Deer Hide Project Update

Cordell and buck

Within a few weeks I will be buying the supplies I will need to start bark tanning my own deer leather. I have looked and looked, and I’m just about certain that there are no commercial sources for top quality bark tanned deer hides.

I’ve found plent of places that sell tanned deer hides, but most are chrome tanned Chinese made trash. I want to make quality deer hide whips, so I am not going to compromise on the leather even if it means I have to tan it myself.

The good news is that the good folks at Braintan.com sell all the supplies I will need to get started bark tanning -including the hides I’ll need when hunting season in closed here in Georgia. With lots of hard work and patience, I hope to be able to unveil my first deer hide cow whip toward the end of the year.

The photo above is of my son with his first buck. He got this one behind our house with his 8mm Mauser rifle last Fall. Unfortunately, this hide went to waste. If I accomplish what I am aiming for, the next buck Cordell harvests will provide food for the family, as well as leather for a cow whip!