Not like the 70’s, but I do have a question! Every pack of white rabbit zonker I’ve ever seen has extremely thin hair. Why is that? Anyone have a source for GOOD white rabbit? (I guess that’s two questions huh?)
I’m tying some 1/32 oz crappie jigs using rabbit hair tail, and I have to use half a pack of zonker strips to get one decent-looking tail! That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point.
Anyone? Beuller?
Zac G
Try the thicker “Magnum” strips. That’s what I did, though for me, white, purple, and olive were all pretty sparse.
check with your local 4H, white is the color of a large percentage of meat rabbits. you can probably find a breeder with some good pelts.
Eric
Hi Zac,
There are different grades of rabbit hides. I look at actual hides which can sometimes be found at gun shows, trading posts, and other locations. I bought a few thin and crumby hides when I first started out. One of the crumby grades is the “Craft Rabbit” grade. These are pretty thin on the fur. I still have some of that type that I bought earlier on, and they are so crumby for tying that I should throw away the ones of that type that I still have.
You can find rabbit hides on Ebay, and some sellers used to state if their hides were high quality or craft rabbit grade. You can also email the seller and ask. Specifically ask them if they will supply a hide with thick long fur.
Regards,
Gandolf
Gandolf, maybe rather than tossing those craft rabbit’s you should just use them for dubbing rather than strips? You could shave them to get the fur off, or just pluck them when you need them. If they’re white, then you could dye them with food colouring and get all sorts of coloured dubbing, in hues you don’t need a lot of.
Zac,
I’ve been lucky, I guess.
I’ve got a leather store here that’s run by a friend, and he stocks rabbit hides for those that want to make things from them, like garments and such. I get to ‘high grade’ his pile of skins whenever I’m in the shop, so I get decent pelts to cut up.
Plus, my local Sportsman’s Warehouse is apparently closing out all of it’s fly tying stuff. Found a couple of whole skins, nice ones with nice thick long hair, for $2 each.
I’ve also, like Gandolf mentioned, found some nice hides at gun shows and renaisance festivals.
I’d be leery of buying bunny skins on line unless I knew the seller pretty well. Like good hackle, I do like to handle it myself before I buy it.
Easter is in just a couple of days…hang out at the local pet stores near the end of next week. Quite a few “cute live bunny that turned into a chore that requires care and attention no one has the time” for returns where you might benefit…;).
Buddy
Stone Creek outfitters had whole skins reasonable last time i bought from them
Zac: You might want to take a flyer & buy 1/2 of a rabbit skin on Ebay. From the picture the skin looks fairly good but I have never dealt with the seller. Like Hamm said if it don’t pan out you can make dubbing. For 5 bucks it might be worth a gamble. Go to EBay & enter this number in their search window. 370353595552
Tim
That’s my skin supplier on e-bay… I have been buying skins from them for 3yrs now and have gotten a couple skins that were on the thins side but way better than most of what I have gotten from others. I have also gotten some skins that were so fantastic that I ordered another two or three just so I wouldn’t have to use the best skin I have. I tie with tons and tons of bunny and had a heck of a time finding skins that were really good as well. I do have a setup to cut my own zonkers and do still from time to time cut a few if the price is right on the whole skin but for 5 bucks shipped per half (and it is just the center with the edges trimmed off) really you can’t go wrong. I buy about 50 or so skins from them a year and trust them in what they sell.
Steve
Found a half hide of “extra thick” fur at Feather Craft… We’ll see what it looks like here in a few days. Thanks guys!
Hi Jeff,
I have made dubbing from the thin hides, normally dying them with Rit or Koolaid. The thin hides are a lot more trouble to make dubbing with than are good hides because the underfur is thin and short. It takes a lot more time to gather up enough of it to make very much dubbing. Beyond that, the resulting dubbing has a lot more guard hair in it than does dubbing made from better hides. I also think the longer underfur fibers from the better hides makes better quality dubbing.
For me it isn’t worth the extra trouble to make dubbing from the poorer grades of hides.
Regards,
Gandolf
I’m not sure how useful this will be, as my answer is specific to high altitude habitats.
But this is prime Snow Shoe Rabbit season, right now.
In late spring the mountain snow is pretty dense, so, with a 22 rifle and a good pair
of snow shoes, you can go absolutely anywhere (unlike cross-country skiing, which
is best done when locked into existing tracks).
So, if you do trek up into the mountains, early in the morning after a fresh dusting
of snow, tracking rabbits is easy. Snow Shoes are a bit like Mule Deer: when you
flush them off, they often run for a bit, and then turn around and look at you.
And then you gently squeeze off a shot. Unlike jack rabbits, Snow Shoes are like
giant Cotton Tails–very good to eat. And at winter’s end, their feet are like fuzz-balls
of beautifully moisture resistant, semi-transparent, crinkly fibers. Perfect for a variety
of tying tasks. The hide itself peels off the rabbit roast like a banana peel.
And at winter’s end, the fur is not at all thin.
try hobby lobby or tandy leather you get a whole hide for around 4$