I've done two full elk hides. I have two more salted now that I haven't been able to steel myself up to start.
**it's
a lot of manual labor**.
elk are about my upper limit, size wise, for DIY tanning.
a wet elk hide coming out of the pickling or tanning will weigh about 200#. that's 200# of sloppy,slippery, cold, spilling everywhere weight.
breaking a stretched elk hide is a nice shoulder workout too
fwiw,
I've had good success with Van Dyke's (a Cabelas Co) products:
--"whatever they call their re-wetting agent"
--pickling crystals
--Lutan (TM) tanner
--Pro Plus(TM) oil
I use a small spade shovel to break a stretched hide.