My friend just revealed to me that his father and brothers raise some fowl, like Ring Necked Pheseant, Guinea Fowl and Wild Turkey(none of these are found wild in Newfoundland) and said that if they harvest any birds this year, he’ll see if they’ll put some feathers aside for me. Now, I’d like the entire skins, but it’s doubtful they would skin the birds, so the question is what feathers should I make priority to get? Should I get a cape and try for some tail feathers? I’ll take a bag of plucked feathers if that’s what they have for me.
I should say I tie trout and Atlantic Salmon flies. What do you folks think?
Hi,
Get whatever you can from the pheasant. The tail feathers are very useful and fibers from them are used in a lot of patterns as wing cases, bodies, wings, etc. On the wings, there are some chesnut brown feathers (quite small) which are great for soft hackle flies, and the red and yellow feathers add great colour, etc.
From the turkey, I think the tail feathers are the most useful, but I’ve never had any other bits from a turkey.
The spotted feathers from the guinea fowl are the ones to go for as I’ve never seen anything that remotely looks like them as a substitute.
Now, that being said, never look a gift horse in the mouth! Whatever they have will be useful.
Turkey wing feathers are also quite useful. On the leading edge of the wing feather are biots, which used either in their natural color or dyed can be used to make segmented dry fly bodies (ala A.K. Best), as well as tails for stonefly nymphs.
“If we carry purism to it’s logical conclusion, to do it right you’d have to live naked in a cave, hit your trout on the head with rocks, and eat them raw. But, so as not to violate another essential element of the fly-fishing tradition, the rocks would have to be quarried in England and cost $300 each.”
Marabou is a stork, but marabou tying feathers haven’t come from the stork in a long time. The Marabou stork is endangered and the feathers are illegal.
Tying marabou comes from the lower breast/ belly feathers of the domestic turkey.
Thanks, Die, I didn’t know that. Reading the info I googled didn’t mention they were endangered. It appears they’re making a healthy comeback.
“Conservation: The willingness of the Marabou Stork to adjust to human activity has benefited the species. Populations may actually be increasing in some areas. Its grotesque appearance and unsavory habits have made the Marabou Stork an unattractive target for hungry hunters. The Marabou???s more enlightened neighbors appreciate its efficiency in reducing disease by cleaning up carcasses and other rubbish.”
The tail feathers of the pheasant. Unfortunatly like most places if these birds are being reared for shooting, then they never survive long enough for the fibres on their tails to have really long fibres.
I obtained some recently from a bird that must have been wiser than most and survived to adulthood. The fibres were over 2" in length. Really hard to find…
Hi,
Humber Brad i live on the bonavista pen. and i know that in certian parts of the pen. you can find some wild ring neck phesants that escaped for a farm some years ago. Just thought you might like to know.
fisher998…I’ve heard that many times. There was supposed to be some in the woods at the end of the road I grew up on in CBS. I’ve also heard about Bass on the Witless Bay Line and Whitetail Deer on the Northern Penninsula. Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find any of the above
Turkey flats (body feathers) are handy for parachutes, wings, etc. Take a look at the feather section of any of the online fly tying suppliers and you can see which feathers from the various birds are likely to be useful and what they’re useful for. If you’re never planning to tie parachute patterns, don’t bother with the flats.
A bag of loose feathers would be just fine. Clean them, dry them, fumigate them before mixing with your other supplies.
Turkey biots are HUGE compared to what most folks think of when talking about biots…much easier to get a grip on for tying.
Turkeys also have some cool flat-tipped short feathers that have a stripe of iridescent color on them…there must be a pattern or three that uses that swatch of color effectively (it has roughly the same color characteristics as peacock herl but it’s a very different feather compared to herl).
About twenty years ago, the Minnesota DNR reintroduced Wild Turkeys, to Minnesota. Now the Wild Turkeys have spread their range, all over southern and central Minnesota.
Surprisingly the Wild Turkeys love the “City Life”! I live in the “City of White Bear Lake”, one of the many communities that comprise, the “Twin Cities” metropolitan area of Minnesota. I have “Wild Turkeys” in my backyard, which is anything but natural landscape. We also have Hawks, Fox, Raccoons, Pheasant, Geese, Ducks, and Possums!
Seems it is safer for the Wild Turkeys, to live in the ciy than the country side, where hunting ins legal.
