Canada goose wings for tying

[bigslackwater]

A hunter friend of mine gave two full wings off a goose. I'm aware of biots but what other uses can I get out of these wings for tying? What should I do to preserve and store it? Right now I have two full wings clipped off the bird and hanging in a grocery bag in my shed. It's freezing cold out there so I figure I have a little time. Please excuse my ignorance as I'm not a hunter and I'm a novice tier!

 

[turkey]

I like goose quills for strip wings on steelhead wets. Not sure about preserving. I salt any exposed "meat" until it's dried out. I like to leave feathers in the freezer for a month. Then a sprinkling of borax and stored in a Ziploc bag. I used moth balls before and it was harsh.

Not sure what's correct but that's what I do.

 

[bigslackwater]

Ok. I'm gonna look in to borax. There's definitely some meat on these things. I could pluck the feathers but I envision a giant mess.

 

[shakey]

you are quite lucky!!!

i love goose quills for wet fly wings.

salt and or borax should do the trick.i always have tons of borax around.

you don't want to pluck them ahead of time.each time you pluck a feather,you want to use the matching feather from the other wing.

so,a right secondary quill and he matching left secondary quill would

 

[shakey]

be used to make the wings on a fly

 

[sniperfreak223]

They can be used for quill wings on larger wets and dries, and are actually a little more durable than duck quills. I also occasionally make wrapped bodies with goose quills.

 

[nfrechet]

wings on wet flies

wings on dry flies

biots for bodies, tails, wing case on small nymphs etc

wing cases on nymphs

1 or 2 fibers can be used as bodies/thorax

fibers can be used for tails

 

[lv2nymph]

If you do find a need to pluck them before or after they're dry. Pluck them in pairs right/left and put em in a zip-loc bag together. I pretty much do what Turkey does, I've got a couple of sets of duck wings I've had for years and they're ok. Just make sure they're completely dried out before storing them.

 

[bigslackwater]

So how exactly do I use borax? Just sprinkle it on the exposed areas, all over?

 

[lv2nymph]

Yep, you can work it in also. Spread the feathers a little and pin them to a board so it's easier to access them when needed. Every couple of days or so knock off the old borax or salt and renew.

 

[sandfly]

split the wing where the 2 bones run together (from the base towards tip) and work some borax/salt mix in there. they could still go rancid otherwise. I bleach them and then dye them for wets and steel head flies. they get some really nice shades to them. if you dye them wash in dawn first to get all the oils off of them or they will not take the dye. shoulder feathers can be used to tie some interesting fan wings.

 

[PennKev]

I would just pluck them or snip off the good feathers and be done with it. You are mostly going to just want the quills anyway.
In my experience, whole wings are tough to preserve without them starting to stink/rot. Even with a crap load of borax and salt. On the other hand, a few minutes with some scissors and you'll have the desirable feathers and no mess or further work.

Kev

 

[ajcarricato]

Salt and borax are great. Another preserving product that is easy to find is bran. It is used in the tanning process of leather and works great on bird skins for preservation. I use it after I dry the skins out with salt. I usually skin whole birds that I have from hunting, great way to keep all those feathers in order!