HATS FOR HIDES
Here we go again. Sounds like a song. In 1974 the then Ministry of Natural Resources began the Hats For Hides initiative that encouraged hunters to donate harvested hides for use by indigenous craft folk. In exchange for the hides hunters received hunter orange hats and crests. It helped keep hides out of the dumps. No surprise to hunters, this program has been waning in recent memory for a variety of reasons and this year COVID-19 certainly hasn’t helped.
At one time hide depots were commonly distributed throughout the province. A 1994 article in a Windspeaker publication stated that In the mid-1980s, 40,000 hides were turned in to provincial depots. In 1993 the Union of Ontario Indians took over coordinating the program and 20 of 50 depots were aboriginal.
In 2020 there were only four depots in Northeastern Ontario and six in the Southern region. No doubt this made it inconvenient for hunters to drop off their hides.
BRT Provisioners of Peterboro said in a letter to hunters that COVID-19 “has affected all markets and deer hides are no exception” hence Hats for Hides would be extremely limited in 2020. As a result there are no hats and if deer hunters wanted a crest they had to purchase one at a cost of $3.00 with a deer hide, $5.00 should you keep the hide or online at a cost of $5.65 which included the tax and shipping charge. An exception pertains to moose hides which will earn hunters a free crest. A search of eBay revealed a 2020 crest for sale at a cost of $14.99.
“The only reason we’re doing crests is that they were all pre-ordered before COVID hit,” said Barb Thompson, the Hats for Hides program coordinator at BRT Provisioners, adding that, “deer hides have little to no value in this current COVID market” because the pandemic has ended gatherings, such as powwows where tanned leather is bought and sold. Of course the longer this pandemic lasts the greater the impact on Hats for Hides.
“With no powwows, we’re sitting on leather and hide that we haven’t moved since last year,” said Greg Mance of White Tanning Co. in Rockwood, Ontario.
Steve Lantz, a depot operator in Durham, blames cheap leather imports saying that a tanner in Guelph told him they’re able to source leather from China “cheaper than they can buy a rawhide from an abattoir here…. This one you can’t blame on COVID.” He added that offshore competition pushed Barrett Hides Inc. of Barrie, Ont., out of business in 2019. It had been picking up hides across much of southern Ontario. When it went bust, Hats for Hides depot operators had to truck their own hides, driving more of them out of the business, according to Lantz.
Ultimately, cheap leather may be the death knell for the Hats for Hides program. “You can’t even get [a hide] for free, put salt on it … and get it to a tannery and come out with any money,” said Thompson.
In May of 2019 Premier Ford via Twitter said of a one-time financial injection to BRT, “We’re making life easier for hunters and supporting small business by investing $100,000 in Hats for Hides. This program supports good hunting practices by collecting hides from hunters in exchange for a hat; ensuring resources are not wasted and can be sold as goods.”
When contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry reaffirmed that Hats for Hides is no longer a ministry program and I should contact BRT concerning the program’s future.
Thompson is disappointed at being misquoted with regards to seeking financial assistance from the government.” There was/is no sense trying to get any government funding as the government helped last year prior to Covid and the program still was not financially viable – with Covid this year and no pow wows happening it is an even further depressed market!”
As to the program’s future Thompson couldn’t speculate. “That is completely unknown at this time – we would like to but the crystal ball is very cloudy on what the markets may or may not do – until Covid at least gets under control and events such as pow wow can resume again.”
Does anyone remember that in 1991 whistles were handed out in place of hats causing much consternation?