Hunting for Fly-Tying Material

Article by T. Edward Nickens. Uploaded on October 31, 2004

If it's hunting season, then it must be time to start thinking about fishing—especially if you like to tie your own flies or bucktail jigs. Many commonly (and not so commonly) hunted birds and animals provide prime fly-tying materials, as long as you know what to clip, pluck, or cut, and how to store and maintain the stuff. To preserve hides, you simply need to salt the patch of fur you wish to keep. Deer tails require boning out. If you're saving bird feathers, store them in a zippered plastic bag or screw-top jar. To keep matched feathers from curling or getting smashed, tape the quills together, and you'll have a perfect pair for streamer tails. —T. EDWARD NICKENS

ANIMAL	FLY MATERIAL	FLY PATTERN
Elk	Bull body hair	Elk Hair Caddis and parachute wings
Whitetail deer	Bucktail, natural or dyed	Body and wings for Clouser and Deceiver patterns; tails for bucktail jigs
Rabbit	Fur strips	Leech, Rabbit Candy patterns; guard hairs for white streamer throats
Gray squirrel	Tail hairs	Dry-fly tails and wings, crayfish legs
Red squirrel	Red, black, and gray tail fur	Collar on tarpon streamers
Wild turkey	Secondary wing quills	Wings for caddis, hopper, and Atlantic salmon patterns
Wood duck	Barred body feathers	Classic streamer patterns, tails on dry emergers
Ringneck pheasant	Rooster tails	Knotted grasshopper legs, Pheasant Tail Nymph tails
Sharptail grouse	Body feathers	Patterned body on tarpon flies
Ruffed grouse	Neck feathers	Hackles for wet flies
Hungarian partridge	Neck and body feathers	Soft hackles

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from chuck wrote 38 weeks 3 days ago

I found the easiest way to acquire a lot of material to get one started in fly tying is to find a friendly taxidermist(most are)

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from j-johnson17 wrote 38 weeks 2 days ago

Waterfowl are great sources for materials as well. It is against Federal Law to buy/sell most waterfowl feathers, but a person can keep as many or few of them as he wants to use on personal things...like tying flies!

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from Lead Curtn wrote 36 weeks 5 days ago

I think Field and Stream should start a program with Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited to create a bridge so to speak between hunters and fisherman. I'd be happy to donate extra feathers to people who need them. Especially people teaching others how to tie.

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from midnitesun2002 wrote 32 weeks 7 hours ago

a great idea we need more sharing and working together. along with teaching kids or anyone for that matter to help promote the sport of the great outdoors. This is the only way hunting and fishing as we grew up with it will continue for our kids and grandkids.