This is what I did with most of my LM and L's this season with the hope that at our late association sale I could attract a bid or two that wouldn't make me want to puke when I saw them. Was thinking these would make good wall hangers or even possibly could be hooped.

Ended up with 25 of them. Skinning out one side of the tail and leaving attached to the pelt cost me about another 10 minutes of put-up time per pelt.

Question: What is the opinion about what a good minimum bid would have been on these?

Must be a reason there aren't more wall hanger beavers with the tails left on, because it sure looks cool. I wonder if the tails rip off during the tanning process, or the tails need to be tanned/processed differently than the hide? If that's the case, they would probably bring the same as other similar hides, maybe less if theres extra work involved to make a marketable product.

I have tanned them with the tails left on before. The difference was I clam-shelled the tails that time. I think one would need to have a conversation with the tannery one uses to make sure they can handle that. Any tannery that handles taxidermy prepped pelts and gets good feedback would certainly be capable of the task.

Carl - those beaver look cool. I’m sure they would have brought a decent price at Klamath. Any number of craft buyers at that sale. Too bad it was postponed.

My experience with tanning beaver pelts with the tail on has been so-so. I’ve sent some to Moyles and the tails seem to get beat up a bit. I’m assuming in the drumming process. Some turn out ok. Some are not ok.

I assume it has to do with the leather difference between the pelt and the tail. Pelts tan fine by themselves. Tails tan fine by themselves. The 2 together, not so much..

Good idea. Yea tough to come up with a minimum. Me Id go $20-$25. But, Id be prepared to no sale and send em to the tannery. Or cut the tails off and sell for $7. I beleive you would have more success tanning then peddleing them. That way the buyer can pay more since he/she can see what they're getting, no
Risk.
I put up 12 cased beaver. Med smalls on coon boards, blankets on wolf board. I had hoped to put them in front of a couple craft buyers, but our sale was cancelled. They have been sent to tannery.
Good Luck.

I think if you got them tanned you would be able to sell some.Dont know how that would go over in the raw fur market.If you got no offers you could always cut the tail off with a scissors and ship to auction.Or send a few to tanner to see if it makes a difference.
A guy could buy those tanned and resell after hooping for an extra 20 I bet.

This is what they looked like when I clam-shelled the tails a few years ago. I had these tanned in Iowa and like WissMiss says, the tails turned out "so-so". A little beat up. Some sewing here and there and a dye treatment likely would have made them look pretty good. They came out kind of faded from the tanning.

I displayed them in single lots and ended up getting $35 each for those. All from one buyer. The tanning plus shipping cost was $25-26 each.... so it wasn't a particularly profitable venture.

It had been a couple years since I looked at tanning prices for beaver, so when i saw it was around $25 each, i balked at what I thought would be a minimal investment to turn a profit. I looked up what tanned rats were selling for and i couldn't even make a profit on those if a buyer was willing to shop around.

Seems like it would be easier to just sew a nice tanned beaver tail to your tanned beaver to get the same look.

How much does moyles charge for tanning Beaver tails did not know they did them??

You got any pics of them after tanning BP.

I’m not sure if Moyles does just beaver tails. I think the place in Iowa - Speciality Leather - does the best job on beaver tails.

Yeah Boco here's a clam-shelled tail:


Where it is folded there was damage to the scales.

Looks like they didnt remove the grain before tanning it.
With the couple beaver tails I have tanned I remove the black grain off first,that stuff just hardens up.The skin on the tail is white after removing the black grain.The scale pattern is still in the leather after the grain comes off.
Because it is attached to the pelt I guess they cant remove the grain from the tail and preserve the fur on the pelt.

How do you remove the grain Boco?

Soak it in warm water before skinning for a few days.It should slip right off like a glove.