Quartering black bear in backcountry burn (time lapse)

[BackcountryBloodline]

My 9 year old son was not only a huge help handing me knives here and there and keeping an eye out for other bears but also packed out a full rack of bone in ribs, the backstraps and tenderloins.

 

[Unclemoe]

Thats awesome

 

[Sewall]

Cool video! This is probably a dumb question but I have my first bear tag this year and I have no idea how to skin a bear properly for a rug. Do you leave the paws intact and just basically cut them off at the wrist? I assume you cut straight up the belly and down the center of each leg. Any help is appreciated!


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[Unclemoe]

Thats is how i have been told to do it but your best bet is to call the taxadermist you willbe using and ask how he wants it done

 

[BackcountryBloodline]

Cool video! This is probably a dumb question but I have my first bear tag this year and I have no idea how to skin a bear properly for a rug. Do you leave the paws intact and just basically cut them off at the wrist? I assume you cut straight up the belly and down the center of each leg. Any help is appreciated!


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Congratulations on your tag! Wish I had got my son to get a better video of the process, but ya basically up the belly to the bottom of the chin, I like to start my incisions at the middle of the base of each paw and down the center of each leg to meet the center cut, otherwise it's easy to come in at a weird angle and either your taxidermist bill will go up or the size of the rug will shrink. You can see a few frames in that video where I've severed half the tendons in the wrist and the paw is folded back...be careful not to puncture the hide at this point, I find it to be the hardest part but once you've cut through the rest of the tendons you can twist the paw off and leave those in for the taxidermist to skin as long as you'll be able to get the hide in the freezer within a day or so. Do the same with the head but skin as far up as you can and try to cut at the last vertebrae, if you're leaving the skull in for the taxidermist to skin you'll want to get as much neck meat out as possible as you have no idea how long it was thawed out for while it was in their care. There are a few decent videos on youtube, watch as many of those as you can and hopefully you can apply the knowledge this year!

 

[Sewall]

Congratulations on your tag! Wish I had got my son to get a better video of the process, but ya basically up the belly to the bottom of the chin, I like to start my incisions at the middle of the base of each paw and down the center of each leg to meet the center cut, otherwise it's easy to come in at a weird angle and either your taxidermist bill will go up or the size of the rug will shrink. You can see a few frames in that video where I've severed half the tendons in the wrist and the paw is folded back...be careful not to puncture the hide at this point, I find it to be the hardest part but once you've cut through the rest of the tendons you can twist the paw off and leave those in for the taxidermist to skin as long as you'll be able to get the hide in the freezer within a day or so. Do the same with the head but skin as far up as you can and try to cut at the last vertebrae, if you're leaving the skull in for the taxidermist to skin you'll want to get as much neck meat out as possible as you have no idea how long it was thawed out for while it was in their care. There are a few decent videos on youtube, watch as many of those as you can and hopefully you can apply the knowledge this year!

Thanks! I hope I get to use that knowledge soon!


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[Wrench]

When you're doing the paws, remember that your taxi has to have something to hold onto to finish turning them. More is better.

Lay your hide out to cool vs rolling it up warm. You would be amazed how long the heat will stay in a bear hide rolled up.

 

[ledflight]

Are there different ways to skin / field prep a bears based on if the meat or the skin is your primary concern?

 

[Nick Muche]

I do it the same way every time regardless of meat vs hide and I typically always keep the meat unless for some reason it smells terrible.

Here is a decent video Tyler made a couple years ago with a bear I had taken. Maybe it'll help.

 

[ledflight]

Thanks Nick