Turkey feathers, or any feathers at that

[shawnhu]

Hi guys. Was wondering if any of you bird hunters have some extra feathers left over from your harvest? Was looking into making some fletchings out of them. Please let me know, I'm an aspiring archer.

Thanks.

[Jennifer]

You need flight feathers right? Forgive my ignorance, I've never made fletchings.

[shawnhu]

You need flight feathers right? Forgive my ignorance, I've never made fletchings.

Me either, but YouTube says flight feathers are better. Beggars can't be choosers, so any that's not wanted I'll take and make the best out of them until I can figure out what's what.

[Jennifer]

Me either, but YouTube says flight feathers are better. Beggars can't be choosers, so any that's not wanted I'll take and make the best out of them until I can figure out what's what.

I've worked with feathers very often (though not for fletching) and I am fairly confident you might have a hard time with anything other than flight feathers-- tails and such are very soft, and don't have the right 'zip' and spring to them. I imagine that having part of the fletching collapse while shooting could cause the arrow to fly awry!

Anyhow if I take a turkey this fall the flights are yours. If you need some before then, try eBay believe it or not. Most guys don't keep the wings and you will find turkey wings popping up this time of year, and also in the spring, for pretty cheap prices. Turkey feathers are legal to sell and trade, in case you were nervous about that.

[shawnhu]

Thanks Jennifer! It can wait, this is for my recurve, and it's just come out of the closet after 15 years.