Home Forums Fishing Flyfishing Where on the deer and elk body to get hair for tying?

My son has started tying flies and we are wondering where you get the hair from for elk hair caddis etc. Just body hair on the sides, belly hair, rump or tail etc.?

From winter hides I use only hair from the legs (that's thin and lays flat to the hide). Winter body hair is of a larger diameter, brittle, and hollow. A summer hide from either is great, but most of us can only pick that up from road kill.

Being from eastern no, early season deer can still have a reddish summer hide. I actually like hair from around the nape of the neck. It can have a lot of variation to it and looks nice. I’ve used belly for wings when I wanted them sparse or on larger flies where the bulk isn’t an issue. And I think the buck tails you get yourself are much fuller and have longer hair as well.

For small flies the hair from the hock of an elk is short, stiff and works really well for wings on dry flies or tails.