Hare's mask

[Greg F]

What parts of the hare's mask do you use and for what? So far I just use the forehead for GRHE's. It looks like there is some good grey underfur on the cheeks that could be used but I haven't tried it.

Thanks,
Greg

[Growler]

You can use it as you would use any other dubbing. I tie GRHE in various colours, depending where from what area I take the fur from.

I have also used the grey in Adams replacing the muskrat fur.

You are only limited by your imagination.

Bob

[gqualls]

Greg F

I use almost all parts of the hare's mask; about the only part I don't use are the tiny hairs on the inside of the ears. There is alot of dubbing to be used throughout the mask. You can tie about any sized hare's ear nymph you want. Even the longer hairs can be used if you mix them with a little dubbing and then use a dubbing loop to make the body -- the result can be very buggy looking. Good luck tying.

[MOturkE]

Greg,

I personally just pinch out the hairs with little or no regard as to length, color, etc. Except for the tail, now those I pull from the outer edge because they seem longer, I then seperate out the long guard hairs for the tail and mix the underfur into the body and thorax.

Grab that rabbit and pull his beard!

[Gandolf]

Hi Greg,

I use all of the dark to moderately dark fur from the mask in hare's ear dubbing. (I leave some of the fur untouched to clip off later to use the guard hairs for tailing.) I clip off all of the dark and medium fur at one time and mix it all together to put in a small zip lock to use as needed.

The lighter color fur can be used for lighter nymphs, light color dries such as the light tan elk hair caddis, or other ligter colored dubbing needs.

Regards,

Gandolf

[Jim Slattery]

Hi Greg,
Here's something to consider. You can trim the whole mask, ears and all and blend it.Now depending on what size flies you are going to tie let's say sizes 4 - 6 you would probably want to trim the fur as close as possible to the hide.If you are going to tie smaller flies it wouldn't hurt to trim the fur so it isn't any longer than a half inch. 1/4 to 3/8 of a inch would be ideal. Having varying lenghts kind of mixes it up and gives you a nice dubbing, you can always trim or pull the few long stray fibers after you tie the fly. This makes a good general hare's ear dubbing.
The Old Timers used to like to take the fur from the various parts of the mask: ears, cheeks , pole , face and make seperate dubbing mixes for each area. This good if you if you are looking for a certain shade or texture for the fly being tied. Some patterns like the hare's lug and plover call for a specific area of the mask to be used as does the Honey Dun that Pete hidy liked to tie.
Hope this helps.
Jim

[Greg F]

Thanks for the helpful replies. Since I am rarely tying larger than size 12, I will select out different colors, like the fine grey underfur for adams, guard hairs for GRHE thoraxes, etc and keep them separated in baggies.

Greg