owl feathers?

[Spitch]

What is the view on using owl feathers to fletch with? Has anyone tried it, and if so did it work well?

I do not have any right now (not for a lack of trying) but they are going to be plentiful enough here soon, and just wanted to pick some experienced brains.

Thank you

[Bevan R.]

HIGHLY ILLEAGLE!! Getting caught with them (even if they are road kill) is a serious offense.

[oldhippy]

   The NAs considered the owl a bad omen and wouldn't use it's feathers for anything. If you get caught using feathers the fine is up to 10,000 dollars plus jail time. A real bad omen.

    Steve

[Spitch]

I guess I can scratch that one off my list  I am running out of native avians

Thank you Bevan for the fast and getting straight to the point.

Oldhippy, true on both accounts, lol

[criveraville]

In Mexican folklore and oral tradition owls are tied to witches, bad spirits and often considered "a woman that is a witch that has turned herself into an owl to roam the night and cause evil deeds."

Cipriano

[JW_Halverson]

Also take into account that owl primaries and tail feathers are soft!  They are designed for silent flight and would make poor fletching at best. 

Plus, why risk a Federal conviction for third rate fletching?

[Bevan R.]

I think part of the problem stems from Saxton Pope's book. In it he tells about carrying all black arrow they shot at hawks, eagles, owls. They figured the black would be less noticeable comming up at a flying bird. They were after the birds for fletching.
Nowdays you do that, big time trouble.

[JW_Halverson]

At best you would get written up with a warning for using "found" feathers, but if they even thought you shot the bird you'd really get hung.   Plus then you got a reputation and every time a Conservation Officer looks at you he knows you are "that type".  Better to stay scrupulously clean.  Hard to fix a bad reputation.

[bowtarist]

Any native Raptor feather is illegal. 

I've been wanting to bring this up actually....an artical in the mag we all love is promoting tv feathers, as well as hawk for reproduction arrows.  I'm worried to even say anything.  Actually surprised to see it make it through edit w/o a note.  Delete this if need be, just worried about passing on an idea that will get someone in trouble.  dpg

[JW_Halverson]

Now that you mention it, bowtarist, I got a little heated about that as well.  Here's how it played out.

I fired off an email to the editor of P.A.  I got an immediate response, because that's the way he works.  It turns out that the author lives in South America.  Since turkey vultures are native to all of the western hemisphere and the author lives outside of the United States, then the U. S. law here does not apply to him.  At that point, I replied to the editor asking him to not print my letter to the editor.  I believe he will be printing a clarification in the upcoming issue to clarify the matter. 

Primitive Archery does not and would not condone illegal use of raptor feathers.  I have always admired this magazine for it's high ethical standards.  That and the incredible bow porn on the pages!

[bowsandroses]

Glad to see this post and that article in PA clarified. I too was saying what the H double!!! you know, and now I know.

[sadiejane]

the federal migratory bird act is important for all of us to be aware of. you can read more here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918
it leaves few options for legal feathers. these include geese, turkey and pheasant.
of course domestic birds such as chickens and turkey and other birds not native to  the us like parrots and macaw are legal.
there may be a few others i am leaving out.
as mentioned this includes picking up individual feathers and of course road kill birds. they're illegal to possess regardless of how obtained.
i used to have a few hawk and other found feathers and some road kill wings.
once i realized just how serious this is taken and how costly it can be if you are found in possession, i got rid of all of them.
i am often amazed at how many folks i see at rendezvous etc with owl or hawk feathers in their hats or otherwise adorning something they have made or wear.

something to consider with all of this is-if you are caught with illegal feathers, the game wardens will likely come to your home. they will likely search and confiscate every wild animal item in yr house.
how do i know this-had a good friend accused by a neighbor of poaching a deer-they literally ransacked his house. took all the deer meat out of his freezer. he did get some items returned(the meat was destroyed without ever giving him the chance to prove it was legally obtained) and was never charged as he had all his past tags and could verify most items(he was not poaching-his neighbor was pissed at him about something totally unrelated).
even if they are legal. if you dont have tags for those deer or hides they will take them and keep them.
antlers, hides, bones, even "legal" feathers, arrows with feathers(sometimes it is very hard to distinguish wild turkey secondaries from some owl feathers- had a man argue with me at a primitive skills gathering about this. he would not believe the feathers i had fletched a batch of arrows with were wild turkey secondaries. he swore they were too "soft" and were thus owl-how could i have "proved" they were turkey if a game warden had the same idea?)
they may take everything that appears to be of animal origin including the meat in yr freezer and you may, at a later date be given the opportunity to "prove" they were taken legally-once again keep those tags.
sorry to ramble on so but i feel it necessary to make sure those who dont know, understand the level of seriousness this issue can become.

there are plenty of sources for legal feathers. most hunters(gun or bow) do not keep turkey wings. depending on the part of the country you live in there may be turkey farms in the area-go ask em what they do with the feathers. many folks here and other archery sites are willing to trade feathers for other items. and of course you can purchase from dozens of sources.
ok i'll stop now...

[bowtarist]

Nice one Sadie, but Iwould like to add, atleast here in Indiana and I'm fairly certain other places too, you are not allowed to pick up wild turkey road kills.  If caught w/ a turkey it is considered poaching w/o a tag.  That goes for road kill deer too.  I've seen several deer hit, I mean SEEN them hit, and the first thing I do is call the sherrif and tell them that I want the deer.  They usually show up and issue me a hand written tag or just take my name and info over the phone.  I have had them just say "OK" and I then tell them that their "OK" isn't gonna be enough when I get called in by the house I'm loading this animal up off their front lawn. Got to be careful out there.  Maybe we need a post of state to state rules in announcements or something? 

Ya'll have a gooder and keep your eye out for you know who, dpgratz

[RDK]

I was just about to post this and sadiejane's reply came up.  I apologize for any overlap -and edited some stuff out--but there are a few additional points to make. 

My understanding of the Migratory Bird Treaty act and the Endangered Species Act  is that it also makes it a crime to possess feathers from wild song birds except for starlings, rock doves and English sparrows.

You can only possess feathers from your legally obtained non-migratory game birds, but stuff you make from them can’t be sold. (BTW sold is defined as an exchange of anything for c"consideration"-a legal term translated to me "..of value...") Even if legally obtained, feathers from geese and ducks (migratory) can’t be possessed-though there must be exceptions.

Even if you find and pick-up feathers-you can’t possess them.

Feathers can be obtained and used from commercial game farms that are licensed to raise and sell from otherwise protected species.  They are considered domesticated under law.

These laws are  strict liability.  Some of the case law I looked at notes that people are guilty of violating the law regardless of lack of ANY  evidence of guilty knowledge, or intent;  possession is enough.   That needs to be underscored by Sadiejane's example of turkey soft secondary feathers being "thought" to be owl. (Prove it....)  I don't have much time to look up more case law-but I think there are provisions in the law that allow a whistle blower a large percentage of the $5,000 fine fine (that's per occurrence).  Case-law is importanct since is is a refinement and applied interpretaion of laws and regulations.

[crooketarrow]

  Owls are concedered hunters of  the night by most eastern indain tribes. When they did lots of there hunting. Owls were held in high exstreams by shamens. OWLS ARE MY FAVORET BIRDS I even have a owl tatoo. Ofcorse I gobbler hunt.