Whistle Pig aka Ground Hog aka Woodchuck...???

Where is THE best place to obtain this, I know what your thinking......But...Read on!

I have three pieces of chuck...from two different sources...and tonight I sat down at the vise to tye up some pattern's from Peter F's site...And upon inspection of the Chuck I've got on hand...One piece is of exceptinal quality (Fur Wise)...the other two leave much to be desired..those came from a Sponsor...That I truely relish my dealings with...and there fore...Is Not important as to who they are...I'll Not soil your minds with them having what I've seen All others I've delt with of having...

Which is Chuck that is down right greasey.....Gave it all a good dunking in a heavy Hot solution of dish detergent and will wait out the drying....

What I would like to know is, If any of you know of a place that sell's a very well Cleaned...Dryed,Tanned...or otherwise well groomed Chuck hide...in whole or in parts/pieces...with regular consistancey!?!?....I know Raccoon and Chuck as well as many other furbearing animal's have really oily hides...But theres gotta be someone out there who does these furs in a higher quality standard than the Run O'the Mill fly shops get...or is sold to us guy's who are of non-(Famous Tyeing Ledgend here) Status! :shock:

Bill,

Here is where I have purchased rabbit and chuck whole hides and I was satisfied with their products. You might look at their furs and maybe give them a call.

http://www.stoneriveroutfitters.com/hfur.htm

Warren,

Had'nt noticed they sold half or whole skins before!....Humm I'll have to give them a call and see what I can find out about their half hides...And you'll have a PM shortly.

Hummm weather or not that PM gets through to you will be iffy....Had a heck of a time getting it to take it...Kept telling me I could not use certian BB Codes....But it was the site that kept adding them.....lol...

Bill,

I got your PM and I have responded to it. Keep us posted on what you end up with. Happy hunting! :) :)

Bill,

Try Freeman Fur & Feathers (www.freemansflytying.com) - Jeff is in Iowa and I've had great success with him and his products. All top rate and he's a good guy to deal with . . .

Joe

Woodchuck does vary greatly in quality depending on where the patch you have comes from on the pelt and also whether the woodchuck had a full winter coat or a sparse summer coat when he met his end. I use alot of chuck hair because my favorite fly is the chuck hair caddis. The best chuck hair I have ever seen was on a soft tanned hide. Usually, only the best pelts get sent off to be tanned. For fly tying, I only have dried hides but the fellow from coffin creek furs (FAOL sponsor) has tanned chuck for a pretty reasonable price. I'm tempted...