Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Dakota Kid on May 07, 2015, 11:17:36 pm
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Anyone had success with them. I'm worried they're not heavy enough. In the first week of July, I can grab a few hundred wings if I want. Didn't know if it was worth the effort.
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I have used what I thought was crow and they worked. From what I recall they were a good deal less stiff than, say, goose feathers and so could get folded down pretty easily so they need a little more care to stay pretty, so they are certainly not in my top set of choices. But if it is a look you are going for, or if you are that feather rich, give it a try and see what you think.
SOM
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Where can you grab hundreds of wings? I would be interested to trade for a couple three dozen or so, depending. Not as durable as others, but if cut low and long, they mKe a nice fletch, imo. Russ.
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Anyone had success with them. I'm worried they're not heavy enough. In the first week of July, I can grab a few hundred wings if I want. Didn't know if it was worth the effort.
Are you a killer of crows? Mmmm, I think that might be a sin. >:D
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I've heard of a murder of crows...that is what a group of them is called. ;)
You can do a tangential fletch using smaller feathers. works well.
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch006.jpg) (http://s5.photobucket.com/user/PatBNC/media/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch006.jpg.html)
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch007.jpg) (http://s5.photobucket.com/user/PatBNC/media/primitive%20archer/tangential3fletch007.jpg.html)
the one on the right is done that way...
(http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y199/PatBNC/primitive%20archer/BWandsourwoodarrowsfor2011elkhunt002.jpg) (http://s5.photobucket.com/user/PatBNC/media/primitive%20archer/BWandsourwoodarrowsfor2011elkhunt002.jpg.html)
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My state has a annual crow hunting competition. I was state champ partnered with my father in 1995. I have since retired from killing crows. It turns out that is one of my totem animals and I have no business killing them. I also quit killing for sport around the same time. All of the crows killed in the one day event are bulldozed into a big hole at the end of the day. I try to find as many people as I can that want wings, tails or whole birds before they bury them. I don't participate in the event anymore and it's quite a sad waste of an extremely intelligent creature. The intelligence makes the hunting challenging, but I only kill for food, fur and leather at this point. I still enjoy calling them in but I prefer to watch them fly away after.
I'll post on the trade board after the event if I end up with an excess, which is likely.
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Dakota Kid,
I really admire your attitude!
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Thank you. I usually hear the opposite :laugh:.
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Dakota Kid,
I really admire your attitude!
X2
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I have used crow wing feathers before with good success. Not as good as turkey or goose but makes an interesting fletch.
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At least crows are good for something , last year there were a couple in the hood so I opened the patio door and kept shooting off the cap gun >:D after 3-4 days of that they finally got the hint and left it was hilarious. :) >:D ;)
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I really recommend watching the PBS Nature episode A Murder of Crows. I think it's free to stream on the website(PBS). They have the ability to pass on descriptions of potential threats to their offspring using a basic "language". A professor of ornithology created a fairly elaborate experiment to determine this. They are just beginning to study this. The "language" differs from region to region and even from family group to family group. A murder of crows are typically all related.
The also tested higher than any primate(human's excluded) in puzzle solving. They were able to solve a puzzle to obtain a "tool" that allowed them to reach a different "tool" that was needed to reach the food. So far only larger brained birds are the only animals that have the ability to see more than two moves ahead.
The whole show was full of amazing examples of how clever they are.
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Crow primaries are usually large enough to work. You can fletch 3 arrows with a pair of wings. We can't use crows here (TX) but not all states protect crows in the same way.
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Crow primaries are usually large enough to work. You can fletch 3 arrows with a pair of wings. We can't use crows here (TX) but not all states protect crows in the same way.
Why does Texas protest Crows, heck in BC years ago they would give you .50 cents for every wing from a crow. Just like wolves they slaughtered them by the thousands years ago.
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Sarah Mclachlan had a commercial about wolves, that's why they stopped.
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The only birds NOT protected here are European starlings, pigeons, Eurasian collared doves, English sparrows, and maybe a few other invasive species.
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I bumped this thread because today was the day of the shoot. I grabbed several dozen whole wings, two whole birds and a dozed feet. I'll be putting some up on the trade page as soon as they been treated for mites, salted, and dried.
I'll throw up some pics of the arrows I plan to make as soon as they're finished.
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You shouldn't have to salt feathers.
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I usually just salt the end of the cut wing. It's an old habit.
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I try to remove the feathers from the wings to eliminate the possibility of damaging the feathers. A pair of side cutters makes short work out of removing the feathers. Salting the meat will help preserve them but salt also attracts moisture this time of the year so that can e a problem.
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Just a note on the Lacey Act. It is illegal to sell, barter, or trade migratory birds of any species, regardless of how they were collected. It's a federal statute. And while he does not post, we do have an investigator for the USF&W that lurks on this site from time to time.
You can, however, make a gift of these parts when legally obtained, just so long as there is no expectation of any benefit or reimbursement.
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I've heard of a murder of crows...that is what a group of them is called. ;)
You can do a tangential fletch using smaller feathers. works well.
(http://i.imgur.com/xW3Pd.jpg)
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I get that meme sent to me once a week. Still love it! Puns and birds.
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There was a deal on the news a while ago about crows dive bombing people, they are protecting their nests. I have a few old crow feathers I will use for Flu-flus.
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I have used raven primaries with very cool results, very nice medicine arrows. Wish I had a stash of them.
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A murder of crows, a rafter of turkeys a gaggle of geese, I wonder who came up with these. But who ever did, must have not cared for our political environment, at the time, and it is even more appropriate now, as the name for a group of Baboons is called a congress! ;)
Wayne
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Well at least that one makes sense.
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Just a note on the Lacey Act. It is illegal to sell, barter, or trade migratory birds of any species, regardless of how they were collected. It's a federal statute. And while he does not post, we do have an investigator for the USF&W that lurks on this site from time to time.
You can, however, make a gift of these parts when legally obtained, just so long as there is no expectation of any benefit or reimbursement.
I actually was aware, but figured I didn't need to go into all that before I put them up. Thank you though, it's appreciated. I'm used to that kind of thing. In PA, that's the way it is for all fish and game species. The only things that can be sold that I'm aware of are furs with the proper permits, snapping turtle with permit, and some non-native (invasive) species. They even send under cover WCO's out and they attempt to buy fish on occasion. Every once in a while someone who is unaware or new to the state will run an ad on craigslist or in the paper offering lake erie perch or walleye. The following day there's a story about the man who got arrested selling fish.
If I ever offer anything that I've harvested in PA it will have to be for free. If it wasn't from PA I will be sure to make that known. I was just happy to save from perfectly good feathers from rotting in the dirt. If anyone will put them to good use it's definitely a bunch of archers.
Pat: Some friends of mine prefer whole wings, so I dry the whole wing fully extended. After I pick out the nicest looking wings, I'll pluck the ones intended for fletchings. The whole dried wings make nice smudge fans for sage burning. I took two wings and a tail and attached them to a found deer skull. The skull was very old, bleached out and mossy. It hung like a regular skull mount with the wings coming from behind the eye socket area and the tail down by the nose. The size of a deer skull is about the size of a crow body, so it had a neat effect and seemed to just fit. Unfortunately I gifted it or I'd post a pic.