The guys at South Texas Furdressing wee able to work some kind of magic. I Hunted in NW Namibia in May of 07, and when the hides went to the tannery it sounded like they were going to be unuasble. South texas just couldn't get them to rehydrate. It sounded like they had just been exposed to too much heat, or that the shop that did the dip and pack had distroyed them with the chemicals they had used. From what my taxidermist was saying it sounded like we would basically end up with furry cardboard. I was pretty well set that I was going to just have my Gemsbok and Kudu done as skull mounts. Well it took some extra time and experimentation of the part of South Texas but they were able to shave the hides down and got them to take a tan, and they have plenty of stretch to them. Looks like I will still be able to have them done as Pedistal mounts as I had originally planned.

Tom, at South Texas, is one of the best in the industry. We have been using him for over 10 years. Have tried an occasional new guy that advertised they had a great tan, but we always come back to South Texas for his consistancy in quality.

Glad to hear he saved your skins!

Yost in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconcin is by far the best tannery for bear rugs. Soft, supple, luxurious, clean tan with incredible stretch. Perfect ingredients for the highest quality finished bear rug. Been using them for 20+ years for bear skins.

I know it's kind of far for you guys, but wilderness fur dressers on long island NY does a great tan. Some of the best stretch i've seen and has a great tan on african hides as well. I recently sent stuff there and was pleased with the quality.

Mary,

Marc also touts Tom and SWF as a great tannery. When I went to Africa, I had all my hides and skulls shipped into Houston and then directly on to SWF. They forwarded the skulls to Marc, then tanned the hides. -TONY

Tom is The Man.

Good news about South Texas but every time I hear or see Yost mentioned I cringe. In my opinion they suck. They ruined over 30 big mule deer capes for me and refused to make it right or even discuss it with me. They sent me the capes only after I paid them and they waited to ship until everything cleared (unlike a few previous shipments) knowing I was being screwed over by them, they knew they were all totally worthless and ruined by them by over drumming and poor shaving. I have been in the taxidermy business full time beginning in 1976 so I know a liitle bit about what I am talking about concerning tanneries.

Jim,

I think you and I have had this discussion once before. Sorry to hear of your misfortune with Yost, but you and I both know every taxidermist has one or two (or more) tannery horror stories.

We have two top named tanneries in the industry that you could not pay us to send a skin to! They ruined several skins and would not make it right. That's just how 'most' tanneries are when they make a mistake.

As far as Yost goes, they were initially a tannery for the fur garment industry and only later ventured into taxidermy skins. We ONLY send bear (a fur bearer) to them and have never once in 20+ years ever had a problem with them. I always send taxidermists I do wholesale rugs for, to Yost and have never once had a complaint in over 20+ years.

Rude liars and thieves are pretty harsh words to describe a business as successful as theirs. But I can understand your anger as we have experienced similar disappointments with other tanneries. Just like our industry, I am sure there is a turnover of employees in the tanning business and overdrumming and shaving too thin sound like new employee mistakes.

We have found over the years, that certain tanneries excel with certain skins, so we use 2 tanneries to service our tanning needs.

As a rugmaker for the taxidermy industry I have worked with skins from every tannery in the United States and there is not one in my rugging experience that can compare to the high quality tan Yost performs on a bear. Their fur bearer tan renders a soft, supple, luxurious and well groomed haircoat, well neutralized, oiled and clean leather with that incredibly clean leather smell that I love.

Kindest regards,
Mary

Thanks Mary, Maybe I am to harse but it was an experience I will never forget and they were rude to me and they did in FACT knowingly screw me over to what amounted to thousands of dollars. I also use more than one tannery. Golden State in California recieves and tans all my African orders. I send North American skins and capes to either The Wildlife Gallery in Mich or Glacier Fur in Montana and all for several years running have always treated me honestly and fairly and all do a great job. I used to swear by New Method and they went down hill in quality and service a few years ago and do not care anymore. I remember you mentioning that the Wildlife Gallery gave you grief but so far in several years I have had good luck with them; they ruined a mule deer cape on me once by over shaving it to were the hide was half moon cut up all over but they replaced it no problem or arguements.

I use the wildlife gallery as well. I have had excellent results and superior customer service with them. Last season I was having trouble rehydrating a few hides as were others on taxi.net. I commented on the post, and a couple days later got a call from them to see what they could do for me. We worked it out and haven't had a probalem since. 2 years ago they called me and said one of my hides had slip spots the size of half dollars in front of the tear ducts. They tanned it, didn't charge me for the tan and sent it back. I rehydrated it and fixed it and mounted it without a problem. With that kind of service, it's hard not to use them.

I know many have said wonderful things about the Wildlife Gallery, but we had serious problems with a very large batch of skins from them. We were able to save the skins, but they were as fragile as a mourning dove skin. We have never had that problem with any other tannery. Their customer service dept. was not caring at all about the dilemma their tanning had caused us, in shop.

Like I said earlier, we all have tannery horror stories and we hear them more often than we do the good result stories. I am just so pleased to hear Rhys' skins were saved by Tom at South Texas and he will have the mounted memories of his Namibia hunt. Please post the mounts when they are completed, Rhys, we would love to see them. Again, I am glad to hear your good news.

Kind regards,
Mary

I'll definately post pics of the mounts when they are done. I got the ideas of how I wanted to have everything mounted. Still not exactly certain on the Gemsbok, how I'm goning to have him done. I do know they are all being done as pedistal mounts.