collecting Duck feathers for tying

[ejones1961]

Anyone collect their own duck feathers for tying. Do you dry the skin with feathers attached or remove them and save the feathers loose? Duck season is in and I was planning to save some feathers and was looking for some ideas. Anyone ever die mallard flank?

[brimreaper]

cut the wings and tail off and dry the rest on the skin...iffin it's a big duck better pour the borax to it and pop it in a ziplock put it in the freezer for a couple days to kill any critters on the skin. I recomend that you keep them separated in case one of them is infested with feather eatin bugs that way you only lose one and not the whole batch. If you get too many I'll help you use them up before they spoil.....lolololol....

[shuorc]

son called and said he had a drake woody for me, what do i do with just a bag of feathers, any worry about bugs?--shu

[LMBarnett]

Anyone collect their own duck feathers for tying. Do you dry the skin with feathers attached or remove them and save the feathers loose? Duck season is in and I was planning to save some feathers and was looking for some ideas. Anyone ever die mallard flank?

I usually just pull any feathers I want off the duck and put them in a ziplock in the freezer for a few days. I do not worry about drying on skin.

[skiptomylu]

I would love to have some dried on skin, but what I have is 2- 5 gallon buckets with lots of duck feathers in zip lock bags inside. I did freeze them for a while and I keep some Moth Ice Crystals in zip lock bags inside the buckets as well.

I do buy lots of feathers on skins when I can, have one Ringneck Pheasant, one Golden Pheasant, couple of Starling, about 6 Chuckars, Few Partridge and don't remember what else at the moment, LOL! Let me add most of these birds I have for fly tying.

Always be Leary of bugs as if they get into you supplies they will leave you noting but dust.

Skip

[Fatman]

I've talked to a few guys that cure duck skins and you really have to be careful with them as they are greasy. Lot's of folks pluck their skins and save them like Skip does in ziploc bags.

I quaratine everything that comes into my tying collection, whether it came from the field or even a store. I've been extremely lucky so far I've never had an infestation problem in my tying matierials and I attribute it to my quarantine system.

Fatman

[LMBarnett]

I forgot to mention, one of the things some of the not-so-professional taxedermist use is to first rub the skin with borax, that removes "most" of the fat and oils from the skin, but then you can wash the skin in white gas/coleman camp fuel. This will remove all the oils from the skin and feathers, and it will probably do a number on the bugs in the feathers. But I would still freeze it.