owl feathers?

[JW_Halverson]

hi,
          owls are bad luck native americans would never use owl feathers for thier arrows , anything that represents the night is bad luck, goose feathers work great and they are waterproof

That is definitely a statement that cannot apply to all Native Americans.  Kinda like saying all Europeans smell like cheese and can't defend their own country.  The Lakota specifically refer to the owl as a warning, a harbinger of change.  And within the Lakota their are differing opinions to boot!!!  I've seen two guys from Pine Ridge come to blows over just that subject.  I guess Icarus, the great horned owl that was the cause of this altercation was BOTH good and bad luck!  They guy that lost the tooth had bad luck and the guy that knocked it out had good luck!

[IsaacW]

American Museum of Natural History...
http://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/common/public_access.cfm?database=north

Put owl as a search term and search in "material"    There are 3 pages of items that come up made from owl feathers and parts.  None of them there are arrows.  I have not recently looked through all the arrows in their collections database, but I imagine you may find owl feathers on some.  Perhaps I will do this search when more time permits.

BTW... the above search tool for the AMNH collections is pretty cool and fun if you like museum stuff

[bowtarist]

Just for S&Gs I searched owl fletching on a popular engine and found several other good discussions on the subject.  Some even liking to use it even if they have to re-fletch once in awhile due to it's durability issue.  Very quiet I read though.  I guess the bottom line is...if you're in the lower 48, most people are not allowed to posses even one feather legally.  In other parts of the world, including Alask, by the blog I read, says they work fine.  One statement that was made was, raptor feathers are not as stiff as wild turkey and wild turkey are not as stiff as domestic turkey.  So I guess if stiffness is what you want, domestic turkey is what you're after.  One the other hand, a well tuned arrow can be shot a pretty good distance w/ no fletching at all.  dpgratz

[Bevan R.]

hate to say this but Alaska is subject to US federal laws as well.

[bowtarist]

hate to say this but Alaska is subject to US federal laws as well.

like I said, ...I searched "owl fletching" and that is what I read.  Try it out, you can parboily find it, I just did it this afternoon. 

Bevan, I'll PM you the link, anyone else interested, PM me. Not that big a deal really.

[JW_Halverson]

Yeah, USF&W will definitely be surprised if someone tells them they have no jurisdiction in Alaska!   

[RDK]

      Possession of owls feather is illegal throughout the US.    Exceptions in Alaska are the same as the rest of the US, i.e. by Federal Permit (education, research) or for Native Americans under the "Eagle Feather Law." 

[Jude]

There just happens to be a lot more Native American crafts made from restricted materials available in Alaska, so it can seem like things are legal there that are not in the lower 48.  You can have whale baleen and ivory products from Alaska, but only if they were produced and sold by documented native artisans.  If you purchase such items, it's imperative that you retain the documentation.

Julian