Antelope Hair?

[Gigante]

Quick question: How does antelope hair compare to elk or deer? I've been trying to use some for some hoppers similar to the fly of the week because I only had green in antelope and wanted to try that color. It seems more fragile. The hair does have quite a bit of age on it as I got it as part of a bunch of materials I bought from old (well-preserved) stock. I haven't had any trouble with the other materials from that bunch. Is it that antelope is different? Or is it more likely that this particular pouch wasn't preserved well like the others?

[ducksterman]

Nope...definitely different....more fragile..brittle..flares more

[Bugsy]

Antelope typically has broken tips. Great for spinning big bugs...not for winging.

[Hendrickson]

Antelope that I've seen and used is light weight, flares more is more brittle and the thread will cut through if you're not careful. Haven't used it often enough to say if it a fly tied with it works better than the same fly tied with deer or elk.

H.

[Mark Vendon]

Hi Gigante,

I tie and fish with a lot of Turck's Tarantula's. I bought two patches of antelope, in natural and dyed olive just to try it out. Like other's have mentioned, it spins really well, but is very brittle/fragile. The hair started coming out after the first bass and was pretty wrecked by the fifth or sixth. I normally use elk first and deer second. If I don't lose the fly, I can usually catch anywhere between the high teens to mid thirties before the spun head on the fly is really getting down there. That includes using hemostats on deeper set hook-ups. I don't use the antelope at all anymore because of this.

Regards,

Mark

[Gigante]

Thanks for all the responses. I seem to be getting the same info everywhere. I was still able to tie some wings with it. Whether it will hold up or not is a different story I guess.

[RonMT]

I have tied many Antlope Hiar mice over the years. It will cut like you were told. Make shure to use a flat tying thread it will help you in tying with it. I also put a drop of head cement after each clump of hait I spin on. This will stop the hair from turning on the hook after the fly is tied. I can tell you that I use to sell a lot of these to a Lodge in Alaska for the large rainbows up there. Ron