Grouse Feathers

[jkilroy]

I was wondering, I have a buddy who has offered to give me some grouse feathers for my fly tying, anyways, what would some good ones to keep off the bird? I have no idea which ones would be useful.

jkilroy

[sperzonkers2]

jkilroy, keep the entire skin from a grouse. All the feathers are good for tying soft hackled flies and nymphs.

[kengore]

Keep the whole skin! All kinds of great feathers for tying. To proccess...

1. scrape off any fat and tissue
2. stretch it out and pin the edges on a piece of corrugated cardboard, flesh side out.
3. place in a small box and cover with an inch of salt, or 50/50 mix of salt and 20 mule team borax
4. after a week or so it will be nice and dry

I also keep the wings for the primary and covert feathers. Cut them off at the joint closet to the body and bury them in the salt box. I like to stretch them open so they dry with the feathers spread out (makes it easier to select feathers later) Wings take longer to dry, leave them in the salt mix until ALL moisture is drawn out. Any moisture left in the meat or bone marrow will cause a nasty odour as it spoils. It might take a month or more to get them really dry.

The feathers I use most are as follows..

- small body feathers from the breast for soft hackle collars and nymph legs
- neck feathers for upright mayfly wings and fan wings
- wing primary and coverts for quill slip wings (ie. no-hackle dun)
- filoplume feathers for gills, wing cases and nymph bodies
- large body feathers from the back for hopper or caddis wings

[jkilroy]

Thanks for all the info, isn't it a little tricky to skin the entire bird?

[Joe Valencic]

Thanks for all the info, isn't it a little tricky to skin the entire bird?

Not really. It just takes a little extra time if you are saving the skin vs throwing it out.

Joe