Deer Mask

[niveker 0]

Well it finally happened, the new kitten who has proven herself quite the huntress, and aptly named Artemis, took down a small buck today, so I decided to get a bit of deer mask. 

Having done this once before, these are the only areas I think are worthwhile: 1. from between and slightly behind the ears, down the snout to just passed the eyes (which is the prime stuff IMO, I should have gone a bit further behind the ears, and 2. both cheeks.  The hair further down the snout is too short to work with, and below and behind the ears is more like deer fur than deer hair.     

[SBPatt 0]

Did she run it down or drop from a tree? Nice harvest.

Regards,
Scott

[niveker 0]

Lol, wish I could take credit for it. 

My neighbor dresses out deer for all his friends and gives me whatever I want

[partsman 0]

I was just reading somewhere that deer mask makes great caddis wings, do you find that to be the case? My neighbor wants me to hunt opening week on his property in his stand as he goes north for opening week, I had prostrate surgery a few months ago and I’m not sure I’m up wrestling a deer around. But I would love to have get a skin and select the premo hair patches. I’ve got a week to think about that, but just looking for some options for caddis.

Thanks, Mike.

[Philly 0]

I've been using hair from a deer's mask for over 20 years now.  I was involved in a fly swap that required me to tie 100 flies.  I decided to tie the CDC & Elk, which is actually tied with deer hair. I stopped at a local fly shop and told the owner what I was planning to do.  He told me if I was planning to tie a lot of caddis, I'd be better off buying a deer's mask rather than the several individual pieces.   He sold me for a deer's mask, if I remember correctly for $12.  That one lasted a few years before I needed a new one.  I found one in the English Angling Trappings catalog for $15.  The mask was huge I had to cut it in half in order to store it one of my plastic storage container.  I still have a half left.  Nice thing about them you can find various colored hair on the mask and it's a bit finer than the body patches you can pick up in fly shops or on-line.

Here are a couple of CDC and Elks and Stimulators I tied earlier this year using deer mask hair.

[partsman 0]

Very nice Philly, I think I have to find a deers mask.

[niveker 0]

There's a good variety of hair in the mask, from left to right: throat, jaw or cheek, and just above the nose.