How do you tie a deer body hair tail and get it NOT to flair?!? I’m taking a crack at tying a Humpy and can’t get my tail to work out…
Zac
Hi Zac,
All deer hair is not created equally. For tailing and winging you want hair that is not very hollow. Hair from the whitetail belly is very hollow and flares badly. Hair from the sides is less hollow, and flares some but less. Hair from the middle of the back is less hollow still, and is good for winging and tailing. The bucktail, at least a ways up the tail away from the body is not very hollow at all, and is great for tailing and winging.
Beyond that, the technique folks often use to control flare is to tie the hair in with a few tight thread wraps, and as you wrap the thread back toward the bend of the hook is to decrease how tightly you wrap the thread. This is especially important with the last few wraps. You can overdo this by not wrapping the thread tightly enough. The soft wraps are done just for the last 3 or 4 thread wraps as you go back to the point where you stop wrapping the thread. These last 3 or 4 wraps are just there to keep the hair flare under control.
(The truth is that deer hair is not really hollow, but we speak of it that way. It does, however, kind of act like it is hollow, in that it floats, etc.)
Regards,
Gandolf
Use the appropriate color of bucktail if you want to avoid flare.
I was just going to tell you to use bucktail instead but now we both know why. 
Moose body hair is a good tailing material. I don’t tie a lot of Humpies, but when I do, I use moose body for the tail.
John
Ditto on the moose body hair.
Also, after you’ve got it tied in securely, you can make a soft wrap or two around just the hair. This won’t solve every issue, but it has helped me tame some unruly hair to salvage what might otherwise be a terrible looking fly.
So using bucktail is kosher and even somewhat encouraged?? I’ll give that a shot! I have tied very very few dry flies, so it’s new territory for me. My “dry” flies to this point have all included foam or CDC. I’m trying to tie Craven’s simplified Humpy right now.
Learning proportions all over again… I have been doing winged wets lately and crowding the eye as much as possible to make a small head. Now it’s “leave a lot of room for hackle”. Let me tie 5 or 6 and I MIGHT post a pic of the trainwreck I come up with.
End result I’d like is a simple “standard” type dry fly I can use for bluegills that isn’t a foam beetle or hopper, and that floats well.
Thanks for the responses!
QK…If you’re looking for a dry fly that works for gills…look in “My Fly Box” on my page. The Foam Butt Caddis is my favorite pattern for gills on the surface.
Rabbit Hair cut from scrap zonker strips…Squirrel Tai…Fox Tail…many other materials that you can use. Ever buy an artist brush for oil painting, odds are it is made out of camel hair. Paint Brushes for oil base house paint are Chinese Boar Hair.
As for Deer “Bucktail”, the outside hair flare, but the center hairs on the bucktail are soft and do not flare.
All are suitable for tail material
~Parnelli
There is no such thing as “Stupid Questions”, only “Stupid Answers”!
I’m planning on making a trip to the fly shop this week, so now I have some things to specifically look for. Gonna try again this evening!