feathers

[dbowling]

are any feathers such as pigeon or turkey feathers any good for tying or do they have to be feathers that have their own water repellent.. dont know any thing about it but was curious, I have bags of pigeon feathers from back when I was doing pest control on a hog farm, had the brilliant idea of using them for wind indicators hanging off my recurves/longbows.. worked great for that but have enough to last 10 lifetimes.

[skiptomylu]

Almost any feather is used if not by jig tyers then by fly tyers. Marabou comes from turkeys, Duck hackle is good. Just can't use feathers from protected birds, like song birds or Raptors and Eagles which are part of the Rapture group. So don't pick up Blue Jay feathers and tie them as that is not legal, but there are many other kinds you can use.

It will have more to do with how stiff or not they are for the most part.

Skip

[dbowling]

Will take some pictures of all the feathers I have and post it later..might trade some feathers for a few hand tied jigs if anyone might be interested as I'm never going to use them..they are all wild turkey and pigeon feathers.

Added pics of feathers if anyone might be interested in trading feathers for tied jigs.. there are thousands of feathers, top row is turkey feathers and the rest is pigeon feathers except for breast feathers from turkey on bottom left.. Have had these feathers in bags for years stored in dark cabinet in basement, still good no bugs all were put in freezer for a week or so to kill any when harvested.. All different color pigeon feathers this hog farmer had hundreds of them coming to his hog lot every morning and wanted me to eliminate as many as possible, sometimes I would kill 15-40 pigeons a morning and a couple hundred starlings and sparrows with air rifles. What I didn't take for feathers the hogs ate as fast as they seen them hit the ground.

[dbowling]

if anyone wants a bag of them to try p.m. and I will send you a bag.. if no one wants any of them going to throw them out. feathers are good nothing wrong with them.

[Jamesdean]

P.M. sent

[dbowling]

sent ya one back..

[skeetbum]

Very interesting and I wouldn’t be quick to discard them. Some folks don’t cruise through here but every now and then. I agree those have value to someone. I would like to have helped you control them. Helped a friend with something like that at his vineyard. What fun I had.

[dbowling]

I did it on 2 farms for a whole summer and became very good at picking off pigeons 120-150 yds out in hog lots with my pre-charged pneumatic air rifle, used the springers for under 100 yds. It was a blast and became bad news when I went squirrel hunting as I had great trigger control after a few thousand pellets shot off hand.

Very interesting and I wouldn’t be quick to discard them. Some folks don’t cruise through here but every now and then. I agree those have value to someone. I would like to have helped you control them. Helped a friend with something like that at his vineyard. What fun I had.

[skeetbum]

I was getting them on the wing, with a o/u 410 at one point. Reloading helped keep the cost down.

[dbowling]

that would be a blast also, used to rabbit hunt with a .410 SXS when I was younger over beagles.

I was getting them on the wing, with a o/u 410 at one point. Reloading helped keep the cost down.