My boss shot a pheasant

[Davmul]

My boss was on a hunting trip a few weeks back and bagged a pheasant. Before the trip I jokingly asked him to bring me back a few tails abd today he brought some really nice tail feathers into work. Now what? I have them in a ziplock now, should I store them in for a certain period to kill off the nasties? Drop a mothball in there?

Thanks.

 

[buffalo7]

I just pull each fether out of the tail put them in a plastic grocery bag and put them in my tying desk drawer. I always keep mothballs where I store my materials

 

[Davmul]

Thanks

 

[flyfishermanj]

Some people will let them sit in a freezer before storing with your other materials also. Not many nasty's survive a good freezing.

JH

 

[MKern]

I just lay my tails on my desk.

If they are plucked clean they will be fine. If you are unsure trim the bottom part of the quill off.

Birds keep their feathers pretty clean; especially the ones they like to show off for dominance and mating.

The reason I don't store mine in ziploc bags is because they are too long. I guess I could cut them in half, but where's the fun in that.


I actually refuse birds that were shot for two reasons: first, I have enough and second, I've never been given any real good feathers. My uncle raises pheasants as a hobby and then sells them. If one dies, I get it's tails.

 

[wsender]

flyfishermanj wrote:
Some people will let them sit in a freezer before storing with your other materials also. Not many nasty's survive a good freezing.

JH

I've heard similar. I heard that you're suppose to freeze it for 2 weeks, take it out and let it thaw for 3-7 days to allow any critters to hatch, and then refreeze for 1-2 weeks to kill those critters.

Don't know if it's true or now, but I can't see it hurting.

Also, probably a wash in a warm/hot mildly unscented-soapy water would do the job too. Not too much survives soap.