Best pheasant tail feathers

[LasVegasBill 0]

What are considered the best and most consistent pheasant tails?  My ideal feather ( as I'm sure is true for most) is long with strong lengthy fibers that aren't prone to breaking. I'm not interested much in dyed feathers as I use mostly natural. I tie loads of flies with these and I'd love to get consistent quality.  Price really isn't an obstacle. Thanks in advance.  

[chugbug27 0]

Charlie likes them haggard...

"Not all pheasant tail feathers are created equal. Some have very bushy fibers, like oversized hackle, that create too much bulk on the hook. Some have thin, short fibers that work beautifully for small flies. The feathers that these fibers come from tend to look ratty and ugly, not full and bushy like the pretty feathers you’d like to put in a hat. The ratty ones are the feathers you want to select for your Pheasant Tails. I didn’t say broken, chewed or bent, just thin, as though they came from a bird that didn’t do too well last winter."

[LasVegasBill 0]

Thanks for the reply.  Very interesting. 

On small flies I've been going down on the number of strands rather than using shorter fibers.  I'd never thought of using the thinner fibered tails in this manner.

Always learning.  

[Philly 0]

Other than a couple of dyed tail feathers, most of mine have been donations from friends who hunt.  Last batch came from South Dakota,  when my niece's husband when on a pheasant hunt with some friends.  They've since moved to Vermont.  I owe him a few more PT nymphs.

These nymphs were tied using one of those feathers.  They're  tied on size 18 hooks one on a TMC 2488, the other on a TMC 101

 

[tjm 0]

Center feathers of the tail clump have the longest fibers with both sides of the stem producing good fibers, the other feathers will have shorter and softer fibers. My son in law hunts and I get the tails, the four in the center are the only ones I keep.

[flytire 0]

agree with @tjm

2 center feathers are going to be the longest in fibers

[Sandan 0]

I keep the whole tail clump w/ rump feathers.  Depending on what I'm tying, I'll select a feather. Also depends on how good the pheasant hunting is at the farm in Kansas.  For knotted legs the longer the better.

[Meeshka 0]

As an avid pheasant hunter I keep lots of my quarry feathers - and they do vary in quality and size.  The longest most developed tail feathers I've ever seen were almost 3 feet in lenght and that specimen is mounted in my buddies basement.  And thats only once in over 40 years.  The reason I keep a lot available is you can pretty much find a use for even poorer quaility feathers on smaller nymphs etc.  Another part of the problem might be the mail order market.  Where there used to be a number of ma nad pa fly shops in my area they are now extremely limited and most of my supplies are from mail order and the descretion of the person filling the order.  Just a thought.

[Sandan 0]

9 minutes ago, Meeshka said:

As an avid pheasant hunter I keep lots of my quarry feathers - and they do vary in quality and size.  The longest most developed tail feathers I've ever seen were almost 3 feet in lenght and that specimen is mounted in my buddies basement.  And thats only once in over 40 years.  The reason I keep a lot available is you can pretty much find a use for even poorer quaility feathers on smaller nymphs etc.  Another part of the problem might be the mail order market.  Where there used to be a number of ma nad pa fly shops in my area they are now extremely limited and most of my supplies are from mail order and the descretion of the person filling the order.  Just a thought.

3' wow, what a rooster that had to be.  I love going after the pheas.

[Meeshka 0]

From last weekend.

[Sandan 0]

8 minutes ago, Meeshka said:

From last weekend.

Nice going. Where was that? Our CO and KS seasons open on the 14th of November -> 31 January.  

[Meeshka 0]

Southern Alberta.  I'm blessed that a friend owns a pheasant farm so these are farmed birds.  The wild bird season didn't open until the 15th.  Just gives us and our dogs a chance to warm up

[Fatman 0]

All skinned out  and treated right there's 1000's of feathers for tying right there!!