june is time for the canadian goose moult (at least here in the nor'east) - pick 'em up and make some of the best fletchings ever. :thumbsup:
(http://i.imgur.com/DO5c2e1.jpg)
(http://www.tradgang.com/rob/goose/goose1.jpg)
canada goose feather fletch making (http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000106)
Those look nice!
Nice Rob!
Rob if you get too many feel free to send me some. :bigsmyl:
Natural water proofing..LOL
without a doubt, waterfoul fletching has the water proofing edge over the land birds.
turkey and goose, each with a 5 minute water hose dosing ...
(http://www.tradgang.com/rob/goose/wetarras.jpg)
the only bugaboo is the fletch color that's so hard to see ... fixed with a bit of faux rabbit fur around the nock base as a tracer ...
(http://www.tradgang.com/rob/goose/tracers.jpg)
For those of you who have neither the time, the molting birds nor the inclination to hunt feathers on the ground, there are two opportunities to have some shipped to you AND help out the St. Jude kids.
Right Wing
http://auction1.tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=209;t=000003
Left Wing
http://auction1.tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=212;t=000004
Pretty cool. I remember as a kid going to a park somewhere that had thousands of feathers lying everywhere. Mom only let me keep a few lol
Those are some sweet looking fletchings, and talk about traditional, pretty sure the Native Americans fletched a few with those.
I certainly like goose feathers, but more so on my hunting arrows then practice/target arrows. The goose option is the bomb for waterproof fletching, but my wild turkey feathers out last the goose fletching by about double....so it makes sense to shoot turkey for arrows that are going to get pounded hundreds of times into a target. I strongly feel goose cannot be beat for hunting shafts though...
Nice! Our birds don't fully moult till the end of june/ beginning of July in my experience. I take it you don't have problems with mixed feathers as long as they're from the same wing?
here in nor'est jersey the moult starts late may/early june and lasts 'til just about the end of june at best. the big pond next to our house is home to many dozens of canadian geese = free feathers! i only use left wing primary and secondaries and give away the right wings.