Acquired a full grouse

[melk]

HELP!! I have acquired a full grouse, flew into a friend's door and expired. Now, what do I do with it? What feathers are good?
Thanks in advance!
Mike

[Derik]

I usually save the soft hackle feathers, you can pluck or skin the bird to get those from around the neck and breast areas. If you skin it you are going to want to at the least salt the skin and dry it out for a while. I'm sure you could find a use for the rest of the feathers though if you do a full skin.

[hugefish_80]

skin the entire bird very carefully and salt the skin then tack the skin salted side down onto a piece of plywood. make sure you cut the flesh out of the wing at least to the first joint and salt any areas that might have meat still in them heavily. spread the wings and tail out so that the bird looks like it is in flight, and allow it to dry like that in a warm place for a few days. after a couple of days the main portion of the skin will have dried but the pieces like the wings and tail will still be somewhat soft. Unpin the skin, flip it over and HEAVILY salt the areas that are still moist. leave the skin to dry upside down, on a clean surface until the tail and wings are stiff. once that happens you may choose to either cut the pelt into small pieces so that you can put it into bags in your kit or, my favorite, you can attach the hide to a piece of cardboard that is cut to shape and hang it on the wall at your tying bench. when properly salted and dried there will be no odor.

I'll try to post a picture later of a pheasant that I have done this way to give you an idea what the end product looks like.

Fish

[melk]

Thanks !!! Pics will help and I'll get to it first thing tomorrow!
Mike

[DaveMac]

First, you might want to pop it into the freezer for a few weeks. That will kill any of the tiny critters that like to live there. It will also make certian that your other fly tying materials aren't exposed to bugs.

[Uncle Jesse]

Great idea Dave, that's the way I used to kill bugs for science project. Put the bird in a gallon zip lock bag and freeze it, that will keep anything that wants to crawl out contained.

[Denny]

I personally do a lot of full skin birds. When I was a kid I used salt because I did not know better.
My choice would be to pick up a box of 20 Mule Team BORAX at your local grocery store, found in the laundry detergent area.
Rub it into the flesh side of your skin after trying to remove all fat. I let mine hang, pinned to a cardboard for about 7 days.
Do make sure you push it down into the wing area after the bone with meat is removed. It works for me far better than salt.

[hugefish_80]

Denny,

I always have trouble getting the Borax to soak in/ dry things out. What am i doing wrong?

Fish

[Denny]

Fish,
I am not sure why nor do I understand the soak in part?? Here is how I do it. First off, skin so as little meat/membrane/fat is left on the skin (leather).
I prefer to then wash the entire skin in as hot water as you can handle with your hands, having added a bit of Dawn. Squeeze out as much water as you can by gentle hand pressure. Now is the time to make sure all blood and stuff is washed off. Now rinse, in again as hot water as your hands allow and having added about a cup of vinegar. The vinegar will cut all the soap and refreshes the feathers/hair, whatever you are cleaning. I then pin the skin, not pulling too tight but trying to get the original shape with my pins. I use cardboard, the ones that beer / soda, one top and one bottom are shipped to the grocer in. Any box cardboard will work. I now hang it on a wall at room temp. After two or three days I remove it, rub into the flesh side my Borax. Be liberal with it. Pin again to a fresh cardboard. Any oils and grease that has not been previously removed, should be. the Borax and cardboard will draw out the rest into the cardboard. It should be ready to use in about 7 days. All depends on how warm the area you hang the piece in. Salt I find tends to draw moisture where the Borax makes it dry out. Do not fret about washing feathers or hair. If water would damage the product I question what it would do when tied into a fly and fished. I do not use any heat to dry. Just allow the time and room temp to do the trick. I do use a hand brush to form / arrange the feathers so they appear to me to be natural. They will dry however you place them.
Sorry about the lengthy explanation. Does not take as long to do it as it does to explain. I feel the big secret if there is one is in the skinning. We use surgical stainless #25 blades with the larger handles.(like surgeons use) When a blade starts to not feel sharp, we put in a new one. It is far easier to skin, using the sharpest blade you can get.
This all is a bit of work but after all is is or can be fun for your end result of adding to your never ending collection for tying.

[hap]

I will second what Denny says and add a couple points... I add a capful of Clorox to the wash water... NOTHING will survive it, bugwise.

If you put salt on your tying materials it must be washed out... Even a tiny trace of salt will rust the hooks right out from under any fly tied on them. I have seen entire fly boxes ruined with imperceptible salt.

Every feather on a grouse has tons of uses from soft hackles to matukas to fan wings to streamer shoulders and cheeks... and lots more.
art