How would one go about preserving a deer hide for fly tying purposes. What is the ideal deer to preserve, old buck, old doe, young buck, or young doe? Thanks
CD
Deer Hair
How would one go about preserving a deer hide for fly tying purposes. What is the ideal deer to preserve, old buck, old doe, young buck, or young doe? Thanks
CD
If you live out of town you can just scrape all of the meat and fat off of the hide and hang it up to air dry. If the neighbors or your mother is likely to complain about the smell of doing it that way you still have to scrape all of the meat and fat off. When your done with that you rub borax (from the grocery store laundy products area) into the skin side of the hide a couple of times a day for several days. Leave the excess borax on the hide between times. When the hide is dry and sounds like a big sheet of paper when you flex it your done. I would reconmend a twelve point buck. It won't tie any better flies but you can brag about it for years whenever you pull out a chunk of the hide. If you don't mount the head be sure to dry the mask (face) too. It makes good compadun hair.
I can think of few acts more selfish than refusing a vaccination.
I've heard from several sources that you actually want spring deer hair. Then... most of the under fur and stuff you have to comb out is gone. heh-heh... but that's illegalSo just about any three year old deer will do!
I just come from our club meeting where I was tieing deer hair bugs tonight. The hair I was using was a September deer killed the first day of bow season. It is the best hair I have ever had, bar none.
First wash the raw hide with Dawn dishwashing detergant with about a handfull of borax to a gallon of water.
Scrape all of the fat and flesh from the hide.
Wash the hide again with the same solution as the first wash.
Sling the water from the hide. Hang until the hair is almost dry.
Streatch on a frame so air can get to both sides of the hide until dry. Use borax if it is warm enough for flys to still be around.
When dry, cut into usable pieces and store with moth balls that contain paradichlorobensine as an active ingrediant.
Good luck with the hide.
fishbum
In addition the Dawn and Borax you may want to add Downy fabric softener to the wash. It will keep the hide from drying out too much and becoming brittle. (Per my fly tying instructor. I buy my deer hair in plastic bags.)
Almost had a few shots at a wall hanger 10 point last fall with a bow, had it coming on a string right in front of me but a doe came out behind it and got its attention and there went the oppurtunity. Same thing happened with a non typical 11 point the next weekend. The hide doesnt have to be tanned then, just dried? Sounds easier than i thought. What hair is best for what purposes?( back hair for spinning? belly hair for posts?)
Borax on the hide side to cure and dry the hide I understand. Plain table salt works too. But I have to ask why one would want to wash the entire hide with a harsh detergent like dawn or a fabric softener????? Neither is made for natural hair. That's whats shampoo and condition are made for. Dawn NOT soften the hair, it will only remove the natural oils. If anyone wants to argue this please feel free to wash YOUR hair in either and see was it does your hair. The Dawn will remove the naturals oils in the hair, leaving it quite dry which will only turn it brittle quicker. Fabric softener? Whats the expectation of this?
You don't even need the borax on a hide to cure it. It will cure just fine without it. The borax is a deturant to flys if the weather is on the warm side. Salt will only make a mess of your hide. It attracts moisture from the air. Fabric softner is completly unnecessary as is conditioner.Originally Posted by Bass_Bug
I have been washing animal skins in detergant for the better part of 50 years. It does a great job of cleaning blood and grim from the hair. It does not remove the natural oils that has permiated the hair itself. It might if you soaked the hide for several days which we don't do. It does remove grease from the hide that gets on the hair during the skinning and fleshing process. I have never noticed hair being brittle as a result of my cleaning process. Perhaps I just gotten used to brittle hair over the past eight or ten deer hides I have done. I think not.
Use your shampo and conditioner if you want, I will stay with the Dawn and borax solution.
fishbum
Hi cdpaul,
Like some of the ones above, I first scape all of the fat, blood, and flesh off of the hide. Leaving them will draw bugs that you won't like, and they will do damage.
Once the hide is well scraped, I wash the hide with detergent and water.
I prefer dish washing detergent, because laundry detergent has additives that are "brighteners and whiteners" that in reality fluoresce in the ultra violet light range. These are what make clothes brighter and whiter. Unfortunately, some animals can see UV light, that is why hunters wash camoflage stuff in special additive free detergents. Fish may, or may not, see this fluorsecent material, but I don't want to take the chance, so I use dish washing detergent.
I usually cut the hide into relatively small pieces that will fit into a 2.5 or 3 gallon pail. I mix some detergent up in pretty warm water, filling the pail 2/3rds or so full, and work the hide like a piece of clothing in a wash bucket, pushing the hide to the bottom of the bucket, up and down many times. The idea is to wash off the tons of dirt that is on the hair and the hair side of the hide, and as much of the oil out of the hair and off the hide side as is possible. I usually give it two washings, until the water in the bucket is pretty clean after the wash.
Next I rinse the hide with warm water, again like a wash bucket, and usually repeat the rinse, because I don't want to leave the detergent in the hair.
By now it is usually fairly late at night, so I hang the hide on the fence to let as much of the water drain as is possible. The next morning I dampen the hide if it is dry, and treat it by rubbing the hide side with borax. The 20 Mule Team Borax product from the laundry section of the grocery store is excellent, and is a good grade of borax, but don't use Boraxo which is a soap.
I then lay the hide down, hair side down, to dry. I prefer to lay the hide sectons on a screen, or something similar so that air can get to the hair side. If the borax gets meally or oily, I throw away the old, and put on a fresh layer of borax. The borax will pull oil out of the hide, and also dry the hide. Once dry, I clean off as much borax as will come off easily, and the hide is ready for use. The borax will kill insects, and will protect the hide from insect attack.
Regards,
Gandolf
Last edited by Gandolf; 08-21-2010 at 02:23 AM.
Hair for Specific uses
Hi cdpaul,
The hair from the center of the back is the best, usually, for winging, as it is not so hollow as that futher down the sides.
Hair for spinning often comes from further down the sides, nearer the belly. White belly hair can be fairly hollow and good for dying and spinning, but it is not always so. I have seen belly hair that wasn't much good for anything.
Hair on the legs can also be good for winging, seeming to be less hollow that other sources. It is often fairly short, so it won't work for large flies, in many cases.
The tail, of course (in the case of white tails) is excellent for winging streamers, etc.
Regards,
Gandolf
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