Rules of feather collecting

[flyfishingNZ]

Can anyone give me the lowdown on rules about collecting feathers for fly tying. I have been told that it can be illegal for some species.

 

[JohnnyUtah]

You can keep it simple by not collecting any bird of song.( the nice colorful feathers) Also no birds of prey or endangered species. Not all that simple but that sums it up. You can do a Google search for song birds of pa and for the others.

It's rather silly how your not allowed to pick up and keep a loose feather. Lol.

 

[Wulff]

I didn't know you couldn't pick up a feather off of the ground. How can that possibly be a law?

 

[gfen]

Can you shoot it? You can keep its feathers.

If you can't shoot it, you can't pick up loose feathers, either. Why? Because if you're caught, how can it be proven if you shot it and then found it dead, or if it was legit road kill etc.

 

[jdaddy]

gfen wrote:

Can you shoot it? You can keep its feathers.

If you can't shoot it, you can't pick up loose feathers, either. Why? Because if you're caught, how can it be proven if you shot it and then found it dead, or if it was legit road kill etc.

meat v. feathers

????

 

[gfen]

your confusion confuses me.

 

[jayL]

Allowing possession of feathers of protected birds creates market for them. Market for feathers endangers animals.

That's my understanding.

 

[sandfly]

Johnny Utah hit it on the head, also you have to careful if you want to sell them too...some are a no-no unless you have a commercial license..

 

[JohnnyUtah]

Also make sure you have the proper licences for game birds such as turkeys. Be sure there in season.

 

[jdaddy]

jdaddy wrote:

gfen wrote:

Can you shoot it? You can keep its feathers.

If you can't shoot it, you can't pick up loose feathers, either. Why? Because if you're caught, how can it be proven if you shot it and then found it dead, or if it was legit road kill etc.

meat v. feathers

????

Possession of feathers versus possession of a carcass. I guess it is irrelevant given that people could shoot a bird, leave the carcass and harvest the feathers.

What feathers would one want to harvest here in PA that you can't? Unlike Charlie, I know nothing of bird law.

 

[gfen]

jdaddy wrote:
Possession of feathers versus possession of a carcass. I guess it is irrelevant given that people could shoot a bird, leave the carcass and harvest the feathers.

What feathers would one want to harvest here in PA that you can't? Unlike Charlie, I know nothing of bird law.

You can possess neither. That's the point. If you have the feathers, you can claim you plucked from a dead heron you found by the road but who's to say you didn't run it down intentionally. Hence, no product of banned animal, even if you legitimately picked it up.

Birds? Brightly coloured soft feathers from song birds comes immediately to mind. The aforementioned heron. Raptors if you're some sort of crazy Indian spirit questor or something.

 

[brookiesRfun]

One of the rules my wife has made is if one of our chickens attack her I must kill it...I then skin and eat it....And I got a great cape from a rooster that attacked wifey about three weeks ago...His name was Stew. So my rule is if it tries to hurt my wife I will collect a scalp/feathers off of it and eat it

 

[FarmerDave]

If it aint a game bird or if you simply don't know what bird the feather came from, then don't pick it up... or at least don't tell anybody or send one to the first lady or something stupid like that.

link

If the bird is protected, then you can't posses any part of it whether it fell off a live bird at your backyard feeder, or it was a road kill.

 

[plumbob]

I just got off the phone with the fish and wildlife. Found a dead Flicker in the yard, great looking feathers, but its protected under the migratory bird act. Asked if there was some permit you could get to be able to keep it, only if its for some educational program would you be able to get one. The bird is not protected under the Cites list but your not allowed to ship out, bring in to the U.S. without a permit. Now what differance is there between having Flicker feathers over jungle #OOPS# or any of the other exotic feathers a salmon fly might have. Far as I see none, if the Fish and game came into 99.9% of any salmon fly tyers home they could take the whole lot of feathers. Bottom line is the risk of getting caught using the dead birds feathers just aren't worth it. Have to let it go.

 

[Phish_On]

How bout ruffed grouse feathers? My buddy killed a beauty of a female our last trip an I have a bunch of feathers to get rid of. Just didnt want to get in trouble tryin to ship them.

 

[gfen]

Can you legally shoot the grouse? Then you can keep the feathers.

 

[JohnnyUtah]

Gfen, Grouse are currently in season, so with the proper licenses you get two a day.

 

[gfen]

You've missed the point. If you can shoot it, you can have it. All the wringing of hands can be reduced to that simple concept. If in doubt, can you shoot it?

 

[Phish_On]

Alright then, I have some grouse feathers for trade!

 

[RowJimmy]

I could shoot a bald eagle or a hawk.