Thread: another new hobby

BEEN TYING A FEW YEARS MYSELF AND LEARNED A FEW THINGS ABOUT DEER TAILS AND HAIR JIGS. Deer hair varies a lot in texture, fineness and pliability. The doe tails tend to be finer in texture so you get more movement / action with the hair. There can be a lot of variation between individual doe tails themselves. Young immature yearling deer most all have fine textured tails. The finest of hair regardless of buck or doe is belly hair close to the hind quarters. This very fine silk like hair tied on a smaller 1/32 can save the day in a tough bite like mid winter. If you try and hold the jig still the fine hair quivers and gives just enough movement to entice a bite. I call it my secret weapon and use it on those tough days. I hunt a lot so obtaining deer hair is no problem. A great source for deer tails are the meat processors that do deer. Check with them in the fall as most are thrown away. FB

Excellent information Fishbud. I tie flys and jig commercially and use a lot of tails. There are other tails and hair on the marker that work very well also. Some are even better then deer tails imo. There is a African goat that has very soft hair that is great and not very expensive. Those who get a chance should go to a fly tying shop and ask questions about some other materials and deer tails. Hollow hair flairs and is not what you want for jigs and streamer. Glad you made that post and it should be of help to many having problems.