Elk hair?

[Jake Bannon]

My dad is going to help out a good friend on a bull hunt tomarrow and most likely he will shoot one within the next week because its a very limited tag for a good area. Anyways only knowing the anatomy of deer and birds which part of an elk is best for tying. Iv'e heard the better hair is on the back but not sure. Thanks for all the help.

Jake

[TrappedinCO]

According to one of A.K. Best's books (Producting Fly Tying, I think is where I read it), the best hair is a foot wide strip right along the back. But I suspect what you buy in most fly shops can cover the entire animal. The other thing you'll have to figure out is how to prepare the skin - I'm not a tanning expert, but maybe you've got this piece figured out.

Good luck!

[FT]

What the location of the best hair on an elk for tying depends entirely on what you are going to tie with it. The hair from the upper leg is great for Elk Hair Caddis, while the hair on the lower leg is great for wings on small flies. The cream-colored hair on the rump is terrific for spinning hair bodies or for dying and using for bodies of hoppers and large stoneflies in the manner of Al Troth (i.e. it is simple laid along the body, tied in with 210 denier tying thread, and then the thead is spiral wrapped-like a ribbing- back to the end of the body and forward to the front). The hair on the lower flanks is very good for Elk Hair Caddis or Stimulator wings, the hair on the upper flanks is very good for spun bodies. Neck hair is also good for spinning, and the hair on the upper neck near the head is very good for caddis or stonefly wings. Even the face (known as the mask) hair is useful for small flies.

[Norseman1]

FT nailed it....all depends on what you want to tie.

As for curing the hide. Remove any meat and fat off of the underside of the skin. Lay it out on a large piece of plywood and tack the edges out nice and tight with some nails. Cover the skin ( not hair ) side with some coarse rock salt. At the end of each day scrape off the saturated salt mix. After several days of this most of the moisture will be gone..it can vary from hide to hide though. But you want as much moisture out as possible. Then I go to a supermarket and buy enough boxes of 20 mule team borax and sprinkle it about 1/4" deep all over the skin side to remove any other moisture.. The borax acts as an anti bacterial agent. The hide will toughen up like a piece of dried raw hide. Once it is all dry you are ready to store it. I would suggest bagging it into manageable pieces then bag it. Freeze it as this will kill any parasites or moth larva ( the scorge of the fly tyer ) A couple of months in the freezer or in an airtight container with some mothballs usually does the trick....:beer2::beer2: