Sleepy Creek Tannery

Sleepy Creek Tannery and Fur Dressing is located in Wellsburg, IA. Hooked since the first coon at age 13, owner Ben Deters has been trapping the ditches, streams, and sloughs in North Central Iowa for more than 20 years. Year after year the trap line got a little longer, and more productive, and Ben realized that fur handling was to be in his future. Upon graduating high school, he attended Ellsworth College's conservation program and graduated in 2010. Next, the Montana School of Commercial Tanning was his destination, where he earned his diploma. After volunteering at a hunting resort in Canada for a summer, Ben traveled to Ohio to visit Arlington Cape to improve his process and technique through observation. In 2011, Sleepy Creek Tannery was born when he committed to purchase a building to work out of. The rest, as they say, is history. Our storefront has everything you can think of from tanned pelts, trapping supplies, bait, to coozies, hats, purses, and even coon peckers! Come check us out and learn all about trapping and tanning!