Caribou hair?

A taxidermist that my wife knows gave me about half a square yard of male caribou hair. The hide is tanned. It's mostly a brown color. I'm assuming I can use this just like Elk Hair????

Allen,

If the hair you have is the typical caribou hair I've always seen then NO you cannot use it like elk hair. Caribou hair flairs much too much to be used as elk hair is most often used. Elk hair is good/excellent for wings and sometimes, depending on some specifics, can be used for spinning. Caribou(reindeer) is excellent for spinning but I don't think it works well for wings. Well, maybe on tiny flies (<20 maybe) where you're using the very tips of the hair. I'm sure there may be an application or two that someone has thought of where the caribou can be used. Maybe inverting the hair, tying it in by the tips and fanning the wing (comparadun style) would work on tiny flies? Or maybe putting the hair in a dubbing loop and spinning it around the thorax? Hey, it's worth it to experiment and see what you come up with. You've got the material so why not try?
Have fun.

Allan

I would have to agree with Allan, caribou hair will flair with the slightest amount of thread tension. You can make some nice looking goddard caddis, muddler/grasshopper heads, and anything else that calls for a trimmed hair head or body. I prefer it to deer hair for my muddler heads.

Rodney

I think you'll definitely enjoy tying with the carabou. Great stuff to spin with; I prefer it to deer hair for Goddards, as noted, and for Irresistibles:

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j1...n/IMG_4568.jpg

I've also been told that pronghorn would be suitable: forgot to bring some in my travel kit so I'll have to buy a patch and give it a try.

Regards,
Scott

Hi Allen,

You have to be carefull when spinning it. It tends to be quite soft, and I have literally cut through the hair all the way to the hook, and thus had the hair fall off, in spinning it. I do agree with the others, it is far too soft for good winging material, and so it flares like crazy.

That said, once you develop the touch to spin it, without tearing it up, it should tie excellent spun hair bodies for flies like the Goddard caddis, mentioned bove, and irresitables, etc.

Even more important, in your case, it will probably work great for spun hair poppers for bluegills and bass. I don't know how well it will stand up while being used in poppers, however.

Regards,

Gandolf

I agree with you Gandolf... Caribou hair is very fragile. Hair from the face is outstanding for most anything though. It is finer, flares more like deer, though it is not crinkly like deer. It works extremely well for small dries.

We have lived on caribou for many years and have three outstanding tags for caribou in the family for this coming fall (to go with two very good bull moose tags).

In Newfoundland the abundance of caribour hair makes its way into tying so much. As there are no deer on the island most every tyer I know tied spu hair with caribou. That said, it is perfect for spinning and I find it very durable. For example. Buck bugs, bombers, are mostly tied with caribou and when packed well it floats incredibly well and withstands all sorts of abuse from Atlantic salmon. I also use it for wings on some caddis patterns. I believe there is a video of davie mcphail tying a caribou caddis. They guys are right, you can't use it like elk hair, but you can use it like caribou hair. Tie some elk hair caddis with a caribou wing, they work well and float well too. The only issue with the hair is that it is much shorter than deer or elk.

Thank you all! I'll have to do a little tying and learn the intricacies of Caribou Hair.