Using some dove feathers...Need some advice on killing bugs...

[Ty Flyer 0]

If you're gonna buy stuff to do the job, may as well just buy the feathers :-)

But then there's a kind of satisfaction in using fur or feathers from a critter that you killed, rather than bought at a store or online.

[Ed Gallop 0]

I think the flea collars are designed more as a repellant. The stuff I put on our dog with a drop on the skin behind the neck gets into the blood stream and repells ticks and fleas. If a repellant, you may make the larvae's life miserable. What is wrong with simply drying out any larvae with Borax? It works. People with roaches in their home have great success with Borax. Roach killing products use it.They track it back on their feet to their nesting area to do more damage. It alone works. No freezers or chemicals.

[mikechell 0]

I think the flea collars are designed more as a repellant. (TRUE)

The stuff I put on our dog with a drop on the skin behind the neck gets into the blood stream and repells ticks and fleas. (Not True ... they do kill the bugs.)

What is wrong with simply drying out any larvae with Borax? (Nothing is wrong with this ... but people always look for "new wheels")

I've only tried raccoon tails myself. I still have three of them in the freezer. The first one I did, I tried to skin it off the muscle and bone and now I've got this dried up folded lump of flesh. I put the lump in a plastic jar with kitty litter for a few weeks and it's been bug free and usable ever since, but some of the hair is inaccessable due to the folding. I am wondering if I can Borax the whole tail? Will it dry out all the "innards" of the tail? If not, how does one make a proper "coon tail"?

[FlaFly 0]

Ed

what brought up all this discussion of poisons/repellants was my question as to whether freezing killed the bugs but didn't kill their eggs.

Sorry I asked.

[agn54 0]

I use a lot of buck tails my in-laws get while hunting. I freeze them sometimes for several weeks but my main reason for doing so is to keep them fresh until I get around to de-boning them. I am pretty sure this freezing process kills all the bugs in the process since I have never had an infestation problem. I am also using Florida Whitetail so the bugs we have are, like most of us natives, not cut out for the cold. After de-boning and scraping them, I salt them with Kosher salt for a few weeks and then wash them in a mixture of bleach, water, and Oxi Clean which really helps soften the hairs. I don't know about birds but imagine the same process would work, or just use borax as others have said

[corney 0]

Wondering, could you put the skin in a zip lock bag and seal it almost up. Then give a shot of Raid into the bag and finish sealing up. Let it set in there for a day or so. Think that would work?

That stuff stinks and I am not sure it won't keep the fish away from the bugs you tie?

[foambug 0]

Jus a humble oppion here - I use 20 mule team borax on all my feather ( eagle , hawk , fly tying) yes I have eagle - am Indian - anyways I use the 20 mule team borax 1, the smell is better 2, it's easier to clean up - at the wing I pack it in tight where the wing is cut off " bloody stump" an then dust the rest of wing - I have never had a problem it's worth a shot also find the dryest spot in house or storage area so that the wing dries - that's jus my experience - oh works good on turkey too

[Ed Gallop 0]

Why are you sorry you asked? Don't be. This has been a good educational thread and I never meant to offend anyone. Written words can be taken out of context though. Freezing doesn't kill eggs but the larvae will die when hatching starts if quarantined with borax or salt during the cycle.

 

I have skinned many tails and it is tough to impossible to remove all the meat. I remove what I can by cutting far enough to get the bone out if possible. Then I put in a plastic container with borax for a year or so for meaty tails and change the borax every couple months. The meat left will eventually dry out like cardboard. If it doesn't, the hair will eventually fall out. So will feathers, but a dove is thinned skinned and easily dries.

[sandflyx 0]

Borax for feathers salt for mammals. that easy !

[okbow68 0]

For coon tails and such, it works for deer tails too. Do a search for a trapper's tail stripper. Plastic and just a couple of dollars. If you split the skin far enough towards the tip of the tail this tool will strip the the tail bone and flesh out slick as a whistle. However to cure the tail skin with salt or whatever a small knife should be used to split the now hollow tail skin all the way to the tip end, then pack with salt, borax, or whatever. Leave no flesh or fat on the skin.

[Ed Gallop 0]

I trapped muskrats when a kid but left the skinning to the guy that bought them from me. I watched him use a large ice pick for a good straight tail cut on various animals. Ice picks were a common tool because many people didn't have refrigerators and bought ice blocks for their ice boxes. We were fortunate to have one and a chest freezer where I kept the muskrats.

[Al Beatty 0]

After receiving a pelt from a source outside our home, we ALWAYS freeze it for a couple of weeks. Then take it out of the freezer and let it thaw. After about 5 days put it in a microwave for about 30 seconds then freeze it again for a couple of weeks. After thawing it out a second time we put it in a zip-lock bag in a Rubber Maid box with a "no smell" moth unit inside (the kind you hang in a clothes closet). The freeze thaw process isn't so much to kill the bugs from the cold (but it does in some cases) but it is to simulate winter/spring in the bugs life so the eggs start to grow/hatch after the first freeze thaw. The microwave does in most eggs starting to hatch and the last freeze is "just because!" <G> Take care & ...

[Ol'Nog 0]

I nuke wild feathers in the microwave, 1 minute does the trick. No hassles with bugs after that, kills bug eggs too.

[WWKimba 0]

Not to pick but the last post on this thread was eight years ago.  Just an FYI, not a complaint!  I'd NEVER want to stifle anyone that could give advise that I could use!

Kim

[niveker 0]

3 hours ago, Ol'Nog said:

I nuke wild feathers in the microwave, 1 minute does the trick. No hassles with bugs after that, kills bug eggs too.

Doesn't that stink up the joint?