Rudolf in the Mail

.....or Deerhair from Dayton.
Anyhow, my gift from John Baker arrived.....a nice padded envelope brought to
the door by two very interested young fellows. Their interest level dropped
when I opened the package(at their request, at gunpoint) and revealed a couple
small ziplock bags with deerhair. I complimented them on the tasteful DEA
jackets, and off they went.
At any rate, I am not one of those who rips into newly acquired fly tying stuff
with abandon. No, I check out the fine packaging. In this case John had
packaged the stuff in old bags of flyfishing merchandise. One, a 2x4 ziplock
was marked,
"bucktails". I figure either asadi got ripped off, or Ohio has some of the
smallest deer ever seen. As for the reindeer hair itself, the samples John sent
were similar in texture to yearling elk hair, with a muted cream color. These
should make very nice hairwings for caddis, which I will tie up for a Grannom
trip to Penns in April.
Report will follow, and I am also in the process of testing a few other new
items added to the tying arsenal this off-season.
Seriously, Thanks, John,
Tom