and I agree it is slick. He's 84 and still does a whack of fur every year.

I do beavers on my knee like this guy, although not as fast.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itQt5i668S0

The same method gave me the best progress on the bison, just took a lot of time.

I think another really good way to do it would be to tack the thing out on the ground skin side up, and let the ravens and foxes take the meat off.
 
not a trapper and never fleshed a thing in my life but I always thought the goal was an intact skin....that guy was fast but the skin looked like it was killed with a pitchfork and a gaff when he was done......is that acceptable in the fur World?....


Just curious....


Steve
 
Some of the holes were from the front feet and face. A few small holes are fine, big ones not so much. And it depends where they are on the pelt. And what kinda critter it is.
Put a big hole in the back fur of a coon or fox and you just lost money. A hole in the belly, no big deal.

That guy's video was amazing, that knife much be sharp as hell. I would have made the pelt look like Swiss cheese, and probably lost a finger or two if I did it that fast.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top