About Us

Once upon a time there was a family that produced mink skins in Idaho. It occurred to this family that tanning their own production of mink skins instead of shipping it to New York for tanning could save some money.

After two years of doing battle with the EPA and zoning, the permits were obtained which allowed construction of a tannery to begin. This family would have given up on the permits, but their banker had bet them a six pack of beer that the permits could not be obtained.

This mink farming family happily tanned their own production for many years, until word got around the trapping and wild fur collecting community. The wild fur people knocked on the tannery door for many years but were always turned away. The mink farmers did not want to tan for others, they were busy tanning for themselves.

Finally, after many years of turning people away, the family decided to tan a few skins for some locals in the off season just to keep them happy and maintain a good relationship with the community. The locals were happy with the work and so they told their friends. That was the end of the private tannery. The door was kicked open, more people were hired, and additional equipment was installed. Today, the mink farmers tannery is the Official Tannery of the National Trappers Association and with over 3000 customers being served per year, the work they do for other people is far greater than the original internal farm mink tanning.

Eventually, the local taxidermists knocked on the tannery door. The decision was made to invest in more research, and equipment and after a considerable amount of research in the chemistry field to develop new formulas suitable for the taxidermy industry, the door was opened in the year 2001 to a limited amount of taxidermists who were willing to work with the tannery in order to develop a quality tan that could service their industry. Finally, in the year 2002 the door was opened to all taxidermists.