fly tyers: curing deer tails/hides and fowl

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vaj26
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fly tyers: curing deer tails/hides and fowl

Post by vaj26 » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:39 am

I just started tying flies and I'm from a hunting family. I would like to cure or preserve deer tails/hides and other fowles. Does anyone know the procews of doing this?

Any suggestions would be great.

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lpquick
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Re: fly tyers: curing deer tails/hides and fowl

Post by lpquick » Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:52 am

Make sure to remove all the flesh and fat. Then just salt the hell out of it, keep it dry and in about 3 weeks you should be good to go. Birds I would roll the birds in Borax for about a week to ten days. What you’re doing here is drying everything out completely and killing any and all bugs.

smalljaw
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Re: fly tyers: curing deer tails/hides and fowl

Post by smalljaw » Wed Nov 27, 2013 6:41 am

I've only done buck tails and what I do is split the tail, make sure to get all the flesh off otherwise it will rot and smell, trust me. Once you have that I usually have a 5 gallon bucket of clean water and I wash it good and I only use water, no soap. After I wash the tail I dry it with a towel then wait about an hour when I'm sure it is good an dry and then put borax over it and make sure it is covered and out of the way then leave it sit for 2 to 3 weeks. If you are worried about time then let it go for the full 3 weeks and then you will know for sure that it is cured enough that it won't rot.

FrankW
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Re: fly tyers: curing deer tails/hides and fowl

Post by FrankW » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:26 pm

Hi vaj26,

If you want to learn how to process fur and features then you should get this book: Fly-Tying Materials, Their Procurement, Use, and Protection by Eric Leiser. It is an older book but it is what you need to do it right. You can buy used copies for not too much or you can still buy new. Available in Hard Cover or Paper Back from Amazon.

Frank

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