Lights Glass beads on 30 lb mono (8-12, made in advance)
Collar Red straggle chenille (1 short length)
Glue Zap a Gap (as needed)
How to tie it
Slide the cone onto the Mustad R79-94720 size 2 to sit at the eye as the star, then mount the hook and check it is gripped hard, because the deer hair takes real pressure.
Start the Semperfli Classic Waxed 6/0 near the eye and wrap back towards the bend. A heavier thread, GSP or nano silk, is worth using if you want to crank harder on the hair.
Expose the core of the brown chenille and tie it in at the bend, then take the thread forward to just short of the halfway point, leaving room ahead for the tree stem.
Lay a little cement over the chenille tie-in and let it grip. You will be pushing deer hair back hard against this chenille and you do not want it sliding down into the bend.
Wrap the chenille forward in touching wraps to where the thread hangs, tie off with wraps behind and in front, and trim the excess.
Cut a good clump of green-dyed deer hair close to the hide, stack it in a large stacker and trim the tips flush.
Hold the clump at 45 degrees to the shank, take two or three loose wraps, then begin cranking down and spinning it round the shank, adding tightening wraps as it goes.
Push the spun hair back hard against the chenille so it flares out and reads as tree branches, then tidy the butt section.
Make the lights ahead of time: thread a glass bead onto 30 lb mono, touch the end with a lighter and push the bead on while the mono is still liquid, then trim to an inch and a quarter to an inch and a half. Pre-bend each one so it already flares outwards, since the higher up the tree they sit the further they need to push clear of the hair.
Repeat the hair-and-lights sequence forward, tying in lights between clumps and trimming each clump a little shorter than the last so the tree tapers to a point.
Add a short collar of red straggle chenille at the top as an accent, then tie off with wraps behind and in front, tucking the tag end up into the cone.
Three-turn whip finish behind the cone, trim, and pick the hair out with a bodkin to shape the tree.