1. Troutnut Forum
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2. Fly Tying
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3. Preserving Deer Hair

Since it's the middle of deer season, I was wondering if anybody has saved the cape from a deer they shot. I can also see the opportunity of contacting a taxidermist or local game meat processing facility to get other capes to convert to tying material as well, but how do you do it?

I've never needed so much deer hair that I had a professional do a proper tanning of a cape, and I'm not sure how that would influence the hair. I just take small pieces, scrape the skin clean of any flesh, and use salt and/or borax to dry it out. That seems to work fine. The skin hardens and curls up some, so the pieces don't seem as professional as the soft, tanned squares you buy in the store, but it all looks the same on the fly.

Over the years, I have learned to highly regard being organized, and tanned, high quality deer hair in an easily stored package is my choice. I went the hide route once, and ended up throwing it away. One good patch from a flyshop and I can tie an enormous number of comparaduns let's say. And a spinning hair patch. I can't even grade hair very well, and determine good spinning grade hair for instance. I let the experts do it. And I don't have to worry about the bugs as I do relying on myself to properly care for the hide. And I sure like handling the flexibility of a tanned hide. But that is me. Other game I do myself like the pheasants I shoot, and the grouse, and Hungarian Partridge I shoot.