Bucktail

nfrechet

nfrechet

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 14, 2013
Messages
2,478
crazy price for bucktail

bucktail.jpg
 
I get a dozen or so new tails each year from a deer processor. It takes a little work to flesh them out and dry them but once done they are pretty easy to dye with Jacquard's fabric dye.

The hardest part of the process is keeping my blue tick out of the garage during the curing. I would say I get a dozen tails for about $20 investment. While I don't need that many, they are good to trade for floats in my friend's raft.
 

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nfrechet said:
crazy price for bucktail

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Just like Ewing’s, I too have a premium large bucktail that is 14” long with hair fibers at 4”-5” long. However, I’ll sell mine for $9.99, plus shipping.

Mine is also “natural material” but with the speed of mail these days I can’t guarantee mine will be with “incredible movement” like the Ewing Premium Bucktails are.
 
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As someone who always over-buys fly tying materials and REALLY overbought in the last decade plus, it is a bit shocking to see how much stuff that used to be pretty much dirt cheap has gone up in price.

What's worse is now EVERYTHING is graded to some arbitrary standard with dollars of difference between them.

It was always the case with necks but what really sucks is with higher prices, you either have to go to a good shop and really spend some time selecting stuff like feathers, herl, hair, etc. to get what you are after, have someone with a good reputation at a shop do the choosing for you, or buy a few of whatever in hopes that you get a good one and a half.

That's one of the reasons I accumulated so much. However, when you are buying Hungarian Partridge skins for $6.00 & $7.00 a pop, you don't hesitate to buy a few... 😉

When they were still with us, I used to buy stuff from Chris Helm and HE would pick out the hair for me which always resulted in excellent quality. Same thing with quills, I bought directly from Don Bastian and always got fantastic feather pairs.

When the shop was open for walk-in trade, I also bought more than a few bucktails from Bob Closer and I would/will probably call him if I need more...

I don't use much bucktail these days, but I'm glad I have a large bin full. Same goes for partridge, pheasant skins, etc. Maybe it's time to add some more moth crystals?? 🤔
 
Bamboozle said:
As someone who always over-buys fly tying materials and REALLY overbought in the last decade plus, it is a bit shocking to see how much stuff that used to be pretty much dirt cheap has gone up in price.

What's worse is now EVERYTHING is graded to some arbitrary standard with dollars of difference between them.

It was always the case with necks but what really sucks is with higher prices, you either have to go to a good shop and really spend some time selecting stuff like feathers, herl, hair, etc. to get what you are after, have someone with a good reputation at a shop do the choosing for you, or buy a few of whatever in hopes that you get a good one and a half.

That's one of the reasons I accumulated so much. However, when you are buying Hungarian Partridge skins for $6.00 & $7.00 a pop, you don't hesitate to buy a few... 😉

When they were still with us, I used to buy stuff from Chris Helm and HE would pick out the hair for me which always resulted in excellent quality. Same thing with quills, I bought directly from Don Bastian and always got fantastic feather pairs.

When the shop was open for walk-in trade, I also bought more than a few bucktails from Bob Closer and I would/will probably call him if I need more...

I don't use much bucktail these days, but I'm glad I have a large bin full. Same goes for partridge, pheasant skins, etc. Maybe it's time to add some more moth crystals?? 🤔
Click to expand...

It's why I loved Collins Hackle so much. I really just jumped back into fly tying with both feet a couple of years ago. Sadly, it was at exactly the same time that Charlie Collins announced his retirement from hackle production. I was in need of dry fly hackles, so I immediately ordered several of his necks and because the quality was so good, I've since amassed 40-45 of them (many/most with saddles). I could order grade 3 necks with a saddle for $35 and rest assured that the cape/neck would be of very high quality (the saddles seem a bit more hit and miss, but probably half of them have also been wonderful and the rest were at least all useful for some purpose). For $25, I could order his commercial grade and while they didn't include saddles, you could be just as certain that the capes themselves would be of high quality even without being able to see them before receiving them via USPS. I wish that there were more fly tying materials and more vendors that held the same mentality and business plan that Charlie did.
 
GANGGREEN said:
It's why I loved Collins Hackle so much.
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Charlie is still accepting orders - I just talked with him and placed an order a couple of months ago. He still had a good selection of a lot of colors and grades left and . . . if there's someone on this forum named Greg from Springfield, PM me. Charlie mentioned you're also ordering hackle from him 🙂

Okay, premium bucktail. Can someone tell me exactly what makes it "premium?" By definition (according to the Google), premium indicates a "combination of superior materials, craftsmanship, and performance"

I'm only guessing the tail is from a Buck that was judged to have the right combination of age, genetics, nutrition, and habitat, resulting in impressive, symmetrical antlers with good mass and tine length before it was "harvested?" Besides, looking at the pix, that's enough bucktail for 3 lifetimes.

Now that I think of it, it could explain why my stimulators don't stay afloat.
 
jeffroey said:
Charlie is still accepting orders - I just talked with him and placed an order a couple of months ago. He still had a good selection of a lot of colors and grades left and . . . if there's someone on this forum named Greg from Springfield, PM me. Charlie mentioned you're also ordering hackle from him 🙂

Okay, premium bucktail. Can someone tell me exactly what makes it "premium?" By definition (according to the Google), premium indicates a "combination of superior materials, craftsmanship, and performance"

I'm only guessing the tail is from a Buck that was judged to have the right combination of age, genetics, nutrition, and habitat, resulting in impressive, symmetrical antlers with good mass and tine length before it was "harvested?" Besides, looking at the pix, that's enough bucktail for 3 lifetimes.

Now that I think of it, it could explain why my stimulators don't stay afloat.
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Yeah, I'm aware and just recently ordered a few. I really DO NOT need anymore dry fly hackle and I know that Charlie is getting very short on inventory for anything other than the really common colors, so I'm good. It's been a truly great resource for me though and I thank God that I did find out about Collins Hackle when I did and that I was able to put together a pretty good collection myself.
 
Kms said:
For anyone in the Lansdale, PA neighborhood, go visit https://www.classicflyfisherman.com/ in person. That little shop has loads of new and ‘good enough’ used fur and feathers for cheap.

It’s where all of the used fly tying stuff goes after we die (lol).
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That's much easier said than done . As it's only by appointment or really good luck someone is in the shop or will pick up the phone.
 
I just got done skinning out and cleaning the tail from the deer I killed in rifle season. I’m not sure if it’s “premium” grade, but the price was right! 😉

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Looks excellent for Clousers. I would market that as extra premium tactical grade.
 
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