Private Hide Tanning Course: for groups of friends
Thank you for arriving here, as a potential hide camp host. We are excited to work with your groups + create a hide tanning experience for the people you serve.
We offer instruction to communities and groups within Canada. You may travel to use + stay on Vancouver Island, or we can travel to you.
This form is for private courses. For our current public courses available to all, go here.
Con’t below
Thank you for arriving here, as a potential hide camp host. We are excited to work with your groups + create a hide tanning experience for the people you serve.
We offer instruction to communities and groups within Canada. You may travel to use + stay on Vancouver Island, or we can travel to you.
This form is for private courses. For our current public courses available to all, go here.
Con’t below
Thank you for arriving here, as a potential hide camp host. We are excited to work with your groups + create a hide tanning experience for the people you serve.
We offer instruction to communities and groups within Canada. You may travel to use + stay on Vancouver Island, or we can travel to you.
This form is for private courses. For our current public courses available to all, go here.
Con’t below
Please read the following carefully + in full before placing your booking deposit.
About us
We are Fern + Roe, a natural hide tannery based on the WSANEC Peninsula on Vancouver Island, BC. We travel to teach hide tanning in small community groups in southern and coastal BC.
What to expect in a hide tanning camp
Hide camps are multi-day, all day events. We arrive on site one day early for setting up equipment, then welcome the group with an opening circle and introductions on Day 1, and keep on working the hides (which we provide) until the end.
Hide tanning is hard work, and rich reward. New tanners usually pair up two people to a hide. We ensure every new tanner has thorough instruction and guidance.
Participants are expected to attend each day of the hide camp to ensure they finish their hide. At the end, everyone takes home the leather, buckskin, or rug they created.
For more about us, go to Fern + Roe's main website.
Hide Tanning Options
See all of our available courses here.
Hide Camp Options
Two-day hide camp:
$350 per person (includes one hide)
$550 per pair of people (includes one hide shared between two people)
Three-day hide camp:
$425 CAD per person (includes one hide)
$625 CAD per pair of people (includes one hide shared between two people).
Four-day hide camp:
$450 CAD per participant (includes one hide per person)
$650 CAD per pair (includes one hide to share by two people - recommended for beginner tanners)
Five-day hide camp:
Includes two hides
$550 CAD per participant (includes two hides per person).
$750 CAD per pair of people (includes two hides to share).
Booking
We waive our usual $70 deposit (admin fee) for groups of friends. Instead, click “add to cart” and fill in the form that pops up.
We will then offer at least 3 potential dates for your group.
You organize 8+ people for those dates.
Once you collect your group, we will open a private registration link for each indivudal to pay and register.
All 8+ participants must sign up within a short window of time to ensure the course is booked.
Travel + Accommodations
If we travel to you, our travel costs will be split amongst the group, added an additional per-person fee. If we need our own accommodation, this fee will be split amongst the group as well. We are happy to stay with the host or in the local community if available, and we are no strangers to roughing it.
Hosting responsibilities
Please ensure the hide camp hosting checklist is completed at least one day prior to hide camp beginning. Please note that if we arrive and find a hide camp venue is missing these checklist amenities, we may not be able to offer a course. For example, we cannot tan hides with insufficient warmth on a cold day. There are no refunds for this checklist not being honoured.
Make sure that a venue is available to use the day before a hide camp begins, for set-up
If we are using an outdoor fire-pit or smoking hides, it is the responsibility of the host to ensure any fire permits are secured in advance. If these are not secured and a local fire prevention team fines Fern + Roe, the host organization will reimburse us for these costs.
The host will inhabit the role of organizing participants and ensuring the class is filled. Please note, there are no refunds for “no shows.” Any hides not tanned by participants will go into Fern + Roe's scholarship base.
It is Fern + Roe's responsibility to communicate the dates, schedule, gear list, and details about hide tanning to your group. Please email us the name and email address of each participant 2 weeks prior to a course.