Found feathers

[Pat B]

I know we've gone over this many times before here on the message board but with the article, "Beach Found Feathers", by Charles Palmer in the newest edition of PA I thought I'd write a letter to the editor(which I just did) about found feathers and also bring it up here again. Most found feathers are illegal to possess. Only game birds and non-native bird feathers can legally be possessed. This isn't a new law. The Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918 was implemented to protect song birds, sea birds and wading birds from plume hunters collecting feathers to adorn fashionable lady's hats back in the late 1800's and early 1900's devastating bird populations.
Whether or not you think this is a worthwhile law, it is the law of the land and should be obeyed.
For more info look up the "Migratory Bird Treaty of 1918". 

[ksnow]

I found that article curious also.  Around here there are thousands of gull feathers, but they have to lay where they fall.  I asked a warden about feathers, and his simple response was, "if you can't hunt it, you can't possess it."

Kyle

[TSA]

yup, i know up here in Cunuckopia, there are eagle feathers all over the beaches, and we cant touch them!
but we get enough goose feathers to not have to worry!

good point Pat, thanks!

[Buck67]

I did the same thing once.  I spent a month in Florida on the beach and collected a wonderful assortment of feathers.  Then I reread the Migratory Game Bird law and dumped them all into the trash.

We had a friend get a $125 fine from a conservation officer for wearing a Blue Jay feather in her hat.  I can't imagine how much a quiver of arrows with Pelican feathers would cost.

[upstatenybowyer]

I had no idea. Thanks Pat. 

[Eric Krewson]

I would dye them with bright pink Kool Aid and call them tame turkey feathers. Sometimes the laws mean well but get so far away from common sense that parts of them become ridiculous, like calling a muddy spot along some farmers field road a "wetland" and shutting down the use of his property.

[loefflerchuck]

Yup, I was thinking the same thing reading that article. I used to find owl and hawk feathers on bike rides and trail runs and use them for fletching. Someone pointed out the law to me. Just fyi possession of a hawk or owl feather is a $10,000 fine.  A ranger would have to be quite a prick to give out a $10,000 fine instead of a warning to someone who was unaware and had a feather on their hat or rear view mirror, but this law is in place for a reason. The wetlands and Migratory  Birds Treaty Act were put in place to halt the rapid extinction that was happening in this country. That and stopping the use of DDT and other poison are the reason we can still see whooping cranes and eagles in the wild today instead of just in books.
 If someone finds a feather and uses it for fletching I don't have a problem with that, but don't post it online for the world to see or your asking for trouble. 

[rkeltner]

it is worth pointing out that game laws are under the authority of the n.s.a. now. this means all the good and bad of that department is in position to oversee your misdeeds, intentional or not!

[sleek]

it is worth pointing out that game laws are under the authority of the n.s.a. now. this means all the good and bad of that department is in position to oversee your misdeeds, intentional or not!

Ugh