Tanning hides that have been skinned well is a joy. Tanning knifed up skins takes longer in nearly every stage, and the finished product is not nearly as good. Go to extra lengths to get good skins. If you are buying deerskins, it is always worth a few extra bucks for really good ones. While this chapter is geared particularly toward the obtaining of deer hides, you can also find elk, antelope, moose, goat, and buffalo.
Deer are by far the most common, and most commonly wasted hides in North America.
They are also a good one to start your tanning adventures with. Elk are much more work to tan and because of their fiber structure, they are weaker and wear out faster than deer. This is just a relative comparison. Elk leather is beautiful, large, thick and perfectly fine for many applications. Moose on the other hand has the fiber quality of deer but the thickness of moose.