illegal feathers?

[JW_Halverson]

Wait, you made an arrow with owl fletching???  So was it super quiet?  I want to see it!  When I'm old and the law doesn't apply to me I want to make an arrow fletched with owl feathers.  For some reason it just seems like the coolest thing to me.

Nope, never made an arrow with those feathers.  But by picking up molted feathers and flexing them alongside turkey primaries, it became abundantly clear what was the better quality fletching.  Great horned owl fletching would be gorgeous, though.  Especially with a redtailed hawk tailfeather for the cock feather!  But it ain't a gonna happen in my workshop!

[PEARL DRUMS]

Most of my turkey feathers are illegal.

 A guy that works in my plant poaches them like mad, and eats every bit. I take all the wings and save as much as I can, he eats the rest. While I never poached a thing in my life and dont plan to start, I cant see tossing the wings in a ditch somewhere. So he puts them in black bags and places them in the back of my truck.

[Atlatlista]

Wait, you made an arrow with owl fletching???  So was it super quiet?  I want to see it!  When I'm old and the law doesn't apply to me I want to make an arrow fletched with owl feathers.  For some reason it just seems like the coolest thing to me.

Nope, never made an arrow with those feathers.  But by picking up molted feathers and flexing them alongside turkey primaries, it became abundantly clear what was the better quality fletching.  Great horned owl fletching would be gorgeous, though.  Especially with a redtailed hawk tailfeather for the cock feather!  But it ain't a gonna happen in my workshop!

I worked with a raptor rehabilitation center for several years, so I'm also quite familiar with the molted feathers of these birds.  Hawk feathers could work for fletching, but owl feathers, as you say, would be much worse than turkey.  Honestly, I don't think hawk feathers would have anything over turkey feathers either.  There's just no sense in doing it.  Good work with the bald eagle rescue, by the way.  I never got a bald eagle call in NC - mostly just red tails, broadwings, that kind of thing.

As to the notion that the law is outdated because plumage is no longer important fashionably, I think that's completely wrong.  The feathers of protected north american birds are gorgeous, and they still carry with them a great reputation just based on the beauty of the birds themselves.  I guarantee that if there were no law against it, people would be making peregrine falcon fletching.  I wouldn't be surprised if something like that were popular enough that it got at least one commercial party interested.  And that's just fletching.  Don't forget that the fashion industry has brought lots of things back over the years.  Feathers are one of those things.  The last 3 or 4 years, girls have taken to wearing feathers in their hair and feathers dangling from earrings and pendants.  They're chicken feathers or turkey feathers, or some other commercially harvested bird, but you can bet that the wealthier set would be switching to raptors in a heartbeat if the laws were changed.

Where I live, it's hard enough to get people to not intentionally run over vultures, let alone keeping them from killing hawks and owls that might threaten their precious backyard chickens.  I don't think it would take very long at all for a raptor holocaust to ensue if they lost federal protection.

[JW_Halverson]

Around here people shoot great horned owls and curse them for eating pheasants.  Yeah, when you degrade your habitat until there is nowhere for a pheasant to hide, of course the owls can pick 'em off.  But the great horned owl is about the only predator that prefers skunk. 

When the owl eats a pheasant it's just one pheasant.  Skunks switch over to egg raiding during nesting season and will sometimes raid two or three nests a nite training their kits to seek out and find gamebird nests.  How many pheasant eggs in a nest?  Typically 10-12.  When that owl gnoshes a skunk how many pheasants did it save???

Got a call at 8:00 last nite, a guy found an eagle on a hiking trail in the Black Hills, 3 miles from the trailhead.  I got GPS coordinates and hit the trail at 5:00 a.m. this morning with my 1911 .45 to light the way in case of a mountain lion.  Found the bird and wrapped her up.  Nothing appears broken, but she's emaciated like the other found yesterday.  She's on her way to the rehab facility, too.  AND I made it to work this morning on time!  Two eagles in two days.

What I wouldn't give to spend a few days swapping outrageous truths and wood shavings with some of you folks....wait! The Tennessee Classic!!!

[BOXTOP]

If you wanted alot of feathers, I buy mine from M.Schwartz & Gettinger INC. they supply all the craft stores. I get imt.eagle 12-14 inch feathers by the pound as they have a min. order policy of $70.00  if you call them and tell them want you want them for they will help you out. a pound of feathers is @250 of this size. the feathers are first quality. I have not had one bad one. but ...that's alot of feathers to but for just a few arrow's you make alot of split them with a buddy its not bad. you can go to their  oh-----these are farm raised turkey's and legal.     hope this helps

[Thesquirrelslinger]

Nice, I nearly ran over an owl off-road biking today...
I did not see it. I litterally jumped off my bike. Raptors are AMAZING, do not see why people want to kill them.

[ncpat]

Remind me Never to hunt Texas, Jackcrafty.  My tolerance for government rules that make no sense at all, (when I am a law abiding citizen) is running dangerously low.    Main laws I agree with completely,  Don't shoot hens in the spring, no deer hunting in the spring and when young are still vulnerable....  but the vast majority of government laws are ridiculously typed from men in suits sitting behind desks. They may feel there is no need for perfectly good feathers, but who are they to make that decision.  The older I get I start supporting the Native American "We belong to the land" mentality and not the modern- "we own the land" ideal.    so much goes to waste in this country b\c fancy government officials have no sense of sustainability. meat, deer antlers, feathers, furs..all wasted each year because of heavily taxed automobiles.... heaven forbid, I "illegally" pick the deer up, eat it, tan it's skin for clothing and cut it's antlers up for knapping tools and knife handles.   what I would give to be a fly on the wall when the world does melt down and every asset is invaluable.... then have someone come take a deer meat out of one of those fancy "important" people's mouths and say "sorry, this deer was not killed by legal means...therefor we cannot eat it. It must rot to waste in a ditch while mouths are hungry..it's the law you know."
                        I am normally quite quiet on most internet topics and try not to stir the pot...but every now and then you gotta pull the pressure relief valve.  I mean come on.....molted feathers, we can't have them.....  how simply ridiculous when you break it down.  Next thing you know we won't be able to use dead trees for fire wood.....

I hope I don't violate the "politics" rule here so I'll keep it brief. The only way to fight insane rules is to keep pressure on our elected officials, from City Hall to Washington & all points in between.

[JackCrafty]

Twistedlimbs and NCPat: Guys, there are plenty of ways to go around these stupid laws and get the animal parts we need.  A trip to a deer processor, or two, will get you all the skins, bones, and leg sinew you can handle.  And you can shoot or trap as many street pigeons as you want and their feathers can be used for fletching and anything else.  Invasive species of carp can be killed in any numbers of ways, day or night, and the skins, meat, eggs, air bladders, and bones can be harvested.  All of these sources are FREE.

With the growth of primitive archery, maybe we can get a senator or two in the lawmaker's chairs who are sympathetic to us knappers, arrow makers, bowyers, and primitive skills enthusiasts.  The reason people are able to shoot migratory game birds but can't keep the feathers (except for fly tying and pillow stuffing) is because there are congressmen who do exactly these kinds of things.  Heaven forbid that the would not be able to go on their duck hunts!

[Pat B]

What someone says are molted feathers could easily be poached feathers that the possessor claims are moulted.
 Laws are made for law abiding citizens just like locks are to keep honest folks out. If someone don't like a law there are proper ways to change them.
 

[JackCrafty]

Pat, I agree.  The first thing a poacher would say about illegal feathers in his possession would be, "Oh, those? I found them."

[JW_Halverson]

*Using my best Bronx accent*  What?  Dis?  Fell offa da back of a truck!

[Pat B]

It just ain't a Bronx accient, JW but I get your gest. 

[Buckeye Guy]

Twistedlimbs and NCPat: Guys, there are plenty of ways to go around these stupid laws and get the animal parts we need.  A trip to a deer processor, or two, will get you all the skins, bones, and leg sinew you can handle. 

Not around here , if you don't have paper work and tags  they are still illegal parts and processors don;t want the paper work or hassle !

[Thesquirrelslinger]

wait, its illegal to have deerskin, deer sinew, and deer bone? Well...
I must now go chuck a few beautiful slings, and some very nice knives...

[sleek]

Its illegal to have the raw material....I dont think a case can be made against you for a finished knofe, deer skin leather coat, mocks, or string. Of course, if you really piss of that one game warden, and you are wearing all that stuff, yer gonna be either walking home naked, or going to the hoos gow...