Paul F Posted November 21, 2010 Report Share Posted November 21, 2010 I got a deer on friday and if I can, I would like to use the tail for tying purposes... What would I need to do to be able to preserve it for tying purposes? I am sure there is some sort of hide tanning that must be done or the flesh wil rot, correct? If it is not too much work I would be willing to give away some of the body hair to anyone interested... Any guidance would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ferguson Posted November 21, 2010 Report Share Posted November 21, 2010 I don't know anything about preserving bucktails but I did a Google search and found this, I think it will help you. http://www.flyfishingforum.com/flytalk4/showthread.php?t=27830 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Flyrodder Miller Posted November 21, 2010 Report Share Posted November 21, 2010 I got a deer on friday and if I can, I would like to use the tail for tying purposes... What would I need to do to be able to preserve it for tying purposes? I am sure there is some sort of hide tanning that must be done or the flesh wil rot, correct? If it is not too much work I would be willing to give away some of the body hair to anyone interested... Any guidance would be appreciated! I typically split the tail from the base to the tip, remove the bone, scrape the hide clean of any fat and meat. Cover the hide in borax (NOT to be confused with boric acid). If you can't find or don't have borax than use plain salt. The borax may absorb moisture from the hide. Allow it to sit overnight, shake off the wet borax and apply a fresh coating of dry borax and allow the hide to cure. Befor you use it, make sure to put it in a plastic bag into the freezer for a few days to kill any ticks, etc. or you can zap it in the microwave for a short time. Either way, make sure that the hide is allowed to cure until it's dry or you're going to have hair coming out of the hide in short order. And don't forget the rest of the hide! It makes for great deer hair poppers, mice, etc. The white belly fur is ideal for use as is or dyed. Every deer has different hair consistency, length, coarseness, etc. depending on where it was harvested, the time of year, the age of the deer, and the harshness of the weather. If you do the rest of the hide, you'll need to do the same thing as described for the tail except you should anchor it to a board with the hair side down. I hope this helps. Chris Helm is a good source for deer hair information. A.K. Best is also a good source of preserving and dying flytying material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul F Posted November 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted November 22, 2010 I don't know anything about preserving bucktails but I did a Google search and found this, I think it will help you. http://www.flyfishin...ead.php?t=27830 Thank you, I did some googling before I posted this but various mixed suggestions had my head spinning... I typically split the tail from the base to the tip, remove the bone, scrape the hide clean of any fat and meat. Cover the hide in borax (NOT to be confused with boric acid). If you can't find or don't have borax than use plain salt. The borax may absorb moisture from the hide. Allow it to sit overnight, shake off the wet borax and apply a fresh coating of dry borax and allow the hide to cure. Befor you use it, make sure to put it in a plastic bag into the freezer for a few days to kill any ticks, etc. or you can zap it in the microwave for a short time. Either way, make sure that the hide is allowed to cure until it's dry or you're going to have hair coming out of the hide in short order. And don't forget the rest of the hide! It makes for great deer hair poppers, mice, etc. The white belly fur is ideal for use as is or dyed. Every deer has different hair consistency, length, coarseness, etc. depending on where it was harvested, the time of year, the age of the deer, and the harshness of the weather. If you do the rest of the hide, you'll need to do the same thing as described for the tail except you should anchor it to a board with the hair side down. I hope this helps. Chris Helm is a good source for deer hair information. A.K. Best is also a good source of preserving and dying flytying material. Mike, Thanks so much for all the info. I think I am going to stop and pick up some borax on the way home from work tomorrow... But how much of the flesh do I need to try to remove? What is the best method to remove fat and excess flesh on the hide? I really want to go all out on this thing and keep all the good stuff I can use, It adds to the whole element of things (shot the deer, tied fly with hair from deer, Caught monster smallie on said fly) My dog helped get some of the fat off of the inside of the hide for me already since I would not feed her the precious meat and she had to make do with the fat and small pieces of meat left on the hide... Truthfully I really only want the white hairs for tying clousers but I will also keep some of the brown body hairs for poppers and whatnot. Unless of course, Anybody else wants some? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Flyrodder Miller Posted November 25, 2010 Report Share Posted November 25, 2010 Thank you, I did some googling before I posted this but various mixed suggestions had my head spinning... Mike, Thanks so much for all the info. I think I am going to stop and pick up some borax on the way home from work tomorrow... But how much of the flesh do I need to try to remove? What is the best method to remove fat and excess flesh on the hide? I really want to go all out on this thing and keep all the good stuff I can use, It adds to the whole element of things (shot the deer, tied fly with hair from deer, Caught monster smallie on said fly) My dog helped get some of the fat off of the inside of the hide for me already since I would not feed her the precious meat and she had to make do with the fat and small pieces of meat left on the hide... Truthfully I really only want the white hairs for tying clousers but I will also keep some of the brown body hairs for poppers and whatnot. Unless of course, Anybody else wants some? To clean the hide all you need to remove is all of the meat and fat. You don't want to remove any of the hide. The best way is to scrape the hide with the edge of a knife, preferably one with a slightly curved blade so that the point doesn't contact the hide and cut it. You just want to scrape it clean not cut into the hide. If you nail it down or put a weight on it to keep it flat it will make it easier to work with the hair when it's dry. If you need more info PM me because I don't check the site every day, but PM's show up as notifications in my regular e-mail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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