Hunting for Fly-Tying Material
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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 |
