Re: Nature Spirit's Snowshoe Rabbit Foot Dubbing

[William Anderson]

Yeah, man. I used to have several threads on the forum with pics of patterns using various snowshoe foot fibers, but those pics are no longer. I’ll add a couple here if I can find them.

Yes to the blocks too. Just have your buddy send me a note.

Here’s one of my favs

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[Greenwell]

Being from Upstate New York, in my formative days I became quite a connoisseur of snowshoe rabbit fur. Bill Phillips, the actual inventor of the "Usual", which we always called the "Philip's Usual" was still around at that time and his fly became a go to fly for many of us, whether fishing in the Adirondacks, Central NY, the Catskills or the West. I tied many hundreds of those flies over the years and caught a pile of trout on them!

There was no commercial source at that time but I knew a gentleman who belonged to The Adirondack League Club, one of the oldest and largest private tracts of land in "The Woods" as locals call the area, who got us hooked up with all the bunny feet we could use and more. (By the way, the angling at The Club was exquisite. Fishing for landlocked salmon with dry flies from a vintage Adirondack guide is a wonderful experience.) It turned out that they had a winter caretaker who shot the big hares to stave off boredom and he would chop off the feet and toss them in a box for us. We paid him a buck a foot and would throw in a bottle of whiskey when he delivered the goods. Not having been specific that we just wanted the back feet, he gave us the front paws as well, which we found out are just as good as the big rear hoppers. The very best of all were the back feet from bunnies that he harvested in late winter when the critters were running on open ground as well as snow. The tannins in the wet leaves would tint the foot fur a nice dirty yellow color, perfect for sulfurs and such. I still have some of those stashed away but for some reason I hadn't tied much with snow bunny feet in some time, probably because of my addiction to CDC beginning thirty years ago. But that's another story. Anyway........Sometime back I needed a good body material for the White Miller caddis that has taken over the Firehole in the last couple decades. I tried the usual furs, etc. but thought there might be something better. About that time an English friend needed some snowshoe feet so I dug out a couple and there was the answer to the ideal dubbing for the Miller; the under fur of the rabbit foot. Perfect off white color, nice and translucent, and you can make even a sodden fly float if you want with just a quick pop of a false cast. Good stuff!

FYI, my inside sources tell me that what is sold today as Snowshoe is actually a domestic (food) rabbit from China. I've looked at the commercial feet and they are not as course or translucent in the fur as the genuine stuff but they still seem to do the job. However, the feet from those old "North Woods" hares seems to be more waterproof and has a glassiness that the far eastern substitute lacks, at least to my eye.

[redietz]

Here is my question, if the suppliers today wash and clean the feet are they less effective for dry flies?

I was wondering the same thing,

[wsbailey]

I think it's the stiffness of the fibers. Because the fibers don't collapse; they are able to hold onto air trapped between the fibers which makes the fly float. Just my thoughts.

[hankaye]

Howdy All;

Interesting article about the furry wee critters;
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anim ... shoe-hare/

hank

[William Anderson]

Fantastic thread.

I’ve fished Usuals for some time and ended up with a mild snowshoe foot fetish. . They’re fantastic. The thing that got me so excited was the photography of the Usual from below and the fly seemed to be sitting on a pillow of mercury. The starlike display of points of light most dries create when seen from below was quite exaggerated. Some feet are better than others but they do have a unique crinkly structure.

Greenwell, that white Miller hatch was fun to see in the Firehole. No doubt that snowshoe underfur was just the thing. I added that same creamy underfur blend as a thorax for our local August white flies.

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[Greenwell]

I don't think that washing and cleaning should hurt the material too badly as there is little oil in the foot fur. The fur is quite solid and waterproof so it should be fine. We used to dye the feet with no noticeable reduction in flotation.

[Old Hat]

The fur from the bottom is what you are after. Both the guard hairs and the underfur. I shave away nice and close all the soft fur along the sides and then you can just trim small bunches of the bottom fur as you need it. A bit like working with a patch of deer fur. You could certainly use the top fur for dubbing, it just doesn't have the same characteristics.

Sounds like someone should start a hare's foot fly swap.

[wsbailey]

This video gives a lot of information about snowshoe rabbit foot dubbing.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p_VrRKPTs ... e=youtu.be

[letumgo]

Sounds like someone should start a hare's foot fly swap.

Carl - I'm glad you volunteered. Count me in!