Got my red fox pelt!

[BassMouth87 0]

For the last few months I have been searching high and low trying to find a red fox pelt for sale within Canada. A few companies that supply furs from within Canada had grade A pelts for sale, but with the price tag of $120-170 + shipping I wanted to find a cheaper alternative. I watched ebay like a hawk for weeks and lost a few auctions bidding on different pelts until last week. I won a red fox pelt for $60 Canadian shipped to my front door and received it today.

 

It is a beautiful fur but unfortunately my girlfriend asked me to cut the mask off so that when I had it out she would not see it. Here it is without the mask:

 

 

In celebration I just had to tie up a few foxee clousers:

 

 

I am still having some issues getting the foxee clousers to look exactly how I want them, but lucky for me they still catch fish like no ones business!

[Guest]

Only make such huge concessions for you wife or fiance with a wedding date set, not your girlfriend (learned the hard way)! lol!

 

That's a beatiful find, and those Clousers look really good. I'm looking forward to seeing your catch reports!

[rockworm 0]

Those are fine looking flies! IMHO every serious flytyer should include a red (and grey) fox pelt (or at least pieces thereof) in their materials collection. Great dubbing for dry flies, great wings for salmon flies.

[BassMouth87 0]

Only make such huge concessions for you wife or fiance with a wedding date set, not your girlfriend (learned the hard way)! lol!

 

That's a beatiful find, and those Clousers look really good. I'm looking forward to seeing your catch reports!

 

We have been dating for three years now and I can easily say she is the one. She is a very big animal lover and dislikes that I have a desk filled with animal furs, hides, pelts and feathers. Regardless of this dislike she still buys me fly tying materials for my birthdays and other occasions...if all I have to do is hide hares masks and not leave "cute animal faces"(as she calls them) out in the open I think I am good lol.

 

I have had all sorts of luck with the foxee clousers, here is the first bass I caught on the fly:

 

 

I also caught my first steelhead on a foxxee clouser variant tied with squirrel tail instead of fox:

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JB9BNov1PYY/UJbZEiLhucI/AAAAAAAAAU4/f52Bi-nUxwo/s1600/PICT0152.JPG

 

rockworm: I would tend to agree. I have gotten a little more serious recently and will be adding a coyote and mink pelt to my collection very shortly. I have had enough of paying $3-5 for little squares of fur when I can buy an entire pelt for $35-50.

[WoodRiverTroutBum 0]

Glue the mask to the milk jug and put it back in the fridge. Should give her a good scare haha. Really nice looking pelt, I may have to find one myself.

[BassMouth87 0]

If it was anyone else I would seriously consider some sort of prank lol.

 

Getting your hands on pelts in the states seems to be much easier. Decent looking quality pelts are all over e-bay for $35-50 and shipping is usually pretty cheap.

 

 

Also did up a few Mixed Media flies while I had all my materials out:

 

[JSzymczyk 0]

Call them in and shoot them yourself. By far my best tying materials from mammals and birds are those which I've killed. Predator hunting is great fun. Takes a while to get proficient but it's well worth it. If you use an e-caller, it takes no time and very little skill, and any moron can do it. I couldn't imagine if my wife had the same point of view as yours (to be). The flies look great.

[mikechell 0]

Shooting an animal and getting the hide is the easy part, IMHO. Preserving the hide and fur is the hard part.

[ditz2 0]

All of those flies appear to be fish getters to me.

[Peterjay 0]

Good looking skin and very nice flies! I agree that it's crazy to be paying fly shop prices when you can find good stuff in bulk. Even if you only need half the skin, you can always sell the rest and recover some of your money. There are some tremendous deals on Ebay if you know your prices and are willing to do some serious digging. Occasionally, you can find some pretty good deals on Etsy as well.

[Mickalo 0]

I lucked out last fall picked up a complete soft tanned red fox pelt for about $45 from a great Ebay seller I use allot. It's classified as "Craft Grade" which is usually cheaper, and may some holes or damage, but for tying it's perfect. Enough to last me a life time ... or 2 Some really great stuff to tie with and blend with other materials.

 

Mike

[BassMouth87 0]

Call them in and shoot them yourself. By far my best tying materials from mammals and birds are those which I've killed. Predator hunting is great fun. Takes a while to get proficient but it's well worth it. If you use an e-caller, it takes no time and very little skill, and any moron can do it. I couldn't imagine if my wife had the same point of view as yours (to be). The flies look great.

 

I have a few friends locally who hunt on a regular basis and I have asked them to keep an eye out for a few things. Coyote is one thing they target regularly as well as squirrel. I asked to go out with them sometime to give it a try but I first have to get my firearm and hunting license and take a few hunting/gun safety courses. The girlfriend just has a big heart, part of the reason I love her. She lets be be and does not give me much trouble with my hobbies or interests, as long as it is not right in her face.

 

Shooting an animal and getting the hide is the easy part, IMHO. Preserving the hide and fur is the hard part.

I am finding that to be true. My friends who hunt left me a few squirrel tails to preserve and I am currently in the process of giving it a try. I first cleaned the fur well with some dish soap, let it dry and then placed them in the freezer for a month to kill off most of the bacteria and parasites. My next step is to let them thaw, cut off as much of the meat on the bone as possible and then dry using a large container filled with salt. We will see how it works out.

 

Good looking skin and very nice flies! I agree that it's crazy to be paying fly shop prices when you can find good stuff in bulk. Even if you only need half the skin, you can always sell the rest and recover some of your money. There are some tremendous deals on Ebay if you know your prices and are willing to do some serious digging. Occasionally, you can find some pretty good deals on Etsy as well.

E-bay has been amazing for fly tying materials. I am always surfing around and looking for deals, the wonder (or should I say curse) of owning a smart phone.

 

I lucked out last fall picked up a complete soft tanned red fox pelt for about $45 from a great Ebay seller I use allot. It's classified as "Craft Grade" which is usually cheaper, and may some holes or damage, but for tying it's perfect. Enough to last me a life time ... or 2 Some really great stuff to tie with and blend with other materials.

 

Mike

I have kept an eye out for craft grade furs as well, have yet to find anything cheap enough to bother though.

 

 

I am sure some more fox will be used today at the bench, I will post some pictures a bit later.

[Peterjay 0]

E-bay has been amazing for fly tying materials. I am always surfing around and looking for deals, the wonder (or should I say curse) of owning a smart phone.

 

A man after my own heart - at any given moment, I've always got at least one package in the mail. I've had three this week, with another yet to arrive.

[BassMouth87 0]

I usually have 3-4 on its way to me at any given time...however I am a man of many interests and hobbies...and I own a small business so inventory is constantly flowing in. Last week I purchased that pelt, I got around $75-80 worth of fly tying materials for $35, just assorted stuff someone cleaning out a few drawers (there was a nice metz cape that I figure was worth at least $35) and I bid on a nice mink pelt yesterday....it never ends.

[Mickalo 0]

if interested here is an ebay seller I've been using for a couple of years now and get almost all my fur pelts from. these are the red fox hides they have now from $40-$60 range

 

http://stores.ebay.com/Paulette-Fur-Company/_i.html?rt=nc&_nkw=Red+Fox+Hide&_sid=19759932&_sticky=1&_trksid=p4634.c0.m14&_sop=2&_sc=1

 

No affiliation just a great seller and provides excellent service.

 

Mike