I know its a stupid question, but I knocked down two turkeys this year. Want to use the feathers for fletchings. Whats the easiest way to remove from the wing without messin em up? Just twist and pull? Cut em out?
Clip them off with a pair of dikes/wire cutters where they attach to the wing.
That's what I do also.
Me too.
I guess that makes sense. No use to worry about the quill or hurting it. Can I use both sets of feathers? Or only the long feathers? I guess you call them secondaries?
Bigcountry. You can use all the feathers, but you do not want to mix them on the same arrow. Primaries LW or RW and secondaries LW or RW. I also use the bottom of the secondaries for my flu flu's.
I just cut some feathers off today. I use side cutters. If you have someone spread out the wing while you snip, it takes no time at all. I have four boxes that I put them in, RW Prim, RW Sec, LW Prim, and LW Sec. I picked up two more sets of wings tonight, and should get another set tomorrow. I plan on making a lot of arrows this year.
I even use some of the smaller wing feathers for primitive arrows. Here is a few pics of a tangential 3 fletch. These happen to be goose feathers but turkey works just as well.
It done correctly this type of fletching is very effective.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch005.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch006.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch007.jpg)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch008.jpg)
Thanks guys. Nice to use all the animal I can.