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Greybull River Rat

Groundhog hair good for anything?

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I have been doing a lot of reading as a beginner in fly tying. One thing that I have realized is the fly tying community is very resourceful and, I suspect, never passes up a roadkill for a patch of hair or feathers. I have access to an over abundance of groundhogs and a passion for helping the local farmers kill them. Is the hair good for anything?

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Hi,

I'm sure this fur would be useable for tailing dries, in fact Fran Betters' used it as tailing on his Ausable Wulff. It was listed as woodchuck and it's the same animal. It could be good for winging streamers as well.

 

Mark

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Most furs can be used for something. Dubbing with the underfur and guard hair, tailing with the longer fibers in the tail, etc. If you are taking your own game, the fur will be better if you collect the fur in the winter, when it will be a lot thicker and longer. There have been several threads lately about drying and curing the hide to preserve it, if you don't know how to do this, these threads could be a help to you.

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Most furs can be used for something. Dubbing with the underfur and guard hair, tailing with the longer fibers in the tail, etc. If you are taking your own game, the fur will be better if you collect the fur in the winter, when it will be a lot thicker and longer. There have been several threads lately about drying and curing the hide to preserve it, if you don't know how to do this, these threads could be a help to you.

 

This may be a little difficult since they like to hibernate during the winter months B) Here's a link to an article Peter Frailey did quite a while ago. It has quite a few patterns that use it. The front half has thicker gaurd hairs, and they keep getting more thin towards the rear portion. The tail hair can be used too.

 

http://globalflyfisher.com/patterns/woodchuck/index.php

 

Regards,

Mark

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Wow! That was only a 1/2 way serious question. Given the number of woodchuck that I harvest I think their hair needs to be a primary ingredient. It is near 60 degrees tomorrow....Time to collect! Thanks everyone. I continue to be impressed by the quality of the people and responses to a beginner's questions.

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Hair from anything can be useful. Up here in the Adirondacks we have red squirrels (tree rats/pine squirrels) instead of groundhogs. I shoot 'em just to keep them from castrating the gray squirrels, and their tails are great for anything, esp. streamers. The fur is beautiful dubbing, with a reddish orange tint. Use what ya' got!

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Hair from anything can be useful. Up here in the Adirondacks we have red squirrels (tree rats/pine squirrels) instead of groundhogs. I shoot 'em just to keep them from castrating the gray squirrels, and their tails are great for anything, esp. streamers. The fur is beautiful dubbing, with a reddish orange tint. Use what ya' got!

I have a bunch of grey and red fox furs laying around. Can they be used for anything? If so what would they typically be used to tie?

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Hair from anything can be useful. Up here in the Adirondacks we have red squirrels (tree rats/pine squirrels) instead of groundhogs. I shoot 'em just to keep them from castrating the gray squirrels, and their tails are great for anything, esp. streamers. The fur is beautiful dubbing, with a reddish orange tint. Use what ya' got!

I have a bunch of grey and red fox furs laying around. Can they be used for anything? If so what would they typically be used to tie?

 

Guard hairs for wings. Underfur for dubbing. Grey fox is used for wings on the RAT series of hairwing salmon flies. Red fox underfur makes great dubbing for the bodies of dry flies like the Light Hendrickson and the March Brown.

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Hair from anything can be useful. Up here in the Adirondacks we have red squirrels (tree rats/pine squirrels) instead of groundhogs. I shoot 'em just to keep them from castrating the gray squirrels, and their tails are great for anything, esp. streamers. The fur is beautiful dubbing, with a reddish orange tint. Use what ya' got!

I have a bunch of grey and red fox furs laying around. Can they be used for anything? If so what would they typically be used to tie?

Nope...not a thing! Send them my way and I will dispose of them properly... :lol:

Murray

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I've tied with many, many different types of fur over the years, you name it & I might have tied with it. I spent a lot of time as a fur trapper too, so that just went with tying very well. As the others have said, any fur or hair type can be used to tie flies. I tie with a lot of red fox & coyote. Both have natural coloration that works well for tying things like crayfish patterns, as well as many insect forms. Use your imagination.

 

A little searching in the fly pattern database on this site or even a Google search for flies tied with a specific material will often produce a number of fly patterns.

 

Here's some fur & hair I've tied with:

Coyote tail & body

Red Fox Tail & body

Grey Fox tail & body

Arctic Fox tail & body

Silver Fox tail & body, (plus many other variations of Red Fox cross breeds)

Red squirrel

Grey squirrel

Fox squirrel

rabbit, both domestic & wild

Groundhog

Badger

Mink

Beaver

Raccoon

Finn Raccoon

Opossum

Australian Opossum

White Tail Deer, tails & body

Black tail Deer, tails & body

Elk

Moose

Antelope

Black & Brown bear

Muskrat

Otter

Skunk

Yak hair

Cashmere Goat

Mohair

Tibetan Lamb

Scottish Highland Cow

etc, etc, etc.

 

Get the picture? ;)

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My sister has got some blonde hair extensions, I'm gonna see about dying and then using them xD It's all good for summat

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Thanks for the insight on this. Maybe i will shave my wifes head tonight while sh sleeps. Make some wholley boogers with that rats nest...lol

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Hair from anything can be useful. Up here in the Adirondacks we have red squirrels (tree rats/pine squirrels) instead of groundhogs. I shoot 'em just to keep them from castrating the gray squirrels, and their tails are great for anything, esp. streamers. The fur is beautiful dubbing, with a reddish orange tint. Use what ya' got!

I have a bunch of grey and red fox furs laying around. Can they be used for anything? If so what would they typically be used to tie?

Nope...not a thing! Send them my way and I will dispose of them properly... :lol:

Murray

Let me know...maybe we can work something out to get them to you. Possible trade for flys/materials etc.

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.Thanks for the insight on this. Maybe i will shave my wifes head tonight while sh sleeps. Make some wholley boogers with that rats nest...lol

 

Nah I tried that once, my wife not yours :lol: but like medusa it just scared the fish out of the river. Too acidic I reckon.

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