I’m reminded how much of the skill is in the hands of the tier, and how much of the finished look is in the materials he selects, and for many flies the mechanical attention to proportions simply cannot fix a bad choice of materials and their effect on the final look.

Which is why we spend so much time gazing fervently at road kill and the neighbors Maltese.

The veritable Horner Deer Hair, Humpy, Goofus Bug, or by whatever local name you know the fly, is a poster child for precise hair selection. Too long a tip and the wing disappears into the hackle, and you wind up using Moose for the tail – simply because the black tip and yellow bar are too long for the size you’re tying.

Unless all of the colors are small enough they won’t fit on a wing which  dry fly proportions dictate is merely twice gape, and the long black tips will bury the gold bar in the thickest part of the hackle where it can’t be seen.

Deer do possess hair that will tie a Humpy smaller than size 20. The down side is that it’s the muzzle of a deer – the area between eyes and black shiny nose.

You won’t find that at the fly shop, as most of their selection is prepackaged six or eight states distant, but you may be able to find a local taxidermist whose hunter didn’t pay the bill – or some garage sale mount that isn’t too badly moth eaten or brittle and can still be salvaged.