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imaxfli78

Humpy Elk....

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Was tying a Humpy pattern from an old FFman(Craven) and it called for "yearling elk", the yearling elk I bought from KS a long time ago was like an inch long. So I used ELK MANE which was like too long, but made GREAT wings but not "soft" enough(hardly splayed) for the humpy part...... any suggestions????

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I would think deer would flair too much....guess I'll just have to wrap those wings big time. That elk mane was great for wings....just split it and a couple wraps and it was perfect!!

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Yearling Elk

"I have fallen in love with yearling elk hair. Yearling elk epitomizes what
I search for in a piece of hair to use for wings on flies of all sizes.
The soft texture coupled with the quickly tapered tips makes this
hair great for nearly all winging applications.The somewhat thinner
wall thickness and thinner overall diameter makes this hair easy to
compress on the hook, yet it is still thick enough to keep the hair
from flaring out of bounds when I apply thread tension.
 Yearling elk hair is longer than cow elk and often as long as bull,
making it useable for a range of fly sizes. The tips of a good piece
of yearling elk hair taper quickly to a point just as a good piece of
cow or bull hair will, forming clean color bands along the tips of
hair wings. I use yearling elk on patterns like the Humpy and
Stimulator, as its thin wall and diameter allows me to anchor it to
the hook and completely compress it with heavy thread tension.
Hair that compresses completely on the shank creates far less
bulk than hairs with thicker walls. A great piece of yearling
elk hair inspires me with its hidden potential, and I have been
known to hoard the good stuff to excess. I am a bad man."

                                                             
  Charlie Craven

From  Charlie's book Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying: Modern Techniques for Flies That Catch Fish


Kimo
 

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Not sure where you do business but over the years one of the best place that I have found for hair has been Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West Yellowstone share with them what you are tying and they will hand select the best hair material for your needs.

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Cool..thanx...I don't think my deer hair is long enough to make the wings and then the hump. And , like I said, the yearling elk I ordered is 1" long-no where near long enough!

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Heres my yearling elk desc from old KS catalog...."...perfect for mini-Caddis,mayfies, parachutes etc".....its just over 1 " long........

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6 hours ago, James said:

Not sure where you do business but over the years one of the best place that I have found for hair has been Blue Ribbon Fly Shop in West Yellowstone share with them what you are tying and they will hand select the best hair material for your needs.

+1 on Blue Ribbon.  They were 100% on two recent orders in last month....👍👍🎣🎣😎😎

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