Author Topic: Anyone ever use owl feathers?  (Read 16807 times)

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Offline dueb

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Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« on: November 08, 2014, 12:33:20 pm »
Owls have a special adaptation on their feathers that allow them to fly silently. If we can use these feathers as fletchings I wonder if it would make the arrows quieter and help to avoid spooking game, just a thought. Also I was wondering if this is the right board for this?

Here is a link to the site that gave me the idea. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/birds/owl-fly-silently1.htm
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it: Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Grasshopper Mouse

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2014, 12:37:16 pm »
You're cracking the lid on a big can of worms.
Owl feathers, and feathers of the other predatory birds, are very illegal to use for fletching.

Guy

Offline dueb

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2014, 12:47:20 pm »
Really? why are they illegal? Is it because they are illegal to hunt?
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it: Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Offline Chad

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2014, 01:01:12 pm »
Really? why are they illegal? Is it because they are illegal to hunt?


Absolutely, if you get caught with them you can't prove you didn't kill it. You could get in trouble for having a hawk (or any predatory bird) feather in your hat. 

Offline dueb

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2014, 01:07:20 pm »
Good to know, Thank you. I guess that wraps this thread up...
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it: Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Offline tlow13

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2014, 01:35:42 pm »
I wonder if maybe you could try creating a serrated edge on whatever feathers you normally would use for fletching, since that seems to be the main reason why owl feathers are silent.

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2014, 02:37:59 pm »
Unless you left the feathers full width, you would have absolutely no advantage in silencing the fletching.  And at that point you are now adding a great amount of drag.  This is just assuming you were so stupid as to think you could talk your way out of Federal charges.   >:D  Who needs that kind of stress in their lives?

Better yet, learn to tune your arrows to the bow.  If you can reach that near perfect balance between spine, length, and mass of the arrows, all you need is the tiniest amount of fletch to impart spin....and consequently, have silent arrows!
Guns have triggers. Bicycles have wheels. Trees and bows have wooden limbs.

Offline mullet

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2014, 10:26:20 pm »
Every time I see one of these Post, and there have been a few in the last year, the first thing that comes to mind is the Fed's monitoring conversations on here.
Lakeland, Florida
 If you have to pull the trigger, is it really archery?

Grasshopper Mouse

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #8 on: November 09, 2014, 12:34:32 am »
See?
Worms, big can thereof.

:-)

Guy

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #9 on: November 09, 2014, 01:41:15 am »
I started out with nothin' and I still got most of it left

Offline Buck67

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #10 on: November 10, 2014, 09:33:17 am »
I spent some time on the beach in Florida.  There were a lot of Pelican feathers at the high tide line.  I briefly considered gathering up a handful and using them to fletch some arrows.  Before I did I checked the laws.  The law explicitly states that possession of a protected bird feather is punishable by law.  Doesn't matter how you got the feather, just that you have it.  I did a little more checking.  The law was passed by Teddy Roosevelt.  At that time, whole species of birds, Sand Hill Crane, Whooping Crane, Great Blue Heron, White Egret were being wiped out by feather hunters for ladies hats.  Seems that the best feathers were on breeding birds, so they were shooting them wholesale and they didn't have any chance to reproduce.  So the law was written to keep ladies from buying hats with feathers.  Who wants a hat that can send you to jail.

As the law reads, you can possess the feathers of anything that you can legally hunt.  I think you can possess feathers of invasive species (Starlings), but I'd check on that as well.  Other than that it is all bad.

A friend of mine picked up a Blue Jay feather and put it in her hat.  She was at an event and a Conservation Officer saw the feather.  She got a $135 fine for having the feather.

So bottom line, Owl Feather Bad, Turkey feather good.

Offline Parnell

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2014, 10:43:35 am »
I can't tell you how many beautiful feathers go to waste down here in S. FL.  If you drive out to Immokalee there are always dead vultures, hawks and wading birds with the most beautiful feathers near the Blair Audobon Sanctuary, (worth checking out if you are ever down here).  It's bowling for birds by the cars on that road.

Waste is a shame but better than the alternative.
1’—>1’

Offline Pat B

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2014, 12:57:07 pm »
They are not wasted, Steve. Lots of microscopic critters eat them. ;) The shame is the cars hitting them.
Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes!    Pat Brennan  Brevard, NC

Offline Parnell

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #13 on: November 10, 2014, 04:30:33 pm »
They are not wasted, Steve. Lots of microscopic critters eat them. ;) The shame is the cars hitting them.

Agreed. :)
1’—>1’

Offline dueb

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Re: Anyone ever use owl feathers?
« Reply #14 on: November 10, 2014, 08:39:27 pm »
Thanks for the info Buck!  ;)
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a little above it: Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.
― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow