How to Track Tannery Shipments for Your Taxidermy Shop

By MountChief Editorial Team|Updated Mar 2026

Most shops lose 2 to 4 weeks per year chasing tannery status by phone. The calls go like this: "I shipped about 40 deer capes on November 15, can you tell me if they've all come back?" The tannery puts you on hold, comes back 10 minutes later with a partial answer, and promises to call you back about the others.

No other taxidermy software offers any form of tannery shipment tracking. MountChief closes this visibility gap. Here's how to set it up.

TL;DR

Commercial tanneries typically take 6 to 10 weeks for white-tailed deer capes.
During peak winter season when tanneries are processing high volume from deer season, timelines often extend to 10 to 14 weeks.
Most shops lose 2 to 4 weeks per year chasing tannery status by phone.
"I can confirm we shipped the following hides on November 15 via UPS tracking #1Z999...
A few days before you ship hides to the tannery, go through your cold storage and identify which hides are ready to ship.
We received confirmation from UPS that the box arrived at your facility on November 17.

Step 1: Create Your Tannery Records in MountChief

Before you can track shipments, log your tanneries in MountChief:

Tannery name
Contact information
Typical turnaround time by species
Your account number

Set up each tannery you work with as a separate entity. If you use one tannery for deer and a different one for bears or exotics, both are tracked separately.

Step 2: Build Your Pre-Shipment Manifest

A few days before you ship hides to the tannery, go through your cold storage and identify which hides are ready to ship. In MountChief:

Open a new tannery shipment
Scan each QR tag as you pull hides from storage
Each scan adds that specimen to the shipment manifest
The system shows you the complete list of what you're about to send

This manifest is your documentation. If a hide doesn't come back, you can prove it was shipped.

Step 3: Log the Shipment

When the box goes out the door:

Select the tannery
Enter the ship date
Enter the carrier (UPS, FedEx, etc.) and tracking number
Set the expected return date based on your tannery's typical turnaround

MountChief creates a shipment record with all of this information and links it to every specimen in the manifest. Customers whose hides are in this shipment will see "shipped to tannery, expected return [date range]" in their portal automatically.

Step 4: Monitor During Processing

The shipment record now lives in your MountChief tannery dashboard. You can see at a glance:

All active tannery shipments
Which hides are in each shipment
Expected return dates
How long each shipment has been out

If a shipment is approaching or past its expected return date without coming back, it's visible. You can proactively contact the tannery rather than waiting until a customer calls to ask.

Step 5: Log Hides on Return

When hides arrive from the tannery:

Open the shipment record in MountChief
Scan each returning hide's QR tag as you unpack
The system matches received hides against the manifest
Any discrepancies, hides that didn't come back, are flagged immediately

If all hides match: the shipment is closed, all customer portals update to "back from tannery."

If hides are missing: you have a documented manifest to reference in your conversation with the tannery.

What to Do When the Tannery Can't Find Your Hides

With documentation, you're in a much stronger position:

"I can confirm we shipped the following hides on November 15 via UPS tracking #1Z999... The shipment manifest shows these specific hides. We received confirmation from UPS that the box arrived at your facility on November 17. We have not received hides with these tag IDs. Can you search your facility for them?"

That conversation is different from "I think I sent some deer capes in November, can you look for them?"

Most tanneries will prioritize the search when the shop has precise documentation. Tanneries that can't locate hides will handle the liability conversation differently when you have carrier confirmation, a dated manifest, and QR tag IDs.

Managing Multiple Tanneries

A high-volume shop might use one tannery for deer and another for bears or exotics. MountChief tracks each tannery relationship independently. You see:

Deer hides at Tannery A (shipped Nov 15, expected Feb 1)
Bear hides at Tannery B (shipped Oct 20, expected Jan 15)
Elk hide at Tannery C (shipped Oct 1, expected Jan 30)

Every hide, every tannery, in one view.

FAQ

How do I know where my hides are at the tannery?

With a pre-shipment manifest and carrier tracking, you know the hides arrived. The tannery itself controls status within their facility, most don't offer real-time status updates at the hide level. What you can control is your documentation: ship date, carrier tracking, and expected return date. MountChief logs all of this and flags shipments that are running late so you can proactively inquire.

How long does tannery processing take for deer capes?

Commercial tanneries typically take 6 to 10 weeks for white-tailed deer capes. During peak winter season when tanneries are processing high volume from deer season, timelines often extend to 10 to 14 weeks. The specific tannery relationship is the most important factor, get actual turnaround commitments from your tannery before season and factor them into customer timeline promises.

What should I do if the tannery can't find my shipment?

Start with your documentation: carrier tracking number, ship date, and shipment manifest from MountChief. Contact the tannery operations manager (not just the front desk) with this information. Most tanneries can locate a shipment when given carrier tracking confirmation. If the carrier confirms delivery but the tannery maintains they never received it, file a carrier insurance claim, commercial shipments typically have coverage. Have your manifested hide records ready for the claim.

How does this apply to solo taxidermy shops?

The principles in this guide apply to solo shops just as they do to larger operations, though the scale differs. A single-person shop may have lower absolute volume but faces the same documentation, compliance, and customer communication requirements. The practical advice here scales down to any shop size.

What is the most common mistake taxidermists make with how to track tannery shipments?

The most common mistake is treating how to track tannery shipments as an afterthought rather than building it into the standard workflow from the start. Shops that encounter problems in this area typically did not establish clear processes before season, which means every situation becomes a one-off decision rather than a standard response.

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Sources

National Taxidermists Association (NTA)
US Fish & Wildlife Service

Get Started with MountChief

Tannery visibility is the biggest operational gap at most taxidermy shops. MountChief's tannery tracking gives you a running log of every shipment, expected return, and actual return so you always know where every hide stands. Try MountChief to bring the tannery portion of your workflow under full control.