Deer Hair

[jcampbell]

I tie flies sporadically and use deer and elk hair for wings, bodies and occasionally spin bugs. I have quite a collection of various hair in various colors. All seem to work pretty well for what I tie, but I get confused when looking at material websites and all the different hairs available for different applications. For example, there is coastal, comparadun, whitetail, mule, hair for humpies, hair for spinning, all purpose, etc. All of this and then there is elk. I have read about hair quality and what you should look for in underfur, color division, length, etc, but why all the choses? Is it just personal chose or is there some golden rule for what type of hair should b used for different flies.

[ScottP]

http://globalflyfisher.com/tie-bette...ting-deer-hair

Cliff notes.

Regards,
Scott

[fritz]

Chris Helm was the "deer hair man".

[rainbowchaser]

Some of what you are seeing is marketing of course. If you can sell someone a patch of hair for each pattern they tie that results in more sales. Having said that, some patches of hair lend themselves more readily to a given use than others. If you only rarely tie compaduns you can do the job with any hair you have that is the right color and a little more fussing. If you tie a lot of them getting the short hair with longer tips will make things easier and save a lot of time and headaches. Similarly spinning is easier with longer hairs with short tips. I mostly use hair from deer I have helped butcher and I keep batches from different parts of the animal selected for both color and hair length/texture. The hair I buy is mostly died and I want long spinning hair. If I can't select it myself I get hair labeled for spinning from a supplier or brand I trust.

[Joe Billingsley]

I'm sure there are a lot of descriptions of the different types of hair out there, but I'll add another one. This is one from Charlie Craven by way of midcurrent.

http://midcurrent.com/flies/fly-tying-hair-selection/

Joe

[jcampbell]

Joe, this is also an excellent site and visuals are very helpful. Thanks.

I'm sure there are a lot of descriptions of the different types of hair out there, but I'll add another one. This is one from Charlie Craven by way of midcurrent.

http://midcurrent.com/flies/fly-tying-hair-selection/

Joe

[bowfin47]

Chris was great (and a very good guy),but he would (and did) tell folks that he learned from the great deerhair man, Billy Munn..

[Byron haugh]

There is a really good explanation of deer hair and elk hair by Kelly Galloup in Youtube . He does a good job of covering it.

If I see the link, I will post it for you.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVS-6IvlAaY

[jcampbell]

Byron, I watch Kelly's video on hair quality and it was good in explaining quality. My question originated from looking at a material website and seeing all the options offered with little explanation as to why I would want to buy a particular selection. The site was Hook and Hackle which I like. The sites mentioned above, by Scott and Joe, are excellent for the information I needed. Thanks to all.

[jcampbell]

Thanks Scott! Just what I was looking for in this case.

http://globalflyfisher.com/tie-bette...ting-deer-hair

Cliff notes.

Regards,
Scott