Nice to have Hunter friends !!

[ggmiller 0]

I just got a bunch of pheasant and turkey feathers from my nice and her husband which I'm turning into flies for them to use in the spring. I used to do a bit of hunting and always kept the feathers from the pheasants and grouse we knocked over once I started fly tying. I still have a couple of squirrel tails that I cured for tying. What I liked to see next time I go squirrel hunting is a black squirrel. They're becoming more common in the city and the suburbs, where I can't hunt them but I've yet to see one in the wild.

Philly - what do you use to cure squirrel tails?

thanks! George

[GG34 0]

Where do y'all live? I'm in Georgia and have never found a big in any natural materials. Are you taking about store bought stuff or mainly harvested materials? Just wondering if I need to store differently?

[Mark Knapp 0]

Where do y'all live? I'm in Georgia and have never found a big in any natural materials. Are you taking about store bought stuff or mainly harvested materials? Just wondering if I need to store differently?

 

I get bugs in all my stuff but I buy antler and horn and cut the stuff up so I'm engaging in risky behavior. I've got worse trouble than most.

[tjm 0]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tineola_bisselliella

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attagenus_pellio

https://slowyarn.com/wool-moths/

http://www.bowsite.com/bowsite/features/articles/bugs/

https://homequicks.com/bugs-that-eat-clothes

https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-control-clothes-eating-insects-2145853

 

It doesn't matter much where you live some of these are probably next door. I find Borax about the most me friendly preventive around the house and shop; my fur shed has borax in several places and the furs all interact with borax to some extent.

I believe that most of the furs and feathers traded in the fly tying world have been treated with some kind "bug chemical" at some point after leaving the animal. A borax wash perhaps. But I do not know that and the golden pheasant skin that I almost lost is proof that not all skins are treated.

 

It is Not the bugs that are on the live animals that cause problems with stored furs, it is bugs that are in or get into the storage area, and not really those bugs but their larvae- bug babies- that eat not the fur or the feather, but the keratin base of the fur or feather and the resulting smell/stink is only nasty after you get over the loss.