Harvesting Fur and Feathers for Tying Flies

[Loper]

I’m getting into fly fishing and took a fly tying class this past weekend. I’m trying to figure out if there are any materials from the animals I harvest this hunting season that are worth keeping for fly tying. I know buck tails are useful, any others?

For those of you that hunt and tie flies, what animal’s hair, fur or feathers do you keep after harvesting game? Also, of those animals, which specific parts of the body do you take the fur or feathers from? Any animals you tried using materials from that didn’t work out very good, either weren’t easy to tie with or didn’t work well in the water to catch fish?

 

[Dogone]

Hungarian partridge skins are sought after by fly tyres. Worth a few bucks to the right buyer.

 

[I live in round valley]

Absolutely. Which species are you most likely to harvest? That might help narrow it down.
There’s quite a few bird and mammal game species with useful hair/fur/ feathers for tying

 

[MTPipeliner]

Pheasant tails are always good. I keep some different body feathers from pheasants, grouse, turkeys for wet flies. If you hunt ducks you can keep wing feathers and there are little feathers from their oil gland called CDC that are used for some flies.

 

[3forks]

Hungarian partridge skins for soft hackles, and pheasant tails, skins, capes.

Turkey (biots, tails, and marabou).

Mallard feathers (flank and CDC).

I only hunted upland birds with my dogs, and I would skin out my birds and use borax as a curing agent.

I’d sell some skins to a local shop. The skins aren’t worth much, but I got enough to pay for a few flats of shells.

I’d keep the best skins for myself, and I’ve got dozens left.

Fur from rabbits and muskrats for dubbing, but I’d never mess with that.

 

[matchu865]

Typically a couple of birds will give you enough material for a ton of flies, so really I've only kept a couple of goose and mallard feathers, as well as some pheasant tails. I also got took home shed goat fur that I will use a dubbing at some point.