Pheasant wing treatment

[Dave Marcus]

My colleague recently came back from a pheasant hunting trip and brought me back the wings from a pheasant (picture attached). I'm appreciative for the thought (although was hoping for the tail feathers) so i wanted the groups thoughts on the following.

1. What is the best way to treat these wings to keep them from rotting? They've currently got some salt on them but not too much...they're starting to release some liquid, did I miss my window to properly treat these? They're probably 4-5 days old, should I just toss them? I live in a 1 bedroom apartment and don't have an outdoor space to "air it out".

2. If I can keep them, what flies can I make with pheasant wing? I've made many pheasant tail nymphs but the hackle on these feathers isn't long enough. Anyone have experience with this material?

Any advice or thoughts would be welcome.

Thanks,

David

[Danny Barrett]

I have a ton of tails from a hunt. Personally I, I never did anything and have had no issues even 4 years later.  I just keep them in a separate bag then the rest of my materials.

Thanks,

Danny

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[david marcus]

If it were tails I wouldn't do anything either. I've had tails for years that haven't been treated but these are two entire wings, not long tails. Not sure what I can tie with them and therefor not sure if it's worth treating them.

David

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[TurbineBlade]

Looks like part of a Rooster and Hen -- well done.  I have 3 skins in my deep freezer right now from this December ;).  

All I do is skin them by hand, use a lot of salt to dry things out, and store in ziplock bags in the deep freeze.  If you have a lot of skin it is better to let it air dry as much as possible to get beyond the "funk" stage, and then store it like you would anything else.  I have a LOT of pheasant feathers and haven't had a problem with parasites, or rot, etc.  

The upper shoulder feathers are good for #12-14 soft hackles usually in my experience -- the leading edge of the flight feathers are biots just like any other you'd buy, though I don't use biots really at all.  You can also use the flight feathers for traditional "winged wets" if you're into those (e.g. leadwing coachman).  

http://www.jackgartside.com/art_pheasant_feathers.htm

Overall, I find the most useful feathers on a pheasant skin to be the tail feathers (an obvious choice) and the neck/upper back area.  Those "ring" feathers around the neck are superb for Stewart Spiders in sizes #20-14, though I think he used starlings.  

Gene

[Misha Gill]

Ha! Gene, I use those feathers for Stewart Spiders too, they are clutch. 

Dave, I have a bunch of feathers that I picked from a friend's pheasant and held onto. The best use I found for a few special feathers was as crayfish claws. When dry, they look uncanny. Only issue is that when they're wet they don't hold their shape all that well, so you would want to put nail polish on them (if there are any present in your bunch, I'm not sure where exactly I found them) or use several for each claw. I've had just as much success substituting rubber legs like on a plastic tube, however. The pattern is called the Crawdizzle, see the photo attached.

[Misha Gill]

Oops, guess I was experimenting with ultrasuede at that point, haha. 

[Tom T]

The best way to treat them is to buy some Borax and pour a bunch in the bag. Once anything fleshy looks completely dried out, you can dump out the borax and the wings will be good to go. Borax is found in the laundry section and comes as a box of powder under the "20 mule Team" brand. You won't find it at CVS, but a large grocery store, walmart, or target should have it.

Borax dries skin hard as a rock, so if you ever get a skin, rather than just wings, you might just want to lay it out on a piece of cardboard. The cardboard will pull all the moisture out and preserve the skin.

Hope that helps,

Tom

[Lost Sailor]

Use Borax. That will cure it up good and keep in a plastic bag. Best to skin it off the bone first though.

On Wednesday, January 14, 2015 at 3:20:12 PM UTC-5, Dave Marcus wrote:

[Carl Z.]

+1 on borax. It works for animal skins too. 

Also, a few freeze thaw cycles.  Freeze for a week, thaw for a week.  any insect eggs hatch when it's warm.  The freeze then kills the larva (before they can lay eggs).  Repeating this cycle gets rid of the bugs, but still keep them in a bag separate from your other material.  You wouldn't want to get bugs in your saddle hackle.

I don't microwave feathers, But I will microwave animal skins to render some of the fat out and get the borax to work better.  For oily skins, I will brush off the borax and put a fresh layer on to make sure it is really dried. out.

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[Carl Z.]

You know you've got a fly tying problem when you stop for roadkill and skin it out. :-)

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[namfos]

I'm with Carl. My wife still gives me a hard time and the facial expression that says "don't go there" whenever I look a little too longingly at roadkill. (Most recently a fresh red fox on Norbeck Rd on our way home from Safeway.)

As for the freeze and thaw cycle when dealing with infestations in natural fly tying materials, I've done okay with microwaving feathers, no real harm - just be prepared for the cooked chicken (or other bird) smell. Also it helps to do a cleaning with shampoo and a hair conditioner rinse. Above all you want to avoid an infestation - I experienced one about 20 years ago and it was one huge PITA.

Find yourself a copy of Eric Leiser's Fly-Tying Materials: Their Procurement, Use, and Protection.

Mark