zcurtis

I recently got my first muley and kept a small piece of the hide that I would like to use for fly tying. I scrapped off what I could from the hide and then put borax on it.

I've heard of tanning hides, do I need to this? How do I keep things sanitary? Is there anything special I need to do to use the deer hair for tying fly's?

Thanks much.

Mass.hunter

Hello zcurtis.
That's about all you have to do to a piece of deer hide to keep it. A heavy salting will even work, but I use borax. The skin will get really hard but the hair stays as it was in life. The hair is great for bass bugs, muddlers etc. The hair has a natural bouyancy for dry flies.

Good luck and congrats on the muley

Jack<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

model722

I've used the tail hairs for fly tying I believe you've done everything correct.