# question about alligator hide



## Millyville Hunter (Sep 3, 2012)

So we have skinned out our 11ft plus gator and was wondering if it is legal to sale the hide and if it is who buys them.


----------



## frydaddy40 (Sep 3, 2012)

*Sales your hide*



Millyville Hunter said:


> So we have skinned out our 11ft plus gator and was wondering if it is legal to sale the hide and if it is who buys them.



   First if your planning on selling your hide (a big gator is not
 what you want) as the grade of that size gator skin is not very good.
   Color is bad and scales are to big. 
  Most if not all gator stuff is made from 6 to 8 ft. gator hide.
 And the bad news-- there is no gator hide market in Ga.

 The good news is you have Booner gator, get it tanned for 
 your trophy of a life time.  A lot gator hunt would trade right now. 

  You can call American tanning co. in Griffin ga. and ask 
 them if there interested in buying it.


----------



## Boar Hog (Sep 3, 2012)

Amtan is not buying for about the 5th year in a row. Have it tanned and get you some boots made, or just hang it on the wall above your couch.


----------



## GAMHUNTER35 (Sep 5, 2012)

after dnr sees it then you can sell it if u can found a buyer


----------



## jkaviation (Sep 7, 2012)

*gator hide*

After I got drawn I started gettin all kinds of people(companies) wanting to buy my hide or tan it.One is in Griffin ,GA called PLOTS>FYI


----------



## Boar Hog (Sep 7, 2012)

jkaviation said:


> After I got drawn I started gettin all kinds of people(companies) wanting to buy my hide or tan it.One is in Griffin ,GA called PLOTS>FYI



Amtan always sends out offers to tan your gator hides but I checked and they said they are not buying at this time. However Glass down in Camilla said to give him a call while the kill is fresh and he might be buying @ $15-$20 per foot, he also processes.Call Mark Glass @ 229-881-4074. Good luck this weekend J.K.!


----------



## GAMHUNTER35 (Sep 7, 2012)

glass is who i sold my 1st one to made some good money off of it


----------



## diamondback (Sep 7, 2012)

Glass will buy the gator for $20 a foot.5 years ago it was 30 a foot.To process it they charge $30 a foot and I think so much a pound to pack it.They will also sell you meat if you want for $8 a pound I think he said.Dont sound right to me the price of the gator went down a third but the price of meat went up 25 %.But what else you gonna do?From now on I think we will just get a eatin sized 6-8 footer and process it all ourselves and tan the hide ourselves.We just dont have the room and facilities to process a 500 lb gator ourselves and dont have room for that big of a hide.I did a little research and did find out that the hides arent really bringing that much so that made me feel a little better.So we just sold it out right and got enough to cover all the expenses of the hunt and maybe buy some t bones.They are btter than an old tough wild gator to me anyway. 

I dont know if he would buy just the hide though.Im sure he would have to inspect it before making an offer though cause im sure alot of folks could mess up on a skinning job if they didnt know what they were doin.


----------



## gtrman (Oct 10, 2012)

OP:  If your state tag has been validated and the state has placed a CITES tag on your skin, it is legal for you to sell.  Glass Enterprises in Camilla will do a fine job processing your animal, and give you an honest price for your skin.  Mr. Glass is a first class individual and serious businessman that is well received and thought of within our industry.

DB: Hard as it is to believe, meat demands from alligator is up this year.  Way up...We see wild hide demands, especially in larger sizes continue to decline due to technology changes from alligator farms all over the country, changes in fashion, and end product manufacturers' needs.  I realize it doesn't sound right...but to give you an example of how "not right" it sounds, even to us...in 2008, we paid up to $42/foot for whole gators 9'+ in Louisiana from our processing plant there.  We bought somewhere around 7500 that September.  The following year, we were one of MAYBE 3 buyers in the state for whole gators...the price for 9'+ in 2009 was $15/foot...we bought around 9000 that September, as again, we were one of the only buyers that even bought that season.  We did better on our meat sales in 2009 than we did in 2008, when we ended up donating about 35,000 lbs. of meat to a food bank in New Orleans.

It sounds crazy, but believe me, it is volatile and fickle.  We have bought a few alligators processed in GA throughout the years GA has offered the hunt, but find year after year (discouragingly), most skins have been cut and damaged and otherwise mishandled during the skinning process, making it a little bit uninteresting to buy something we know will be unsellable and sit on our shelves for quite some time.  

One other reason, my raw skin buying and wet end of our tannery at our Griffin plant is suspended for the month of September, as most of our crew are in Louisiana for the alligator season there.  We are usually home by the first week of October, however, and you can pm me if you have a skin you are interested in selling or having tanned.

I hope that clears up any confusion or questions the OP or any repliers have regarding buying or selling a skin.  Again, feel free to pm me with any questions you may have.


----------



## mojojim (Aug 1, 2017)

I realize this is an old thread, but I have a couple of questions.  I harvested a 10 footer in 2012 and was skinned by a taxidermist and due to my work schedule not finding anyone interested in buying just one hide it has been frozen since.  Is it any good now?  Also, I should be getting drawn again for this years hunt being that i applied with 4 rejection points.  What is my best option for selling one this year vs having it tanned.  i don't know how to make boots or anything else much myself.  lol   thank you!


----------



## Dep6 (Aug 1, 2017)

I am not an expert by no means but I doubt that frozen hide is any good by now.


----------

