I am preparing for a “fly material” gathering trip to north dakota. I would like to preserve the skins of some of the different ducks and phesants that we will get. Anyone have any good referance materials (books, websites, etc.), that can help me in preparing for the trip.
Fly Tying Materials by Eric Leiser. Covers most game birds.
This is the one I have.
[url=http://www.flyanglersonline.com/review/week192.html:c4d60]From Field to Fly[/url:c4d60]
No real need for a book…
20 Mule Team Borax, it is a laundry soap booster, get it from most any grocery store, just bought a fairly large box for $4.19 the other day.
remove as much fat, meat as possible. Apply a liberal sprinkling of the borax, in a week or so apply some more if needed…
Is all you’ll ever need to preserve the skins, I have quite a few duck, chicken, and small game skins that are from over 15 years ago and are in perfect condition. Just did a wood duck with it a week ago. Learned this from a taxidermist.
I agree 200% with RDL, I used to gather almost all my materials from the wild when I lived in WV. I tried reading up on the fixing and preserving skins feathers etc and it seemed long and a procsess. One day I was talking to this older gentlman who had been in flyfishing for a long time. He asked me if I wanted to save alot of time and money I said yeah. He said to buy some 20 mule team borax and put it on the exposed area of the skin, and let it sit for a week or so if need be, out of the way of outside animals. I was amazed, I found out that stuff will suck the life out of anything. skin, blood, fat, the cleaner the quicker of course, but if left on anything like that long enough it will draw it out and dry it up. It comes out alot better than alot of store bought stuff I’v gotten.
True you do not need a book. You can preserve any critter at all with only borax and salt. Fly Tying Materials is where I learned this in the first place. There are some good tips in the book as to how to skin the birds while saving as many of the feathers as possible. Also good tips on dying various materials. Worth having in your library.
Good point caddis, one I had over looked in my thinking, now that i think about it, I did learn alot from that area, education is always good…
All I use is borax. If you get too many extra skins let us know and we’ll all be happy to help take them off your hands!!!
Birds can be done with only Borax. On a fatty critter deer, bear, beaver or coyote a bit of salt will really speed things up.
Instead of sliting up a birds stomach, I slit up the side where the two different types of feathers meet. Doesn’t make a symetrical skin, but it does save a lot of the breast feathers if those are more desireable on that specific bird.
Also if the feathers are dirty or bloody, wash them before you dry the skin. Dawn and some warm water, and then cool water to rinse works good for me. I dry all my skins in the basement (mine is dry) and on cardboard. I used to use salt, but havent used anything in about a year. Havent had a problem with any of my skins (muskrat, racoon, squirrel) and it is much less of a mess without the salt. Takes a bit longer, but I’m in no rush.
I would like to suggest that you take extra care in the preparation of the skins from waterfowl. They are quite oily. Despite my best attempts I have not had a real good success rate on ducks/geese using borax and/or salt. I finally gave up and just pick the feathers that I want to save, make sure they are dry and free from critters and put them in a baggie. Much easier.
Tim
Thanks for all the input. I am packing the “20 mule team borax” in the suburban and heading out to North Dakota on Wed. I have been practicing on the ruffed grouse up here in northern minnesota and it seems to be working pretty well.
All my duck feathers were given to me and are also plucked and no skin to worry with. I didn’t want to ask anyone to keep the skin for me since they will probably keep it on to cook the bird. I still have a good bit of them not sorted or anything. However I have 2 five gallon buckets that are about each half full or more.
I have another guy that said he will get me some turkey feathers which I am really looking forward to.
Skip
Paddler,
Good for you! Let us know how you do upon returning.
You’ve been given very good advice here. I’ve used the 20 Mule Team Borax on a lot of skins, mostly birds and a full deer hide. Works very well!
Looking forward to hearing how your trip went.
Jeremy.
Well, I am back from North Dakota, armed with a few bird skins for winter tying. We got hungarian partiridge, sharp tailed grouse, pheasant, widgeon, mallard, pintail, and canvasback.
wow, nice collection of new fly tying material…