Hi Deb: I think i'll be staying with the buck tail it's a lot easier to get and cheeper for sure. thank dave
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Deborah Duran Sent: January 3, 2007 4:46 PM To: [email protected] Subject: RE: [VFB]polar bear hair Dave Deer hair (buck tail is what I'm sure your friend would be referring to) doesn't move or have the translucency of Polar Bear hair. The polar bear hair is very easy to dye so I wouldn't worry about the yellow hair unless you want to dye it a very light color. The goat hair they often refer to for winging material is supposed to be really nice. Yuri Shumakov used to market some really nice goat hair but the stuff I've gotten here in the US is so long a lot of it would go to waste except on a saltwater fly. Polar bear rugs aren't the best source of hair if they've been used as a rug. The tips of the hair tend to be broken. From what I hear but I can't swear to it, it isn't legal to sell polar bear unless you purchase it in the form of a native American art. I used to see it at fly shows marketed under wooly worms or something like that from Eskimo art. It was beautiful fur and it sold for about $25 for 5 sq inches and came with a tag authenticating it's origin. If you were to find some now you would have to check if it was legal to mail it out of the country. I don't think it's illegal to have old polar bear fur I think it's illegal to sell it. Of course proving the origin of your hair is the difficult part. I often come across old stock from fly tiers that have passed on but never really see it in the fly shops. Since you're in Canada you may be able to find it easier than we can here. Very soon I think you will have problems with the legality of possessing polar bear hair. From what I've seen in the news lately they're trying to get it on the endangered species list so I'm not sure I would bother collecting a lot of it. Stick to the goat hair if you can find some suitable to the pattern you want to tie. Yuri's wife and daughter are still marketing the goat hair he used to sell on their site. http://www.shumakovtubes.com/ Regards, Deb
