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robow7

Get by with a little help from my friends

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A good friend of mine was fortunate enough to harvest a larger buck a few days ago and was kind enough to pass along the tail.  Unlike so many buck tails that you purchase commercially, this one has really long hair and will allow for some very nice length Clousers, Thunder Creeks, and other bass and pike streamers.   Hopefully my buddies who like to  trap will come thru for me as well.  Ha

20211128_181829.jpg.0b1252c0ddb25a949f12ad265b72307e.jpg

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I have access to a lot of furs from local relatives who like to shoot anything allowed by law but I'm afraid I'm just not into treating birds or furs. Just as easy for me to buy them as try to treat them. Looks like you've got the process down pretty well. I've tried but end up tossing them anyway.

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Nice job.  I'm hoping to pick up at least one deer mask from someone this season, which starts today (shotgun) here in MA

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Reminds me few years ago i picked up 2 mink within three weeks, side of road during late november, pretty frozen , i took home and i shaved them with an old beard trimmer , took handfuls of mink and incorporated into a dubbing , 🤷🏻‍♂️  Honestly didnt notice earth breaking results but figured i could try 

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8 hours ago, Mark Knapp said:

Put some salt on there. It will preserve better and it keep the bugs off.

Yep, I generally rub Borax into the flesh and completely cover that area with more of the same.  After a couple weeks, I'll shake it all off and if not dry enough, I'll repeat the process again.  After that it gets cleaned really well in a bucket of Oxyclean and maybe just a touch of bleach (don't use too much or will destroy the fibers).  It then gets dried and will be ready to use unless I want to dye any or all of it.

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Very cool. The best type of friends to have are hunters lol.

I came into work a few days ago. On my desk was a black trash bag which looked a little interesting. After opening the bag I realized I had about 3 wild turkeys worth of feathers. Customer of mine went turkey hunting and shared the love.

 

Got to love it. Happy tying

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A couple of weeks ago, I was given 6 deer tails.  I stripped them down like the one in your picture, Robow.  Now they're sitting in a box full of kitty litter.

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Mike, I've never heard of the "kitty litter" treatment before.  Does it work well?  We have more than our share of kitties so we have plenty available in this household.

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It's worked on all the raccoon tails I've stuck in it.  And none of those were skinned.  It dried them out in a couple of weeks, so I am likely going to pull the deer tails this weekend.

I'll let y'all know what they look like.

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8 hours ago, skeet3t said:

Just make sure it's new kitty litter.😺

Yea, but I bet whatever flies you tied from that deer tail would be excellent for Crap pie

But yes Mike, please let us know how they turn out.

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12 hours ago, skeet3t said:

Just make sure it's new kitty litter.😺

More important - make sure the kitties don't find WHILE you are using it!  Ever hear the old joke about your Mom and you having clean underwear in case you are ever in an accident - first you say it then you do it so NO clean underwear!😳

Kim

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I always washed them in dawn and borax and brushed to get them really clean then tack them and pour borax on top to dry out.  If you're going to dye them make sure they're clean and leave them wet to put in the dye.  

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That's a really nice bucktail! The long straight hair is perfect for the underbellies of Carrie Stevens-style streamers (e.g. Gray Ghost), and the flies you mentioned earlier. 

As far as treating the tail, put borax on the flesh side. Then bury the whole thing in maybe 1/4" borax and have a small fan blow air over it. As far as washing, a friend who sells bucktail in quantity and to shops, washes them in dawn, then shampoo, and then uses conditioner. Then dry out in borax again using the same method.   Do NOT use bleach!  (Bleach will weaken the protein in the hair very quickly. It's why one never uses bleach on wool garments. Don''t believe me? Take an old peacock eye feather and put it in a dish with bleach. In a few minutes all that is left will be the stems of the herls - in fact using dilute bleach is how one gets peacock quill bodies for the Quill Gordon).

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