feathers

[ozzy]

i have bought some full length feathers and done a bit of experimenting with them..basically measured them and the cut them in equall lengths of three...pretty rough i admit but the end result was surprisingly good...improved arrow flight especially with broadheads,although a bit noisey..i guess they are pretty much a flu flu.question is what is the best part to use of the full length feather.

[Stickbow Hunter]

The full length feathers now days seem to be getting shorter and shorter. I only get one 5" flight out of them and I cut it out of the centre.

Jeff

[ozzy]

thanks jeff...i will try and get some pics and post up...as they say pictures says a thousand words

[jcm]

Ozzy, Look forward to the pics.
Jeff,
It seems the go across most of the feather manufacturers.
A full length feathers - 7" to 8" if lucky 10".
Regards
John

[Stickbow Hunter]

Yeah John. I've seen mention it has to do with how they mostly raise the turkeys now days.

Jeff

[jcm]

Thought it was the $$ motive.

Regards

John

[Axefanatic]

Yeah John. I've seen mention it has to do with how they mostly raise the turkeys now days.

Jeff

I was about to ask if it was due to younger birds being harvested, then I read this.

Are there any other sources for natural feathers? Or is the commercially available stuff restricted to turkey?

[Stickbow Hunter]

Thought it was the $$ motive.

You are in a better position to know about that then I am John. I read it was to do with lack of supply because of the way they are raised. All I know is that the full length feathers of today are much shorter than they used to be.

Are there any other sources for natural feathers? Or is the commercially available stuff restricted to turkey?

I think for commercial use the turkey feathers are the most suitable I believe. For personal use there are a number of alternatives with Geese feathers being one of the better ones.

Jeff

[Buranurra]

When I did a working stint on a kibbutz in Israel around 18 years ago, some of the turkeys weighed in around 50kg!!! Vicious buggers, I was thankful I worked on the date palms!

I read that geese feathers are great as they have a far better water shedding capacity. I imagine that swan would be like really good if you could find shed ones.

[ozzy]

as promised here is a pic.....only one feather though,they average 95mm long and i put as much twist on them as i can with my jig.they are pretty good in flight with broadheads and target points but are noisey,pretty much a flu flu i guess.....ugly looking but they work would like to pretty it up though

any suggestions

[Fraser]

Has any one tried Magpie goose feathers? From Sep to Dec each year thousands are shoot during the goose season, I never thought about using the feathers when lived up there, but may be some one else has tried.

Cheers,

Fraser

[Stickbow Hunter]

Ozzy, Make yourself a template out of two pieces of cardboard or tin plate. You then place a piece of the template each side of your fletch and cut around it with a sharp pair of scissors. This would tidy the flights up for you and they wouldn't get knocked around so much when being shot.

Has any one tried Magpie goose feathers?

A mate of mine got a permit one year to collect them and they made nice flights so long as you liked black.

Jeff

[Fraser]

Has any one tried Magpie goose feathers?

A mate of mine got a permit one year to collect them and they made nice flights so long as you liked black.

Jeff[/quote]

The normal process when you shoot them is to take the breast only, the rest of the carcass is left where it lies. Even after the pigs and dogs are finished with the scraps, the wings are left. All you would have to do is head to Harrison's dam, Howard swamp, or Lambells lagoon and pick up the feathers.

Now all I've got to do is travel 2000km at the right time of year to pick up a couple of hundred unground feathers on second thought it might be cheaper to keep buying them

Fraser

[ozzy]

Ozzy, Make yourself a template out of two pieces of cardboard or tin plate. You then place a piece of the template each side of your fletch and cut around it with a sharp pair of scissors. This would tidy the flights up for you and they wouldn't get knocked around so much when being shot.

Has any one tried Magpie goose feathers?

A mate of mine got a permit one year to collect them and they made nice flights so long as you liked black.

Jeff

not a bad idea jeff just cant make me mind up on what shape have tried parabolic,sheild......both seem to fly a bit unstable till i tried these

[Stickbow Hunter]

have tried parabolic,sheild......both seem to fly a bit unstable till i tried these

Well to me that says that you haven't got your arrows matched to your bow as you certainly shouldn't need those size feathers to have stable arrow flight.

Jeff

[ozzy]

have tried parabolic,sheild......both seem to fly a bit unstable till i tried these

Well to me that says that you haven't got your arrows matched to your bow as you certainly shouldn't need those size feathers to have stable arrow flight.

Jeff

thats what i recon as well jeff ...will have to keep working on the spine before i worry about feathers i recon

[little arrows]

ozzy as Jeff just mentioned I was going to ask if you were sure the spine of the arrow was correct - perhaps it isn't.

With the turkey feathers, the breaders are getting more money from meat, so the feathers are suffering, plus they "trim" the right wing feathers to stop them flying, which is why they have left wing mainly in the US. However, we are buying both right and left wing full length feathers, both are getting shorter in length as time goes on.

cheers
sue

[GrahameA]

Morning All

Ozzy, Make yourself a template out of two pieces of cardboard or tin plate. You then place a piece of the template each side of your fletch and cut around it with a sharp pair of scissors. This would tidy the flights up for you and they wouldn't get knocked around so much when being shot.

Has any one tried Magpie goose feathers?

A mate of mine got a permit one year to collect them and they made nice flights so long as you liked black.

Jeff

not a bad idea jeff just cant make me mind up on what shape have tried parabolic,sheild......both seem to fly a bit unstable till i tried these

Only a small percentage of those feathers will be of use. You would probably find it cheaper to buy some Goose (probably Canadian) feather from some of the feather merchants.s

[Fraser]

Hi Grahame, I'm basically thinking out loud. I shoot hundreds of geese when I lived up there and never used the feathers. I've been using full length feathers that I bought from Tradbits, most of them seam to be of a lot better quality than what is normal these days, most of them are about 9" long.

Fraser

[Stickbow Hunter]

I've been using full length feathers that I bought from Tradbits, most of them seam to be of a lot better quality than what is normal these days, most of them are about 9" long.

The full length feathers we used to be able to get were around 12".

Jeff

[Fraser]

I now there are problems with feathers now, according to the true flight sight it because of the way the turkeys are raised. All I get is 1 5" fletch for me, and a 2.5" for the kids per feather.

Fraser