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3. Buying Dry Fly Materials, Page 2

I got my only black squirrel skin on my way to the Somerset fly fishing show a few years ago. I don't bother with the grey ones anymore, but how do you pass on a black one?

It was winter, fresh [the car in front of me hit it] and I always carry a knife. That was the best material I got all weekend, including what I found at the show! CJ

Nice work, CJ. I'd break the law for a black squirrel skin.

Go to DC it's polluted with them.

There is also a colony of black squirrels on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

OK, the nature nerd in me has been activated... cool stuff I think:

Squirrel coat pigments run the gamut from white to black, with various browns as intermediate. These come from varying amounts of two melanin types: one black, the other a reddish-brown. "Black" squirrels can have varying amounts of either and the genes controlling these show incomplete dominance, meaning they can blend.

These pigments can be seen on "normal" squirrels in the banding found on each hair. Then there is the white belly. So... you can potentially have all black, black-brown, brown, reddish-brown, blonde, silver, and (non-albino) all-white squirrels. You can also have pie-balds -patchy ones- of the above colors. Sometimes it's only the tail that varies. And there are albinos too.

Luck of the draw and natural selection give us the squirrels we see. Black squirrels are more frequent in the north, grey ones over most of the range, and the exceedingly rare all-white ones found where protected from predators in towns.

I used to do a lot of squirrel hunting -loved it in fact- and took many Grey and Fox squirrels. I've only taken two "black" ones, one more reddish-black than the other. In Colorado we have Abert's, or Tassel-Eared Squirrels, which are most commonly black where I live, but a pretty grey, red, and white to the west. I don't hunt Abert's as they are not very numerous, their abundance patchy in time and space essentially following Ponderosa Pine seed production.

My fly-tying kit contains squirrel skins (grey, fox, red) but I don't think I saved the black skins because it's the variegated patterns of the normal coats I like most.

That is some good squirrel knowledge right there!

I have never seen a white one, all white that is, but the black ones are fairly common in that I have seen enough that I don't get overly excited when I spot one. CJ

Many years ago I was fishing on the Yellow Breeches, about a quarter mile below the dam at Allenberry, I was just enjoying the day and on river right there are some houses. A homeowner came out and said to me "do you want to see a white squirrel?" Of course I said yes and he motioned me to look into a tree on his property and sure enough there was an entirely white squirrel about 20' off of the ground. He told me he had them in his yard for many years.

I see white ones relatively frequently.

I have a Fox squirrel with a whitish/gray tail...Really sticks out in the woods behind the house.

I have Black, Fox, and Pine squirrels here. They all love the seed I put out meant for the birds.

Paul...I think its time for you to come home...:) Come home and shoot the squirrels in my back yard.

Spence

Spence, you know, since you are authorizing the kill, you'll need to be a good sportsman by proxy and eat those squirrels. I have a great family recipe for squirrel and dumplings. Just let me know when you have them skinned and ready. Oh, and if you don't want the black squirrel skin . . .

:)

Oh!... Let's go a-huntin’! said Risky Rob.
Let’s go a-­huntin’, said Robin to Bob,
Let’s go a-huntin’, said Dan’l to Jo,
Let’s go a-huntin’ , said Billy Barlow.
...
'n I'll eat the tail bones, said Billy Barloowwwww.

Oh!... Those poor squirrels,
hunted down in there prime.
By the Dry Fly Materials gang.
Can see the wanted posters now.
These guys are even wanted for road kill- pick-ups in the state of Pa.

Speaking about white squirrels.....has anyone seen the white whale??

Ok...Now that I've sentenced those poor rodentia living in my backyard, what about the 7 deer I found standing under my feeders today? There is no hope fur die Blumen in this dutchman's backyard this summer...Drats!

Not yet Matt, not yet. Still no sight of the whale...

Spence

Black squirrels are everywhere around here. If you want to come shoot them you don't even have to bring your own gun - I have at least 7 .22s between rifles and pistols, oh 8 I guess counting the .22 magnum...

Rodents! They're everywhere!!

Jonathon

Now... what was the name of this thread?? Sorry tctrout. Cabin fever is in full swing. Yours is an excellent video on selecting quality materials. Like recommending a good starter kit for beginning tiers, I'd recommend your video as well.

(No I won't add the photos of SE Asian squirrels I've seen, including the Giant Black Squirrel that is fully a meter long! I'll let you guys Google that one.)

Yes, we owe an apology to Tim for hijacking his thread...Tim, these things happen on here, it gets pretty goofy some of the directions these conversations end up in...

Having just watched the video the whole way through, I wish I had something like that 25 years ago...well done Tim! Excellent presentation style and equally excellent recommendations as well, a great place for a newbie to start buying the basics. Of course, woe unto all of them once they've been bitten by the bug and then must have everything under the sun...like me when I started buying materials, gotta have every color of everything! I still have plenty of materials left over from my first purchases 25 years ago, though of course certain things need replenishment every year or so...

Jonathon

Oh come on Paul...:) Actually I've seen enough squirrels for a while...You know it has to be bad when a vego starts talking about Gamo Whispers!

I keep track of the feeder birds for Cornell...The squirrels are messing with my data! :)



Jonathon...If I'm not going out too far on a limb here, I'd almost be certain there is an Oldredbarn in the barnyard. His ADD is so bad he can't maintain a coherent thought thread for more than a few moments...What was I talking about again? ;)

Spence

Really...A nice vid. I've sent it to some folks to view. Sorry for my obsession with squirrels. I need to find another blog for this...Maybe Varmit Slaughter dot com.