Dave
re: buck/doe tails and are they worth saving ?
Yes. You should remove the carrot like bone in the tail and
remember to split the skin in the center of the white hairs.
Scrape off any remaining flesh or fat and air dry. There are a number of
commercial products designed to cure or tan hides, some even seem to work.
Your choice of salt, borax or other. (feathercraft sells some sort of
magic powder and it seems to work as well as anything)
wild turkey feathers are quite useful, although more for freshwater patterns
I'm thinking here of grasshopper, muddler and sculpin patterns. There's no
reason why these couldnt be used in saltwater patterns but the cost of buying
this type of material has generally restrained their use in saltwater.
(The same holds true of woodduck, golden pheasant, jungle cock and similar materials)
As for using dye, every time I've tried its been a disaster.