HIDE TANNING
Hide Tanning Bookings
We have 2 skilled hide tanning teachers on staff, Hunter and Beze available to teach hide tanning for hire.
We’re primarily teaching in Manitoulin Island, Greater Sudbury District Ontario (Hunter) and Southwestern Ontario (Beze).
Hosting a full immersion 4-7+ Day deer or moose hide tanning camp where we learn the full process or a large portion of hide tanning stages requires a large budget because there are lots of associated costs. We can be booked to travel in Ontario for full immersion hide camps.
1-2 Day Hide Tanning Demonstrations are available and cost less to host. These will cover an overview of 1 or 2 stages of hide tanning. We can be booked for hide demonstrations locally in the regions named above.
We rent out tools and equipment needed for hosting a hide camp and demonstrations.
Email us for daily teaching fees and equipment rental fees at medicines.from.the.land@gmail.com
Please fill out the form above with your teaching request with as much detail as possible.
Thanks for your interest in tanning with us!
Hide Tanning Teachers:
Hunter Cascagnette (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, harvester, herb grower & herbalist based on Mnidoo Mnising, Manitoulin Island, Ontario.
Hunter’s visual art practice is centered around naturally dyed deer rawhides, traditional brain tanning of deer & moose hides, antler work & the intersections between plant medicine, trees & hides.
From brain tanning their first deer hide in 2017, to tanning their first moose hide with their partner in 2020, to bark tanning their first sheepskin in 2024, Hunter continues to fall more deeply in love with the process & transformation of tanning hides.
Hunter teaches hide tanning for hire & sells their handcrafted smoke-tan hides & rawhides through their small business Medicines From The Land @medicines_from_the_land. They are a co-founder & hide tanning mentor with Niizh Manidook Hide Camp @niizh_manidook_hide_camp.
Attending hide camps has profoundly impacted Hunter’s hide tanning journey & practice. They are dedicated to continuing to learn & share knowledge about this rich ancestral artform.
Beze Gray is a Two Spirit Anishinaabe, Lunape, Oneida land defender from Aamjiwnaang First Nation near Sarnia, Ontario. They first learned about making rawhide with their uncle Bruce Stonefish in Moraviantown. Beze was an apprentice with Niizh Manidook Hide Camp (NMHC) in 2020 and learned with Hunter how to brain tan deer hide. They are now a hide tanning mentor and organizer with NMHC.
Hunter and Beze have been learning about hide tanning with elder Brenda Lee from Maskwacis, Alberta/ Ermine Skin First Nation since 2020. They've had the opportunity to attending 4 different Indigenous hide tanning camps between them since 2019, which has influenced and enriched their hide tanning practice. Miigwech (Thank You) to knowledge carriers at Lutsel k'e Hide Tanning Camp in North West Territories with Stephanie Poole, Hannah Catholique, The Grannies, Hovak Johnston; Moose River Basin (MRB) Hide Camp in Ontario with Melaw Nakehk'o and Mandee MacDonald; Okimaw Kihew Mekwanak (OKM)'s Moose Hide Camp with Brian and Paulette Bird in Alberta and Nimkii Azhibikong's Hide Tanning Camp in Ontario.
Hunter and Beze are co-founders of Niizh Manidook Hide Camp (NMHC) - a Hide Tanning Camp for Two-Spirit / 2SLGBTQIA+ community based in Southern Ontario.
For More Info About NMHC Visit:
About our hides
The deer hides are tanned using traditional brain tanning methods which incorporate the animal’s brain, metal, and bone tools purchased from Indigenous tool makers, smoke from rotted deciduous trees and many hours of physical and at times grueling work. There are no chemicals involved in our brain tanning process (commercially tanned hides undergo some chemical treatments). The hides are handcrafted, all-natural and made through focus, hard work, and Indigenous wisdom. Currently, no electric-powered tools are used in their hide tanning process. Hunter and their partner Beze work with deer hides from the Southern Georgian Bay, Lake Couchiching, Lake Erie and Thames River regions.
Everything is done by hand, with care.
Hide Purchasing Info
We do not currently take orders for deer hides - Deer hides sales are announced on Instagram, Facebook & through our mailing list!
For Updates on Hide Sales:
Follow Us On
Instagram & Facebook
or Join Our Mailing List!
Pricing for Buckskins
Pricing for hides varies depending on the thickness, dimensions and quality of each individual hide. Generally pricing on hides will range from $100-$150 per square foot for deer hide and $130- $180 per square foot for moose hides. Pricing for a piece of hide may also be determined by the number of (small) holes in the hide. The cost of a full size brain tanned smoked deer buckskin ranges from approximately $1000-$1,600. For this pricing you will receive a mature white tail deer hide, with few holes, very soft all the way through and smoked a medium-dark even colour.
Pricing for Rawhide
Pricing for hide varies depending on the length and width of each hide.
