Skyrim:Animal Hides

Animal Hides and pelts can be harvested from dead animals. Tanning converts the unprocessed hides into processed Leather and Leather Strips, which can then be used for creating items at forges and improving them at grindstones and workbenches. Hides are only one of several categories of items that can be obtained by hunting animals; the others are detailed elsewhere:

• Animal Parts for assorted less-useful animal parts
• Raw Food for meat that comes from animals
• Ingredients for various alchemy ingredients that come from animals

Animal hides, including leather and leather strips, are traded by blacksmiths (including quartermasters) and by hunters encountered in the wilderness. Giants are also a good source of hides -- they will drop up to 3 random, level-dependent hides.

Unprocessed

Tanning Transformations provides full details on how each of these hides/pelts are converted into leather, including gold and weight differences.

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Notes
	Bear Pelt 0003ad52	3	50	Sources: Dropped by Bears, including Spriggan companion Bears and the bear encountered in the quest Unbound (but not including Snow Bears or Cave Bears). May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 1. 21 guaranteed pelts found in 12 different locations. Locations with multiple Bear Pelts are: 7 at Broken Oar Grotto (Haafingar) 3 at Cliffside Retreat (The Reach) 2 at Frostflow Lighthouse (Winterhold) Uses: 1 Bear Pelt produces 4 Leather (although the resulting leather is less valuable than the pelt). 10 Bear Pelts (of any variety) are needed for the quest Grin and Bear It. A Bear Pelt is one of four ingredients needed to create a Spell Tome: Conjure Flame Atronach at the Atronach Forge. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.
	Cave Bear Pelt 0003ad53	3	60	Sources: Dropped by Cave Bears, including Spriggan companion Cave Bears. May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 8. 14 guaranteed pelts found in 12 different locations. The only location with multiple Cave Bear Pelts is Cliffside Retreat (The Reach) with 3. Uses: 1 Cave Bear Pelt produces 4 Leather (although the resulting leather is less valuable than the pelt). 10 Bear Pelts (of any variety) are needed for the quest Grin and Bear It.
	Cow Hide 0003ad8f	2	10	Dropped by all varieties of Cow (although killing someone's cow may be considered a Crime). Not sold by hunters, but may be sold by general goods merchants. 1 Cow Hide produces 3 Leather.
	Deer Hide 0003ad90, 000d284d	2	10	The first variety (0003ad90) is dropped by Elk; the second variety is dropped by Deer. The two varieties are different visually from one another. This issue has been addressed by version 2.0.6 of the Unofficial Skyrim Patch; it changes the display name of the first variety to "Elk Hide". Only the Elk-dropped version of Deer Hide is possibly sold by hunters and general goods merchants (starting at level 1). 1 Deer Hide (of either variety) produces 2 Leather. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.
	Deer Pelt 000cf89e	2	10	12 guaranteed pelts found in 8 different locations. Locations with multiple Deer Pelts are: 3 at Greenspring Hollow (Whiterun Hold) 2 at Dragon Bridge Overlook (The Reach) Deer do not drop Deer Pelts (they drop Deer Hides instead). Deer Pelts cannot be tanned.
	Fox Pelt 000d4b35	0.5	5	Dropped by Foxes, including Pumpkin (but not including Snow Foxes). Not sold by hunters. 1 Fox Pelt produces 1 Leather.
	Goat Hide 0003ad8e	1	5	33% chance of being dropped by all varieties of Goat (who will otherwise drop Leg of Goat or minor loot). May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 1. 2 Goat Hides produce 1 Leather -- this is the only case where more than one hide is necessary for tanning. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.
	Horse Hide 0003ad93	2	15	33% chance of being dropped by all varieties of Horse (who will otherwise drop Horse Meat or minor loot). Not sold by hunters, but may be sold by general goods merchants. 1 Horse Hide produces 3 Leather.
	Ice Wolf Pelt 0003ad75	1	15	Sources: Dropped by Ice Wolves, including Spriggan companion Ice Wolves and various Wolf Spirits. May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 5. 10 guaranteed pelts are found in 8 different locations. Locations with multiple Ice Wolf Pelts are: 2 found 520 ft west-northwest of Reach Imperial Camp 2 at East Empire Company Warehouse 2 on the hill in an unmarked Forsworn camp near Bthardamz (map) Uses: 1 Ice Wolf Pelt produces 1 Leather (although the resulting leather is less valuable than the pelt). An Ice Wolf Pelt is one of four ingredients needed to create a Spell Tome: Conjure Frost Atronach at the Atronach Forge.
	Sabre Cat Pelt 0003ad6d	2	25	Dropped by Sabre Cats, including Spriggan companion Sabre Cats. May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 8. 1 Sabre Cat Pelt produces 4 Leather. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.
	Sabre Cat Snow Pelt 0003ad6e	2	40	Dropped by Snowy Sabre Cats, including Spriggan companion Snowy Sabre Cats. May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 10. 1 Sabre Cat Snow Pelt produces 4 Leather. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.
	Sinding's Skin 0002ac62	4	0	Quest item dropped by the werewolf Sinding as part of the quest Ill Met By Moonlight. Cannot be tanned.
	Snow Bear Pelt 0003ad54	3	75	Sources: Dropped by Snow Bears, including Spriggan companion Bears and the Ursine Guardian. May be sold by hunters and general goods merchants starting at level 10. 10 guaranteed pelts are found in 8 different locations. Locations with multiple Snow Bear Pelts are: 2 at Gallows Rock (Eastmarch) 2 at Valthume (The Reach) Uses: 1 Snow Bear Pelt produces 4 Leather (although the resulting leather is less valuable than the pelt). 10 Bear Pelts (of any variety) are needed for the quest Grin and Bear It.
	Snow Fox Pelt 000d4be7	0.5	7	Dropped by Snow Foxes. Not sold by hunters. 1 Snow Fox Pelt produces 1 Leather.
	Vale Deer Hide DG xx011999	2	10	Dropped by Vale Deer. 1 Vale Deer Hide produces 2 Leather. Only available with the Dawnguard add-on.
	Vale Sabre Cat Hide DG xx01199a	2	10	Dropped by Vale Sabre Cats. 1 Vale Sabre Cat Hide produces 4 Leather. Only available with the Dawnguard add-on.
	Werewolf Pelt 000fe6a9	5	20	Werewolf Pelts are not available in the original version of the game, and cannot be tanned. One is available with the Dawnguard add-on. Can be found in Volkihar Keep in Harkon's quarters.
	Wolf Pelt 0003ad74	1	10	Dropped by Wolves, including Pit Wolves, but not by Werewolves or Ice Wolves. May be sold by hunters or general goods merchants starting at level 1. 1 Wolf Pelt produces 1 Leather. If Hearthfire is installed, it is used for various furnishing options for your player-built home.

Processed

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Notes
	Leather 000db5d2	2	10	Sources: Produced by tanning nearly any hide or pelt; see above or Tanning Transformations for more information. All blacksmiths are guaranteed to have 10-27 leather in stock. Uses: 1 Leather produces 4 Leather Strips. Leather is needed at Forges to create all varieties of light armor, as well as some varieties of heavy armor (in particular, Ancient Nord armor). Leather is needed at Workbenches to improve most varieties of light armor, including fur, hide, leather, and shrouded armor.
	Leather Strips 000800e4	0.1	3	Sources: Produced by tanning leather; 1 Leather produces 4 Leather Strips. All blacksmiths are guaranteed to have 12-33 leather strips in stock; general goods merchants may also stock 10-40. Certain cupboards have a 15% chance of containing 10-40 leather strips. Uses: Leather Strips are needed at Forges to create all varieties of armor and weapons. Although used to create nearly all items, they are not generally used in improving items. The only exceptions are: 1 Leather Strip is needed at Grindstones to improve Hunting Bows. 2 Leather Strips (plus 1 Leather) are needed at Workbenches to improve the Gloves of the Pugilist.

Other

Several other items are categorized as "Animal Hides" by merchants, meaning that blacksmiths and hunters will buy them. Most of these are detailed elsewhere:

• All Fur armor: Fur Armor, Fur Boots, Fur Bracers, Fur Helmet, and Fur Shoes
  • These items are also categorized as armor, so blacksmiths would buy them even if they weren't in the animal hides category.

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Rating
	Fur Armor 0006f393, 0010594b, 0010594d, 0010594f	6	50	23
	Fur Shoes 0006f398	2	4	6
	Fur Boots 000a6d7f	2	5	5
	Fur Bracers 0006f39b	1	10	6
	Fur Gauntlets 000a6d7d	2	5	5
	Fur Helmet 0006f39e	1	23	11
Totals (without shield):		9-10	82-88	44-46

Leather Smithing

Several varieties of low-quality light armor can be crafted either exclusively or primarily out of leather. These items can be forged from the start of the game, without the need to unlock any Smithing perks. This also means that only normal-level tempering of these armor types is possible (there is no perk that provides the ability to "improve them twice as much"). Fur Armor is not listed here because it cannot be crafted by the player.

These derived armor pieces are no longer categorized as animal hides by merchants, but are instead categorized as armor (the only implication being that Hunters will not buy them).

Hide Armor

Hide is the lowest-quality light armor in the game, even providing less protection than Fur Armor, and appears in leveled lists at the start of the game. All items can be tempered using 1 Leather. There is little reason to craft any of these armor pieces, because with the exact same materials you can instead craft better-quality Leather Armor, with the exception of the shield (for which there is no leather equivalent).

A female Imperial wearing Hide Armor

A male Nord wearing Hide Armor

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Rating	Raw Materials		Delta		Ratio
					Leather	Strips	Weight	Value	Weight	Value
	Hide Armor (00013911)	5	50	20	4	3	-3.3	1	0.60	1.02
	Hide Boots (00013910)	1	10	5	2	2	-3.2	-16	0.24	0.38
	Hide Bracers (00013912)	1	10	5	1	2	-1.2	-6	0.45	0.62
	Hide Helmet (00013913)	2	25	10	2	1	-2.1	2	0.49	1.09
	Hide Shield (00013914)	4	25	15	4	2	-4.2	-21	0.49	0.54
Totals (with shield):		13	120	55	13	10
Totals (without shield):		9	95	40	9	8

Studded Armor

A female Imperial wearing Studded Armor

A male Nord wearing Studded Armor

Studded armor is only available in a cuirass, which provides slightly more protection than the Hide armor equivalent. It appears in leveled lists at the start of the game, and can be tempered using 1 Iron Ingot. Crafting Studded Armor uses the exact same amount of leather as either Hide Armor or Leather Armor, but also requires one Iron Ingot. Given that Leather Armor is better quality and requires fewer materials, there is little reason to craft Studded Armor.

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Rating	Raw Materials			Delta		Ratio
					Iron	Leather	Strips	Weight	Value	Weight	Value
	Studded Armor (0001b3a2)	6	75	23	1	4	3	-3.3	19	0.65	1.34

Leather Armor

A female Imperial wearing Leather Armor

A male Nord wearing Leather Armor

Leather Armor is better than Hide, Fur, or Studded armors, but is still a relatively low-quality type of light armor. It appears in leveled lists starting at level 6 (enchanted varieties at level 7). All items can be tempered using 1 Leather. Since Leather Armor uses only Leather and Leather Strips, this may be a good light armor set to craft for yourself early on.

	Name (ID)	Weight	Value	Rating	Raw Materials		Delta		Ratio
					Leather	Strips	Weight	Value	Weight	Value
	Leather Armor (0003619e)	6	125	26	4	3	-2.3	76	0.72	2.55
	Leather Boots (00013920)	2	25	7	2	2	-2.2	-1	0.48	0.96
	Leather Bracers (00013921)	2	25	7	1	2	-0.2	9	0.91	1.56
	Leather Helmet (00013922)	2	60	12	2	1	-2.1	37	0.49	2.61
Totals (with Hide Shield):		16	260	67	13	10
Totals (without Hide Shield):		12	235	52	9	8