I have a question, last year I killed a black bear that measures 6'2" from nose to where his tail started. After a year I got it back from the taxiderence and it's now 4'6". My question is this normal or have I been taken. Is there anything that I can do have it restretched or I'm I just stuck with this short bear rug. many thanks Rocky

That doesn't sound right Are you sure its the same bear? After the tanning process it should go back to approx. the same size as when you caped it out (shrinks quite a bit when salted, but goes back to normal)

Trapman

The measured skin, was it measured in the body or did you lay it out on the ground after skinning and measure it???

Yes it was the same bear it was the only blond bear killed in the area last year. The skin was measured on the body about a hour i had shot it.
The hide looks normal except it all bunched up from about midway between his front and rear legs. and I'm sure the measurment was right because when I took it to the game warden he measured it right before he pulled the to to have it aged. Again thanks

Trapman,

The job was done inadequately; I encountered the same problem with an Elk hide.
Terrible, I hunted this Elk for 4 days, elusive animal, the hide was beautiful.
Came back about 25% smaller!!! The taxidermist told me he couldn’t do anything about it, very disappointing.

Good luck anyway, hopefully It works out for you.

Success,
Roland