Squirrel Tail

[Turtle2]

This weekend I ended up with a fresh squirrel (black)tail and I want to use it. Can I just hang it to dry or what's the best way to go about it?
My concern with just hanging it to dry is the hair falling out over time.

 

[necchi]

Yeah just hang it, hair hangs on fer years if ya don't beat it around a bunch. `Bout the time the hair falls out you'll be tired of it and toss it anyways.
Shoulda been around when it was cool to hang one off yer auto antenna, it was the easiest way to pick which car was yours out of the snow bank. :haha:

 

[Skylinewatcher]

You could always make fishing jigs out of it. We don't have black squirrel ones here, but we do have greys and fox. I like to remove the fake stuff off of my jitterbugs and pop-r lures, replacing it with grey or fox squirrel fur. If you can keep the bream off, they are killer on bass.

 

[david50]

put some table salt on the raw end and hang them up to dry,they will be good for years.i made a few haircones from them for decoration.

 

[longcruise]

The salt on the stub is a good plan. I once just hung one up without it and a few days later found maggots crawling around inside the tail. :barf: But, even at that the tail dried out fine and the hair hung on just fine. Hmmm, maybe the maggots were my friends. :shocked2:

 

[Turtle2]

Nice work david50. I'll put salt on the raw end and hang it up. Big thing is keeping the dogs off it.
I want to use it on either a quiver or leather rifle sleeve that I'm working on.

 

[hogslayer]

OK Guys ? bone in or bone out,I always cut around the base of the tail,put my foot on the head ,grab hold of the tail just above the cut and it comes away in one piece,then i fill it with salt .
(Pete)

 

[necchi]

I always peeled the bone out as far as it would come.
Leave a good piece of hide on near the tail an pull, trim it off later.
(slips on the antenna better when green)

 

[S.Kenton]

thats how I do it. The tails then good for a LONG time. I have a fox squirrel tail thats been hanging in the rear view mirror of my truck since 1997. De-boned it and filled it full of salt, let it set for a season then in the truck it went. No smells nor hair falling out. You can leave the bone in it, it just causes it to be really stiff and you'll lose a little hair here and there. But it works too. :thumbsup:

 

[Robert Egler]

I had to respond to this thread! :grin: I've left the bone in the tail just cut it off and salted it, pulled it out (but you might lose the tip if you let it sit too long before doing this) and skinned down most of the way and then cut the bone. They all seem to last about the same, which is a LONG time, although pulling the bone out makes it softer.

 

[stone knife]

Tanning is the best but you can put borax on it.

 

[david50]

if you can get the bone out with out rippin' the tip off then all the better,but i always end up tearing it.

 

[gmarc]

The hair is less likely to slip if you treat the inside of the tail with alum and salt

 

[crockett]

I keep a couple a year for tying flies. I always leave the bone in and they seem okay. I'm also a trapper and splitting a little tiny tail like that seems like a big task- maybe a pointed tip Exacto knife??? You lose a lot of hair when you split a tail- or at least I have, plus a bad chance of cutting the end of the tail off. I'd just lay it out flat and let it dry.

 

[4570tc]

I always remove the bone. pinch around the meat with your finger nails and pull the bone out!

Then I get a soda straw from Micky Dees, push it as far in the tail as I can then put a mix of Borax and salt in the straw and slowly pull out the straw! it gets it further in the tail.