Snowshoe hare's feet

[Ray Kunz]

Please clue me in. How do you cut the hair from a hare's foot so you end up with an intact clump of hair for a "Usual" type fly. I end up with a bunch of mixed up hair suitable for use as dubbing. Is it that I just don't have the dexterity or is there a technique I don't know about?

[DG]

Are you using the right hairs? The feets I got last month have long (1/2"+) guard hairs on the bottom. I can hold them easily.

Maybe try a hair stacker?

DG

[Flyrodde]

Try taking your hemostats and clamping the hair you want, then cutting it. You can then grab the hair with your fingers and place it where you need it. Other small clips or clamps will work, too. Try smooth jaws as opposed to ones with teeth. Use extremely sharp scissors and clip the hair in a few small snips instead of one larger one. Hope that helps.

[Philly]

Ray:
The trick is to split the feet. This allows you to clip the hairs from the base.

[David Parker]

You should also find that the hair between the toes of the rabbit foot is longer. Grab a small bunch and cut it as close to the skin as possible with your scissors and you should get hair approx 1/2" long.

[Ray Kunz]

Thanks for the super suggestions. I should have realized that hackle pliers can grab smaller things than my fingers. But that's the game - live and learn.

[kengore]

I like to trim most of the shorter less useful hair out of the way, exposing the longer hair at the sole and toes. I trim the waste hair as close as I can to the skin, creating a clear access to the good stuff. (I save the trimmings for dubbing)

Then using a small mustach comb I comb the fur into alignment all pointing in one direction away from me. I then make a small part, seperating a narrow strip of hair about 1/8" wide. I can grasp the tips of the parted hair with my left hand and trim it off with a scissors in my right.

Still gripping the cut hair by the tips I use the mustach comb to remove under fur by combing the butts.

[Greg H]

Here is link to the summary of info in Benchside Reference on the topic of hare feet.
http://www.flyfishingmagazines.com/ft_feature_038.shtml
I second the suggestion to split the foot lengthwise from the toes. Sometimes a sharp knife is required to get you started (watch it the foot is tough and may slip). Once split you can get at the base of the hair which you will find is about twice as long as when you try to nip it out without splitting. The hair from the middle of the foot has the best combination of kink (for floatability) and length, IMHO.