Any advice for having my dried and stretched coon hides made into coonskin hats for my 3 sons?

I have 1 fleshed and hanging, 1 I just caught needing to be processed still and 1 left to catch this year. I know fox and fur offers this service but I read a lot of negative reviews and I'm still waiting for my 4 yote hides to be returned haha.

How would you recommend getting these tanned and then sewn?

Also, not sure the best way to store the pelts till I have 3. Do I vac seal and freeze after fleshed and dried or just store in a dry cool place in a secure container?

I have mild interest in tanning myself and have ZERO interest in sewing lol

I send furs to Moyles for tanning. Can't beat their quality. Turnaround times are a bit long.

From my own experience, avoid USA Foxx and Furs. Seems you know that already.

Around here there are several individuals that will make hats and what not from your furs, if they are professionally tanned.

Wild Things Fur is one off the top of my head. There may be some in your neck of the woods.

Wild Things Fur

I've helped Don with his trapping class for a number of years and can't say enough good things about him or his family. They do great things with fur. You won't be disappointed if you go through them.

You might consider this - 3 coon might not be enough. Depending on the size of your pelts and the style hat you want, often times it takes more than 1 pelt to make a hat.

There are ways to get around this - leather, an extra pelt that you buy, etc. a good hat maker will know how to work around this situation.

Don’t mean to rain on your parade, just want you to be prepared.

Both Wild Things and Glacier Wear do great work. I’ve known Don and Randy for years. You might check with them and see if they recommend a tannery. They might have a preference as to whose tan they prefer to work with.

That is really helpful thanks, I have no idea about this. First one I caught was a 16 pound male and the other is a male that I haven't weighed yet. No idea if that's big or small for upstate NY haha

Wiss is spot on in her info !!

If you are making trooper hats your are going to need two pelts per hat, these are hats with the flaps that fall down over the neck and ears, great for cold weather all the time. These hats usually can be worn a long time while growing up !

If you are going to just make caps one large pelt will usually suffice, but remember they won't be able to wear them much when they get older. Depending on the age of the kids !

It's not really necessary to have them tanned for hat use, if you are having them regular tan, not like doing a full length coat, they are usually thin enough from a regular tanning, where as the coats and such need a bit more watching on the thickness.