I am brand new to fly tying and was wondering what do you use to save your materials? Do you just put them in a ziploc bag and forget it or what? We have a couple of horses and I am thinking of using their hair for flies, as well as that of the dog and cats. They are all outside animals and though we do our best to take care of them, I don’t want to bring in fleas or lice into the house. As far as I know they don’t have any, but I don’t want to take chances. I had thought of putting a moth ball in the bag with them, but I am not sure. Is there anything particular that you use? I know some of you use furs from wild animals, what do you treat those with? Maybe I am just being paranoid, but I don’t want to bring in any creepy crawlies into my house.
I’d certainly use the horse hair…the tail and mane hairs have definite uses…and they will ‘keep’ for when you get to the point you are ready to use them. Look for good solid colors, black, white, brown, cream…these will work for ribbing and small bodies. They’ll only take a light wash with some shampoo to get them ready for tying.
But, as you stated you are new to this, I’d leave the dog and cat hair out in the yard with the animals…the chance of infestation is extreme, and the uses for these furs is limited at best. The amount you’d be ‘saving’ by using these for dubing mixes or tailing/winging hairs, would be measured in pennies…and the time and trouble to clean it and prepare wouldn’t be, in my opinion, worth the trouble. I’d not chance it unless you have those rare olive labs or artic seal fur siameese.
If you Do choose to use your pets hair for flies, it’s easy to acquire…wash the animal with a good anti flea shampoo…I’d do it twice, using the warmest water the animal will allow and rinsing well each time…then, brush the animal while it’s wet, saving what the brush gathers…let the fur you’ve collected dry, then wash it in some good shampoo and then use a good creme rinse…if you want longer hair to be ‘straight’ lay it out on a paper towel and staighten it out and let it dry…if all you want is dubbing, just lay it on the towel and let it dry.
Like I say, I’d not go through this with my dogs, they do dislike the bath, just to save a couple of dollars on a package of dubbing, but…up to you.
My wife has a flea comb she uses on the cats, which pulls out the under fur or natural dubbing and collects it in one convenient place. It’s a mix of black, white and gray furs, but altogether comes out gray. I’ve used it before on some nymphs and even a special stimulator for a pet hair swap once. If you do decide to mess with it, inspect it carefully for fleas, lice or eggs and always ALWAYS keep it in a tightly sealed Zip-Loc baggie. And make sure it’s sealed in the event there are buggies in there. Also, our cats are indoor cats who frequently go outside through a cat door. It’s interesting when Socks comes back in after rooting around the ash pile. What a mess…
I read Mr. Castwell’s advise on the no pest strips (few months ago) and three days later I noticed that some kind of moth/maggots were into my supplies - they had eaten an entire cape - nothing but dust and bugs left and damaged a pheasent skin.
I have been in a few swaps that had us use hair and/or feathers from our pets. I used my daughter’s cat and my neighbors cat and tied up a dozen nymphs. We had some pretty innotive flies tied for that swap. I always “Nuke” per hair, feathers and “Road Kill” for 10-15 seconds in the microwave (spouse has to be out of the house). This is enough time to boil and burst any living thing in the fur or feathers. I pick up stuff while fishing, hiking and one time on my way to COSTCO (60 miles away), I saw a coyote that had been hit; so I stopped and cut off the tail, shoved it in a baggie and finished my trip. Made some nice flies. You can use the fur as dubbing, as a tail, as a body wrap, a wing… just name it. If it’s FREE, It’s meant to be.:twisted:
“Get a pyrethrin pest strip from your farm store. Cut it into one inch squares, one each in each plastic bag.”
Spent the afternoon at 6 farm stores and nobody had or could tell me about that product. Could use any help to identify this product.
I work at a farm store, but I am not a chemist so what I am fixing to tell you may not be 100% correct but it should be close enough. Pyrethrin and permethrin are more or less the same chemical. I don’t really understand it all, but I have been told they are brothers or cousins or something like that. Anyway, I know at our store we sell flea collars for dogs and cats that are made out of permethrin, cutting one of those into 1 inch long pieces should work. We also sell some fly baits for hanging up in a barn or something that could probably be cut up, but I think the flea collars would cut easier. I hope that helps.
hNt
PS: We sell a small bottle of permethrin for spraying cows for flies. It has on the label the correct amount to use for spraying dogs, cats, and horses. It is a whole lot cheaper to buy the bottle, like $5 and mix it in a quart spray bottle and treat your pets. Same exact chemical and it is on the label. A little aggravating mixing, I think its like 1 oz to a gal, but it sure beats the price the vets stick you with. Has nothing to do with keeping furs and hairs, but it might save someone a few bucks, and in this day and age…
Back-in-the-day these were called “Shell No-Pest-Strips” right? If that’s true good luck finding them. I think they were pulled off the market years ago when some small children thought they were candy and died from eating them.
I can’t believe that I haven’t bought this book yet, but spring turkey season is around the corner and I want to be able to use more of my spring bird this year.
I have a friend that uses moth balls with good success, but hate the smell of them and use a dog flea collar cut into pieces in my supplies since I read about it here. Remember that they don’t last forever and should be replaced every so often. So if you use a flea collar and you haven’t changed it out since you first put them in, now might be a good time to put new ones in, they are cheap compared to the cost of even a single cape.
Jason, If you have the animals there why do you have to save/keep materials from them in the house? I take the horse hair (mane or tail) as I need it. Road kill is a different story. As long as the critters are alive you’ve got a source. My penny’s worth. Jim
Was given some horse hair not long back - for fly tying purposes I never refuse anything, but was wondering what to do with it. Thanks for the info about ribbing and nymph bodies, can now reduce the amount I was given by tying up some flies with it.
Tail and mane - use for dry fly tails where a darker color is needed. Also works well for legs, single hairs for small flys like beetles, combine them when larger legs are needed like hoppers. I glue a few together cut them to length and overhand knot them for the bend.
Back-in-the-day braided tail hair was used for fly line or tippet (I’m not exactly sure which).
Body hair - (NOTE: English jumpers are clipped for shows so I get a ton of this every couple of months) I use it as a substitute for hares mask, or you can pick out the longer hairs for a great dubbing.
I’m sure I missed a bunch of other uses but these are the only ones I can think of now.
