Elks’ deer hide collection aids disabled vets
FORUM FILE PHOTO
Chuck Mudge, left, state chairman of the Elks’ Veterans Leather Program, stands beside Maryville Elks Lodge No. 760 Exalted Ruler John Nelson last year after the two men helped load more than 100 locally harvested deer hides onto a trailer. The hides were turned into butter-soft leather and stitched into wheelchair gloves for use by disabled veterans nationwide. With the advent of deer season, the Elks’ 2018-2019 effort to collect hunter-donated deer hides is now underway.
MARYVILLE, Mo. — With the return of deer season, Maryville Elks Lodge 760 is once again mounting its annual effort to collect donated deer hides so that they can be turned into high-quality leather gloves for use by U.S. military veterans confined to hand-propelled wheelchairs.
Hunters wishing to donate hides to the drive can do so at the following locations: the Maryville Elks Lodge, 115 N. Main St.; Consumers Oil Co., 101 N. Depot St., Maryville; Green Plains Grain in Hopkins; Sheridan MFA; Grant City MFA; Conception Junction MFA; The Highway 136 Roadhouse in Burlington Junction; the Elmo Community Building; Gage’s Fertilizer & Grain in Skidmore; The Stable Pub & Grub in Barnard; the “Midway” service station south of Maryville on U.S. Highway 71; and the Maitland convenience store.
Last year the Maryville lodge collected 172 hides for the fraternal organization’s National Veterans Leather Program, eclipsing its 2016 total of 102. Over the last half-dozen years, Missouri has been the program’s top hide producer nationwide.
Commercial tanneries de-hair and process the hides then ship the finished leather to a factory where they are cut, trimmed and stitched into both fingerless and full-finger protective wheelchair gloves.
It requires about 3 square feet of deerskin to make a pair of gloves, and during the 2017-2018 season Elks lodges in 16 states collected 15,983 hides that were transformed into gloves for 3,336 disabled veterans.
In addition, scraps totaling 104,160 square feet of leather were used to provide craft kits for veterans living in retirements homes and nursing facilities.
Estimates place the value of the Elks’ nationwide donation at more than $400,000. Deer hide currently sells for about $5 per square foot.
Once hides are donated by area hunters, local Elks will scrape them to remove any remaining fat and flesh. The ides are then trimmed, cured with salt and folded with the deer hair facing out in order to prevent spoilage.
The work of preparing the hides, which must arrive at a tannery before they spoil, is the only cost to local lodges for participating in the program. All tanning, manufacturing and distribution expenses are covered by the Elks’ National Foundation.
As for hunters wishing to help out, Maryville lodge Exalted Ruler John Nelson said he appreciates it when donors make an effort to remove foreign matter like dirt and gravel.
“The cleaner the hide is the better,” Nelson said, “But I would not discourage anybody from dropping off a hide of any type as long as it has not started to decay.”
Telltale signs that hides have begun to spoil include smell and being able to pull out the hair with one’s fingertips.
Nationally the “Gloves for Wheelchair Veterans” program dates back to 1948, and Elks officials say the federal government does not budget funds for leather wheelchair gloves for residents and patients in veterans’ homes and hospitals.
“While there is a committee of Elks on the job, therapists will never experience a shortage of leather,” the Elks National Veterans Service Commission has pledged.
