Mallard Flank Pains

[Allan]

Ray,

I also 'iron steam' certain feathers. However, I think you'll find it somewhat safer (for the feather) if you wet a washcloth and squeeze out the excess water. Place it between the feather and the iron. Set iron to 'steam'. Move iron in the direction butt to tip of feather.

Allan

[Steven]

Wonder if a hair straightener like women use would work. Probably be safer.

[Ray Kunz]

I believe my technique of actually "forced bending" the hot, wet stem under stress as it's being pulled out from under the iron
is the reason for my acceptable results. Again relating to the classic technique of steam bending wood in boat construction.
To answer Steven: A ladies hair treatment device would be much too mild. (I worked as an engineer designing those types of gadgets.)

[Allan]

Ray,

I wasn't clear in my description. I didn't mean that you just set the iron on top of the wet washcloth and steam the feather. Like you, I grab the butt of the stem and, with the concave side down, pull the feather through. The only difference is that the wet cloth is between the iron and the feather. However, sometimes I just set the iron on steam and don't use the washcloth.

[riverdep]

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to respond. I will definitely try some of the suggestions.

[riverdep]

You are totally right Alan The bag of feathers I have are really small. I will definitely check out Cookshill Fly Tying also. Thanks.

[AlanB]

The true bronze mallard is quite a large feather, 3 to 4 inches long. There are, at most, half a dozen on a bird. There are quite a number of similarly coloured feathers on a bird, usually smaller, they are generally used for veiling on Irish Dabbler patterns. That's a kind of spread broken wing. If you want to make really good traditional wet fly wings, and the wing veiling on classic salmon flies, then you need the big feathers. I avoid the dyed bronze mallard like the plague. These really are an attempt to make something of useless feathers. Fly tying is like computing - "Garbage in garbage out". Or to use a more traditional saying, "You can't make a silk purse out of a sows ear".

Steve at Cookshill does bags of 50 matched pairs of bronze mallard. They are not cheap, Its a couple of years since I bought a bag, and I paid about 12 UKP for them (about $20). They are cheaper then buying anything that will not do the job. Usually I have a large bag of his medium feathers on the go as well. I've just looked and its time I bought a new bag. Only 2 pair left. Hopefully I'll run into him at the Irish International Fly Fair so I'll pick one up then.

Cheers,
A.

[bowfin47]

Alan,

This year I only was able to go on one one "hunt" (or as you stated, one "shoot") where 5 hunters limited out or bagged 30 ducks. However, my nephew is an avid hunter, and I occasionally have access to a number of his birds each year.

In south Louisiana, we primarily harvest: green wing teal, gadwall (gray ducks) spoon bills, American Wigeon, ring-necks, lesser scaup, motteled ducks and mallards, plus a few pintails. My friends in central and north Louisiana harvest large numbers of wood ducks, but unfortunately, those feathers are a bit more difficult to obtain. Mergansers, buffelheads and coots are readily available but rarely collected. Folks in Arkansas harvest significantly more mallards than those in Louisiana.

By the way, folks might like to know:

La has the most duck stamps sold and ducks harvested. More ducks were harvested in Louisiana most years than in the entire Atlantic or Central flyways, with a total of more than 2.7 million ducks in Louisiana during the 2010-’11 waterfowl season.

According to Ducks Unlimited, Louisiana’s harvest accounts for 18 percent of the United States harvest. Arkansas had the second highest harvest with 1.4 million ducks. Factoring in hunter numbers, Louisiana’s harvest equated to 30.6 ducks harvested per hunter for the season. http://www.wildfowlmag.com/louisiana...waterfowl.html


How about a short treatise on duck feathers. Which feathers do you prefer from which ducks.

Historically I have tried to obtain all the wood duck flank that I can for my friends across the country. I also obtain the flanks off green wings, gadwall and shovelers and wigeon and the bronze shoulders from mallards.

Which other feathers should I also "grab"?

Bowfin47

[Allan]

Bowfin,

Excellent information. Just to say that one time I got wood duck flank feathers harvested in LA. They were the nicest I've ever gotten. Mature in size, color, barring. You mention Megansers. Unless I'm mistaken, which may very well be the case, the drake hooded Merganser has flank feathers very similar to wood duck. Not sure if they could be a substitute for the 'woodie' but they may be of some value.

Allan

[maodiver]

The only problem I have with harvesting Mergansers is that NO ONE I know eats them. I tried one once, but it was so fishy tasting it was practically inedible. I won't shoot something for just its feathers, unless it is a serious invasive species, like the European Starling is around here...