Well, I'm in the poor house now but it was worth it. Picked up my 2018 spring bear from Black Powder Tannery yesterday, they did a great job! Never did stretch him out after skinning him so it takes up quite a bit more room than I originally thought but that's perfectly fine with me
Spent this morning putting together a red cedar mount to hang him on, pretty happy with how it turned out. His skull is still degreasing but has a spot on the desk waiting for it when it's all done. Super glad they were able to do such a good job preserving his scars, I'll be posting a video in the near future showing some of the fine details, nothing does it justice like seeing it in person though.
One disappointment is that most of his chest blaze got trimmed away, I probably should have made it clear that i would prefer that staying as opposed to a perfect shape but I'm still new to the whole trophy game and I'm sure my rookie skinning job was no walk in the park to work around. Either way I highly recommend them for any work you need done and I'm happy I could preserve this bear in such a beautiful way, the meat was delicious but it's pretty much gone already...can't think of a better way to remember my first big game harvest, hopefully it marks the beginning of a long and successful lifetime of bowhunting.