feathers

blueheron

blueheron

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Jan 2, 2010
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Hello Guys,This is my first post so be gentle. After a few months of occasionally looking at these forums,I decided to join the fray.
Besides I couldn't stand being called a lurker any longer.Creepy. Anyway, my favorite christmas present was a frozen solid whole wood duck drake from a hunting buddy of mine. What a beautiful creature! I found a little info on the net on how to best process it and knowing that there wasn't a chance on that baby making it unnoticed in my freezer, I grabbed a couple of sharp knives and a box of muleteam and headed to the garage. After a half hour of surgery I had several patches of skin and feathers and a nearly naked duck. I had the foresight to be careful around the sacred lemon flank and barred breast feathers and saved the wings after a fashion but what about the rest? Is there a better procedure to cut the skin off around the wings and tail and feet? I sprinkled borax over the raw skin but didn't wash anything as it all appeared to be particularly clean. I tried to wash one small section in soapy water but the results were not great. Even after drying the feathers didn't come back fresh looking. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Oh he also gave me a bucktail that smelled so bad when it thawed it was all I could do to toss it before I tossed my cookies. BTW if want to know my favorite spot to fish you'll have to go with not read it on a forum. Chris
 
Why skin the bird? Just pluck the feathers you want and place then in a container of your choice. I use zip lock bags a lot. For Wood Duck flank feathers a use a larger container so I don't muss them up.
 
I guess I didn't pluck the flank feathers for the same reason I don't pluck my necks. It's just neater and easier to pick em out when needed to tie with. Also some of the breast feathers will work great for soft hackle wets
 
RoddGunn wrote:
Why skin the bird? Just pluck the feathers you want and place then in a container of your choice. I use zip lock bags a lot. For Wood Duck flank feathers a use a larger container so I don't muss them up.

On the skin, they're pre-sorted. Even with wood duck flank, you sometimes want to match a left and right, and certainly want to be able to find straight ones.

I wish I could find a wood duck skin. I hate sorting through bags.
 
If you skin the bird out you will have the hole skin.
I skin the bird out,wash with woolite,blot the skin dry then use a blow dryer to dry the feathers. then borax the skin until the skin has dried out (about 2 weeks in a cool dry place)
 
I'm a plucker.
 
Will the borax kill the egge/larvae/bugs that are on the skin?
I read somewhere to nuke em as a precaution but I'm a little hesitant.
 
Can't hurt to nuke them a little, just be careful about how long you do it for. Unfortunately I no longer have a wood duck source. They are a great skin to have, hand on to it. Tie up some fan wings, great looking flies, too fragile to be practical, but look they great.
 
blueheron ,i had to laugh when you mentioned...going unnoticed in the freezer.... twenty some yrs ago i was still living at home and a friend gave me a duck and a squirrel , after cleaning them i put them in the freezer, never told anyone and foregot they where there till the day my mother found them....
 
i skin them and put borax on them, let sit for a few weeks, then bag em with mothballs or flakes. no bugs...no eggs no more...
 
I tie catskill style dries and the upright woodduck wing looks great and holds up well enough IMO. I guess I can put my dyed mallard away for a while, at least til my buddies eyeball my stash and the begging starts because we're too cheap to buy them.
 
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