A rancher in our area had shot a bear that had been eating his young calves. Ranchers are allowed to protect their herd so the kill was legal, etc. However, you're not allowed to keep it.

When the rancher got to the bear to make sure it was dead he realized it was pretty large and had a great looking hide. He decided to see if he could get a taxidermist he knew to help him treat the hide so he could keep it. 

The taxidermist wisely knew not to take care of it himself and put himself at risk. So, they quickly skinned the bear and kept the pelt with the claws attached. He packaged it up and sent it to a hide-tanning service he knew that was a little "loosie-goosie". He tagged it and sent it off...

A few weeks later the hide came back and he called the rancher. The rancher came down to picked up the hide. 

He asked the taxidermist how he got them to take an out-of-season bear. He said, "look at the tag..."

The rancher looked at the tag on the freshly tanned bear rug:

Color: black
Date: xx/xx/xxxx
Species: beaver

The hide had been sent in as a "beaver" and the expert tanners didn't seem to care that the beaver had 3 inch long claws and a small furry tail and was probably the largest beaver ever hunted.