Anyone every try tanning their own hide or pelts? I shot a gray fox the other day and would like to tan it myself. I've tanned a few axis hides years ago and they weren't too bad. I got the kit somewhere online.

Wanted to see how y'all have done it in the past. TIA!

I've tried the salting method on a deer hide and it turned out stiff of course. This was my brother and I in junior high/high school just bored. Have to trim off a lot of the edges that get too hard.

I've also done the chemical one from Cabela's and it turned out soft and pretty nice. I don't remember much since it was so long ago.

Tried? Yep. I shot a grey fox last season and scraped it. Still waiting in the freezer for me to get off my ass and finish it.

Next time I'll scrape the big areas of fat and pay to have it finished.

youtube has plenty of videos on how to scrape and do it..

Going to try to buckskin at least one whitetail hide over christmas break. I also want to try at least the shield section from a pig, if we get another one. As thick as it is, I'm wondering how it would do for a moccasin sole.

Thanks guys for the help
I'll check out youtube and see what I find out. I called North Texas Tannery and the charged $90 to do it.

Check out Wasco for DIY kits - www.taxidermy.com. They also have an educational/forum site - www.taxidermy.net. I did taxidermy at home for awhile including shoulder mounts where I tanned the hides myself.

I've done a sheep skin and a section of buffalo hide. The key to having the skin come out nice and flexible is to work it over a something like a smooth wooden beam. You can also work the hide back and for by hand. The purpose is to break up the fibers in the skin. Otherwise, the skin will tend to stiffen up, even though it's tanned. This probably won't be much of an issue on coyote type skins, but sheep and buffalo skins are a little thicker.

You can also just stretch and dry the pelt as if you were preparing it for sale to a fur buyer. I've got a couple on the wall that are just dried and they look fine.