Rabbit Dubbing!

Making some rabbit dubbing the old fashion way.... Hunted with my good friend Eric and his dogs today. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

Rabbits are excellent eating too.... we make them into hot dogs or as we say; "rabbit dogs".

turkey time

My son Scott and I hunted down in Cherry Creek, NY this weekend..... Scott shot this big old field gobbler on Saturday.  Nothing like a hunt with your son, quality time in the woods and the bonus of some good eating.....

8 inch beard, 3/4 inch spurs and one very, very wet turkey  ;-)

Even though it rained non-stop all weekend we saw several more birds and a bunch of deer as well. 

Hunting squirrels for fly tying materials

Today was an excellent morning to be out in the woods.  I harvested several squirrels, both red and gray's for fly tying dubbing and the tails.

My old 22 LR did the job.

There's nothing like a little lunch in the woods.

Korn’s Split-tail Salmon Fly (or Wrapped Body) Salmon Fly

This is a variation of my Korn's Wrapped Foam Hopper that I tie for Parks Fly Shop.  It makes a super Salmon fly and you can use the same pattern for Golden Stone flies as well.  I just change the hook to a size 8-10 and the foam over body to a golden yellow.  Out West it's a killer fly when the Salmon flies are hatching and in the East for the small Spring Black Stone flies. I just change the color and downsize them to size 12...

Materials:

Hook: MFCo. 7026 4-6

Thread: black 6/0 Uni

Legs: MFC med. black legs

Underbody: orange craft foam wrapped

Over body: black or dark brown craft foam, hook gap wide with split-tail

Wing: deer tail hair

Indicator: orange craft foam

SBS

tie in back legs split

tie in underbody foam at eye extending out from hook

superglue thread base, wrap orange foam back to tail-legs

attach over body with 3 wraps at tail-legs, then loop thread over the top of the underbody to the eye (this way no wraps show and you can get the thread back to the eye

put superglue on the top back of the underbody and fold over body down and secure at the eye, then wrap back to form double bullet head

tie in wing of deer tail hair, glue butts, fold over foam to form bullet head and tie down

tie in legs and indicator post, keeping thread wraps to minimum.

whip finish, varnish

note: convert split-tail to egg sack variation if desired... see photo

My version of the RS2 in PMD

The RS2 has always been a good producer for me... I tie them to represent many different Mayflies from Green Drakes to Trico's.  The only thing that changes is the color of the thorax and the size of the hook.

Hook: #1560 12-24, wet fly (1x long)

Thread: UTC 70

Wing: fluff from base of dun rooster or turkey feather

Tail: pearl flash, tied split

Abdomen: rusty brown dubbing, rabbit

Thorax: PMD dubbing, rabbit

DK#7 Special Trumpet Turkey Call

Here's my latest:

Red Oak
Delrin mouth piece
38 special brass



This trumpet has the slender shape and call tone that I have been striving for.  I really like the way this one came out.  Now I will try to replicate it and be consistent from call to call...

 thanks for taking a look.... Doug

Trumpet #2

More practice on the lathe.  I turned this trumpet of Spalted Maple in a more classic style...