I know there are a lot of tiers out there....

But has anyone noticed a decline in the quality of some of their products...


Pine squirrel for one..
I have noticed some really short skins. The cardboard they put it on is usually full and really good looking skins.. Here lately I have seen a few skins that are about a third of the size they should be. I seen a couple skins that had very few strips on them... I use a lot of pine squirrels... I think this year alone I used over 20-25 skins and most shops sells them for over $16-17 each.
Some of the ones I have seen recently are missing about 2 (maybe 2 1/2) inches from the skin.... they may have been the younger squirrels..
I know that squirrels loose fur and regrow it.. time of year..size of the squirrels (young and mature)...


Not to run the skin thing in the ground.. but I also got strip packages (in the past) that looked like someone had used a skin and throw the left over pieces in a bag (strip that could even lay across a size 12 hook)...
Before I started buying the skins you would get 3-5 strips (most was about 6inches long


Pines aren't the only thing Ive been noticing...

threads... some of the 6/0 and the 3/0 just doesnt seem as strong as it use to be..

the longer marabou plumes.. yes They have some thick stem... but some of them are just to thick.

peacock herl... maybe I'm just not wrapping it right,.... Ive been getting a lot of "breakage" from them.. I thought It may have been too old.. went and got a new one... same thing..
went to a light thread.. then tried to wrap it around the thread...

I guess if I sat down and really thought about it I could come up with a few more items..

Yes this is just a bit of a vent...
Has anyone else noticed this on some of the other things..




Leonard




Here are a few skins..