As i am in the process of drying out a bucktail, i have to guess that the one you have was not dried properly. My brother in law was able to take a nice deer this Thanksgiving, and gave me the whole skin and tail. I had to split the tail to get out the meat and bone, scrapped everything off, and simply nailed it to a piece of plywood to airdry. When the tail was dried, i washed it with warm soap and water, rinsed it off really well, and then took it inside to really dry. It has been in my hobby room for a week now and does not smell at all. In fact, it smells like the soap i used! I have purchased bucktails that stunk to high heaven, and they seemed to have really stiff hairs that were dry and brittle. It will be interesting to see how my bucktail will do over the next few months of tying. I guess i took more time drying than the company that processed the tail that i purchased.

Have fun, Jeff