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aaron14

Preparing Showshoe Rabbit Feet

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My brother shot a snowshoe rabbit and I had him keep the feet for fly tying. How should I prepare them for tying? Freeze them? Borax? Any help is much appreciated!

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Lightly wrap them in newspaper (or similar), then put them in the freezer for a few weeks. They will dry out ... freeze dry, so to speak.

I do this with raccoon tails. After they've been in the freezer for 3 weeks or so, I'll put them in a lidded jar with kitty litter. Take them out to use them, put them back when you're done. Keeps them dry, and the litter dust kills any critters that might still be on them. The dust clogs their breathing "apparatus" and they suffocate.

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I would try to remove as much flesh as you can, wash them with rubbing alcohol and then borax them. finally, dry them out thoroughly before storing.

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I'd clean them just like any other fresh materials I do. X2 on getting as much meat off them as you can. I use a Maxwell plastic coffee pail and put them in with borax and dawn dish soap - I'll shake the up well and then take an old brush and comb them out so you get them clean way down in the fur.

 

I'd squeeze them between paper towel and then using a flat container with a lid - put a layer of borax down put them on top of it and cover them with another layer. Check them every couple of days and if you find any wet spots use a spoon and pull it off with a spoon and put fresh borax on it. After a few weeks pour off all the borax and check them, I'll usually put them through another treatment of borax and after that they should be all dried.

 

I get mine from a guy in Alaska and this is how he treat thems, but I still do it again. Borax seems to act like a natural bug deterent and getting them clean to begin with makes them much nicer to tie with.

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Break the foot off at the closest joint, right where the ankle meets the foot and there won't be any meat. Snap it off clean and make sure nothing stays attached, cutting off clean any tendons. Be sure to trim off any hair that's dirty or blood stained. Dip the exposed end where the leg was cut off in salt and set aside somewhere warm and dry for a week or two. Then take a small container like a tupperware sandwich container or even a ziplock bag about half full of 20 Mule Team Borax from Walmart and submerge the foot in it, completely covering it and seal the container. Store someplace cool, dark and dry and it'll keep like this for a loooong time.

 

Congrats, you've found one of the very best and easy to tie with materials for making wings on dries and emergers. And save all the hair scraps when you trim it as it makes a great dubbing on its own for dries and nymphs, or a great additive to other dubbings to give a sort of buggy translucent when wet effect.

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