Fly Tying Rabbit, Deer & Other Hair

Rabbit Deer and Other Hair

Arctic fox is one of the best fly tying materials ever. It has many great uses, and lucky for fly tiers is readily available. It can be used on nymph’s, streamers, summer steelhead and winter steelhead patterns, salmon patterns, bonefish flies and just everything really. A couple of its most common uses historically, would be for building beautiful stout shoulders for intruder flies, and marabou flies, or for winging material on Scandinavian style flies and traditional hair wing flies. But really, the uses for Arctic Fox are almost endless! Let your creativity run with Arctic Fox!

Australian Opossum is great has great guard hairs that make a unique option for hair wing patterns, and the under fur is soft and makes for a nice natural dubbing option.

Beaver is a great material to use for dry flies as it is naturally water resistant. The long guard hairs are great for wing and leg material, and the under fur is great for dubbing bodies.

Black barred rabbit strips in a variety of natural colors add a unique touch to your standard streamer patterns. The barring on these zonker strips are sure to get some attention when they are pulsating in the water.

Black bear hair is great for the traditional steelheed or Atlantic Salmon fly tier. It also offers a unique option for streamer tiers who looking for a different look than what you typically see.

Bucktail combo packs are really good for entry level saltwater and bass fly tiers, or somebody who is looking for an inexpensive option to add a lot of color and variety to their fly box and fly tying.

Calf tail is excellent in bonefish flies, winging material on dry flies with parachute posts, and a more cost effective option for classic steelhead tiers than Polar bear. Calf tail or commonly referred to as kip tail also comes in many great colors.

Caribou hair is a great spinning hair, ideal for muddler heads and spun hair streamers.

Crosscut rabbit strips and two toned rabbit strips are usually used to wrap the hide around the shank to create a body, but is also good if you want to cut it off the hide and spin it in a dubbing loop.

Short and Fine Deer Hair is great for small dry flies like Wulff’s or small stimulators, especially if you want a spinning hair that does not flair as much as longer deer hair.

Elk body hair is naturally buoyant and great for elk hair caddis and stimulators, but has other applications as well.

Finn Raccoon has very soft under fur and long wispy guard hairs that makes it for a very good winging material on steelhead flies of all sorts as well Atlantic Salmon and Scandi style flies. It can also be used in baitfish patterns and in the rear stations of many flies as well.

Good old Gray Fox has been used in traditional salmon and steelhead flies for over wings, as well as tails on Mayfly dry flies.

Gray Squirrel Tails are a great material with lots of uses. It’s been used in Atlantic Salmon flies, and muddlers and streamers as well.

Hare’s masks are on the traditional dubbing materials, most commonly used in hare’s ear nymphs.

Icelandic Sheep hair is a very soft material that has a ton of movement in the water and is used a lot in baitfish patterns.

Large Northern Bucktails are the traditional material for clousers and deceiver patterns but can be used in all sorts of ways.

Magnum Rabbit Strips are a quarter inch wide zonker strip that is good for very large streamers, and flies with large silhouettes.

Moose body hair is very stiff and thin, and can be used for tails on dry flies, or for spinning heads on muddlers, and even wing material on steelhead and trout wet flies.

Moose mane is a long fiber that is commonly used as body material wrapped up the shank of a hook but can have other great uses as well if you get creative.

Mule deer hair is good for spinning hair on small to medium flies, small trout sized muddlers and hoppers would be good examples of when you might choose mule deer hair over whitetail.

Muskrat is one the original natural dubbing materials.

Natural elk hair is great for all sorts of applications in dry flies, especially for the Elk Hair Caddis!

Zonked Pine Squirrel skins are a great value and are perfect for small trout streamers and small steelhead string leeches.

Pine Squirrel zonker strip packs are great because you can a bunch of great colors without committing to a full skin. Great for small streamers and leeches.

Polar Bear is a classic material used in traditional steelhead and salmon flies as wing material, and can even be seen used in bonefish flies.

Zonked rabbit half skins are an incredible value with endless options for tying.

Rabbit strips are good for all sorts of flies, freshwater, or saltwater, and are available in lots of colors.

Micro rabbit strips work out really good for trout flies, and any streamer style fly where you want a smaller overall profile. Micro rabbit strips are also easier to cast than the traditional 1/8^th inch strips.

Red fox is a medium to long soft fur that can be used as dubbing or for wings on trout hairwings. Red fox is soft so it will have a lot of movement in the water.

Sculpin wool can be spun to create bulky heads on streamers, and can also add substantial support in a dubbing loop.

Magnum tiger barred rabbit strips can be used for big profile flies, like bass, pike, musky, and big saltwater patterns.

Tiger barred rabbit strips add a cool affect to your streamers.

Two toned rabbit strips come in some great bright colors that can really set your flies apart from others.

UV2 Yak is naturally sheds water really well and is really long so it is great for big saltwater patterns and anything else where you need extremely long fibers.