Polar Bear fur

[IgotWood 0]

I had quite a bit of it that was passed down to me by my uncle. It is great material. The heavier hair is very similar to bucktail. I like to tie hollow body flies with it. I tie a very simple and effective pattern for false albacore with it. In my own opinion...I wouldn't spend the money on it. It's nice, and the translucent appearance is unique, but I don't think it's quite necessary.

[Henrik Thomsen (DK) 0]

 

They actually works as an optical fiber, leading the light of the sun towards the black skin of the animal (polar bear).

 

Science doesn't support that. Turns out that the hair doesn't actually work like optical fibers, but does allow some of the sunlight to reach the skin directly.

http://it.stlawu.edu/~koon/mar_ref.html

 

I stand corrected, happy to get new information :-D

Although it is writings on just the UV part of the light spectrum.

 

I know perfectly well, that UV light has much more energi, but also, that UV light is a mutating agent.

Therefore, it could still be specuilated, that since it is only UV light, that gets absorbed, then the energi (warmth) in the rest of the spectrum gets down to the pelt and helps heating the bear.

 

In fact, one might speculate (theorize) that the UV protection is a precaution not to get the DNA damaging UV light to the cells in the pelt, and therefore that the fur is protective against UV, but insulates and helps warmth from the rest of the spectrum to get to the pelt...

 

And for all the UV nerds out there, if the fur absorbs the UV light, it neets to either heat up alot, or heat up a little and then emit light with lower energi - Is polar bear fur UV fluorescent???

 

 

/H

[Capt Bob LeMay 0]

I was able to find a source years and years ago (we used trimmings off of old moth eaten rugs...). Although they were legally obtained I made a point of never using any commercially... Polar bear comes in various lengths -depending on what part of the bear it's from (I still have some in the six to seven inch range as well as shorter lengths). Yes, it does take die very well, but it has some surprising qualities all on it's own. As already noted it's translucent when wet but it's also much, much more durable than bucktail and will actually survive hits by toothy critters in the salt when hardly any other fiber will.... It was highly prized when I first started tying (mid-seventies) and there were still some folks who'd use polar in lieu of bucktail on jigs (all in the salt....). One of my early mentors was a guy named Harry Friedman - one of the earliest bonefishing pioneers (you can find Harry in the pics that Joe Brooks included in his earliest works about fly fishing the salt - I believe we're talking early 1950's....). I was told that many of the early bonefish patterns came directly from steelhead patterns (some with polar...).

 

These days I believe that polar bear hair can be purchased up at the fur rendevouz up in Alaska each year. The very limited supply comes form either roadkill or native harvest and is pretty pricey. The pound of fur scraps I have is still occasionally used but mostly it just sits in storage with hundreds of old bucktail remnants in every color under the sun.... Like jungle cock it was highly prized many years ago but for me it will rarely see much use these days.

[Lost Coast 0]

Skunk is a wonderful substitute! I like the shorter guard hairs with some under fur left in for fullness

 

[Piker20 0]

But Jalberts, when all the ice is gone it's only fair to kill them all and stop their suffering.........

 

I do like the look of skunk hair, not that easy to source in UK though.

[StoneFlyTyer 0]

I'm sure the bear wasn't killed just for its fur for tying, but with that said if it was killed for meat or to protect and Inuit village why not use every part of the bear so nothing is wasted

[mikechell 0]

I'm sure the bear wasn't killed just for its fur for tying, but with that said if it was killed for meat or to protect and Inuit village why not use every part of the bear so nothing is wasted

Unfortunately ... that's not the way it goes. When pelts demand several thousand dollars a piece, there will always be poachers. If people stop buying said pelts, the demand goes away and poachers go away.

 

But that won't happen. People will always want what they don't need ... and animal populations will continue to go needlessly extinct. Yes, animals naturally go extinct ... but we cause WAY more than is "natural".

 

In all cases of ecological disaster or ecosystem failure ... man is the root cause. The "Matrix" movies had it right ... we are a virus on the planet.

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

All cases? Tell that to the dinosaurs............

[mikechell 0]

Oh, excuse me. I thought we were talking modern day.

[NoSlack 0]

PB is great stuff. No need to hoard out here. Goes for about 3$ a patch.... dyed aswell as natural.

[SILKHDH 0]

 

I'm sure the bear wasn't killed just for its fur for tying, but with that said if it was killed for meat or to protect and Inuit village why not use every part of the bear so nothing is wasted

Unfortunately ... that's not the way it goes. When pelts demand several thousand dollars a piece, there will always be poachers. If people stop buying said pelts, the demand goes away and poachers go away.

 

But that won't happen. People will always want what they don't need ... and animal populations will continue to go needlessly extinct. Yes, animals naturally go extinct ... but we cause WAY more than is "natural".

 

In all cases of ecological disaster or ecosystem failure ... man is the root cause. The "Matrix" movies had it right ... we are a virus on the planet.

 

Agreed totally!!!!!!!

[SILKHDH 0]

 

I'm sure the bear wasn't killed just for its fur for tying, but with that said if it was killed for meat or to protect and Inuit village why not use every part of the bear so nothing is wasted

Unfortunately ... that's not the way it goes. When pelts demand several thousand dollars a piece, there will always be poachers. If people stop buying said pelts, the demand goes away and poachers go away.

 

But that won't happen. People will always want what they don't need ... and animal populations will continue to go needlessly extinct. Yes, animals naturally go extinct ... but we cause WAY more than is "natural".

 

In all cases of ecological disaster or ecosystem failure ... man is the root cause. The "Matrix" movies had it right ... we are a virus on the planet.

 

 

Just to be clear here. I am a hunter. I kill animals. BUT, it isn't so I have something pretty to put on my wall. But lets face it. Man has abused the animals on this planet for his pleasure for a long time.

[SILKHDH 0]

Sorry, Oh , what were we discussing here. Oh that's right. Polar bear fur,...LOL.. Mike got me off track again..LOL

[Adam Saarinen 0]

I've got some in red & black, but only 2" long! Was a temple dog fur salesman in summer, another guy found the only big polar bear patch he had, a big one 4" long hairs in orange! I said make a pike fly? He said yeh, with a whole jungle cock neck! But what i really want is a ivory coffee table!

[Meeshka 0]

I live in Canada and can get cutoffs for $100.00 / pound. Dye my own colors with Veniards dye. Unfortunately my supplier does not ship it to the States - much like many of your exotic capes can not be shipped to Canada. A polar Bear Clouser