Just a nota that Herbie and I are picking up goose feathers. He's in Michigan, while I'm in Minnesota. The birds are dropping them, so be on the lookout. Canada goose feathers are very waterproof and look great! Check around city parks and ponds.

Joe

Hi TEAM? Might need to check and see if there are any regs that people need to pay attention to about picking up the feathers. GOOD LUCK!

Make sure you wash your hands afterwards, Frisky. Geese like most birds carry diseases. E coli and salmonella just to name two.

It sounds important to disinfect them.

wikihow.com/Clean-a-Feather

daragallery.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/sanitizing-feathers-for-crafts/

From Gregg Losinski, Regional Conservation Educator, Idaho Fish and Game, December of 2016:

If it is a hunted species or not protected, then you are okay to keep it (feather). If it is illegal to hunt, like an owl, hawk, or eagle; then the answer is that you can’t keep any part of the bird, even a single feather.

I just leave any dirty ones and set the ones I take home in the hot sun for a few days. Just take basic precautions with them. I don't worry about laws. Laws? What laws? We don't need no stinkin' laws!

Gold Hat

We are creating a generation that is afraid of everything, including goose feathers. I've been picking up bird feathers for over 60 years and carrying them home. Sometimes I'll stick on in my back quiver or otherwise drag them home for some use. I've picked pheasants, wild turkeys, grouse, and just about any wild critter clothes out there. I've collected wild turkey feathers from other hunters to use for arrows. A healthy immune system comes from bits and bits of exposure, not hiding and sanitizing every time you touch something. Yumpin Yimminy. And yes I know, I've just been lucky all those years.

Agreed George! All these people who are afraid of their shadows need to be tarred, feathered and publicly ridiculed.

Joe

just a bunch of p ssy's.

Go out like real men Joe and shoot your geese. Oh I forgot your used to drive byes now ya drive by parts and pick them up. LOL

If it is illegal to hunt, like an owl, hawk, or eagle; then the answer is that you can’t keep any part of the bird, even a single feather.

Isn't it legal for an American Indian? I can buy some from chief who don't care for fake news. LOL

Turkey Vulture feathers are real nice too. I seen them laid out on road.

Hopefully you washed your hand after picking up those feathers, George. But if not more power to you. Diseases birds carry are nasty and have very bad effects on your body. Bird body temperature is high allowing germs to multiply. But it is your health, so do what you want.

Oh no Glenn, say it ain't so. I bet they are "dropping feathers" when his grill busts them in their grill...

I was always told to freeze and then store in Borax. Good, bad or ? I was told Borax would kill bugs that ate the feathers.

RonL

Easier than hitting them with your car, I guess.

Frisky and and George use bird feathers to pick their teeth! They aren't skewred of any silly bird germs.

Yes, birds carry germs, and Mammas have been saying "Go wash your hands!" for years and years. I can't help but feel that the number of people who have gotten sick from picking up a feather is akin to the odds of getting struck by lightning - TWICE.

If you work daily with birds in a bird factory, I can see the need for concern.

Beaver fever cures constipation

Been eating those birds for at least 60 years, don't know how I survived!

"Beaver fever cures constipation " now that there is funny.

What about my eagle feathers?

RonL borax is excellent for protecting feathers and fur from things that eat them. Rub borax through the hair on your deer mounts etc., and then brush or vacuum off the excess every year or so. I buy a lot of it as it's also flux for forge welding steel. JayInOz

Dirt Vaccination

You guys worry about germs on a bird, you haven't looked at humans very close, they carry all kinds of bacteria.....Ha!Ha!

I have my own geese so I don't need to go searching, we have had geese for 15 years now and we pick them up and handle them every day without a problem, as someone said wash your hands afterward. You get more germs opening the door on the bathroom stall than any goose. Just carry some of that sanitizer with you until you can wash your hands.

one of our geese has molted and another has just started.

This thread sux now if we have to worry about dirty feathers. I have a slew of them here in bags and all I did was cut them off my wings on both Canadians and snow gooses. Now your making me more of a hyper Condillac trying to figure out this autoimmune.

Dogs paws and fish bacteria's. We are all going to die. LOL

Can't wait to.LOL

Some of you folks need to check some research that was done just a few years ago and reported on by several networks. A national survey found the kids that were most healthy, between the ages of 6 and 18 were Amish kids. They had less issues with the flu, or other bacterial infections than any other sector of the population.

Our immune system isn't perfect of course, but normally it needs to be allowed to strengthen it's defenses. That's why the Amish have less issues than other kids. Go figure.

Same group of guys that messed up a perfectly good thread of my 11 year old daughter shooting from a low hung stand that was part of her playground equipment.

Its amazing how any of us survived our own childhood and became productive adults. Maybe all the crow and goose feathers I collected and put in my hair to okay Indian were cleaner back then? Lol

Primitive peoples all over the world had actual serious pathogens. The problems arose when cultures were exposed to pathogens, viruses, for the first time - usually en mass, with exploration and colonization.

Marco Polo? He didn't depopulate Cathay. Native Americans in the Viking age, 500 years before Columbus? Canada wasn't depopulated, either.

The Amish may keep to themselves, in social terms but, they circulate with "outsiders" in many ways. They are not reclusive, or completely isolated.

Just saw a line about 150 wide! Still going north. About as high as a low cloud.

To high for the bow, to low for the shotgun!

I'm pretty sure when I had the heart valve done my immune system took a really big hit and it got weak then along came who the Hec's knows and took me from behind.

So much for wearing a union suit could be to exposed. Can't take the chance.

The Amish grow all their own and control what they eat. Don't see many fat Amish but the the Mennonites are different they eat and do what they want.

I had a couple claims on Amish buggys in Lancaster do you know the Amish have their own carriage body shops. That was really interesting. Plus when I have a claim on any of their trucks and its at their house they usually give me some produce and sometimes canned things. I love going out there when I do.

They have the eating and living part down for sure.

Same mental issues Dan as everywhere else. What about Lancaster Leroy the roofer. Now that dude is touched in the head I think. LOL Made money on TV then the program series got canned.

Amish is not my idea of an example to follow. They don't use guards on most of their machinery. Alot of missing fingers. I drove Amish for about 6 months and alot of them got sick. They just work though it. Now working in a hospital I see Amish almost every day. I wouldn't say they were healthier or less so.

I’m with George Stout and George Carlin. Has worked for me for 65 years now. I’m sure my luck will run out someday, but I haven’t lived in fear the last 65 years, and have managed to stay healthy all these years. A little dirt, and a few germs just keep your immune system working like it was meant to.

Goose feathers are the only thing they drop, they Sh## on average every 12 minutes.lol

I've never seen anyone drink more beer thsn the Amish. Saw them sleep on their beer at the Baltimore shoot years ago. Didn't want it stolen. They are not who you think they are. Lol

Seems degenerates have degenerated my thread! Anyway, the molt is on here, as I found 2 primaries and 3 secondaries today.

Joe

Guess I'll enter the fray.

I read a long time ago that putting a feather in the microwave on high for a minute will kill anything on it.

When I find one I want, I just stick it in my pocket and nuke it (when my wife isn't around) and so far, no issues.

Although, like the others, as kids we picked up bird feathers pretty consistently with no issues.

We did crazy things like drink out of hoses and play in the garden dirt, too.

Rode home from the five and dime store with .79 cent arrows on our bikes, as well. Maybe that wasn't too smart.

Never thought of looking for goose feathers but will check it out. Being asplenic I have a compromised immune system so will keep some of these comments in mind.

The town my VT cabin is in has become an attraction for the Amish. Available fields and farmland and no building code may have a lot to do with it. There are six homesteads I know of in town with one on my road three houses down - about 1/2 a country mile. The buggies go by all the time and its interesting seeing them work the fields the old way. Use no modern equipment unless it's an excavator, LOL! They home school so that prevents a lot of germ transmission but heard they just opened their own school. They sell goods directly to the public and do carpentry type work in the surrounding communities so are not as isolated as some may think. I used to say going up to the cabin was like going back 50yrs to the good old days but guess I can add to that now.

Omg you drank out of a hose?

Take a plane down to gulf and pick up those feathers they should have some extra oil on them. LOL

We used to drink out of hoses all the times as well as the water fountain but did get something that mother had to put purple stuff inside our mouths a few times . LOL

Beside my mouth should have remained clean from having soap stuffed in it so many times growing up. LOL

Me too Ryman cat. Had my a$$ blistered a few times by my mom. Now I could have her arrested for it. Lol

Six more primaries this evening....

I haven't looked for Goose feathers around here, but where I hunt, I pick up every turkey wing feather I find. I stick them in a thing on my visor in my truck. Planning on sending a batch to Styxx soon.

There are a bunch of geese around here that hang around the neighborhood ponds. Maybe I'll look around a bit and see what I can find.

Here's a question for you Goose feather guys - can you dye them?

I don't think so. They're too dark.

Do you combine them with any other feathers, or just use 3 dark goose feathers?

Strange experiences with Amish folk it seems. And must be kind of a regional thing. When I was working in Ohio I became pretty good friends with the Amish family that owned the big Amish store on hwy. 32 near Peebles. Fine folks. Bathed and brushed their teeth just like everyone does. Wore clean clothes. Well mannered and all that stuff. Used to travel with a farrier buddy of mine who shod most of their horse in that part of the country. Mostly the same experience with the folks that he did business with. There were some exceptions, but isn't that the case with all groups of people?

freeze them for a week. Take them out for a week and then put them back in the freezer until ready for use.

I rarely combine them. On occasion, I'll do two goose and one wild turkey fetch on shafts or two turkey and one goose.

Frank, that's pretty much been my experience too.

Here is the combo that I use with goose feathers.

Funny how that works huh Paul?

Those are gorgeous arrows Jon.

Yea not all of them are bad. Same with any group I suppose. Good ones and bad ones.

When a young gent in high school I use to clean out the chicken barn, 10,000, with about 2 ft. of chicken crap without any respirator or mask. Spit out and cough up chicken crap dust for a week afterwards and then the Dr told me not to smoke when getting a physical for football. Literally a crap job with crap pay, but $2 would make a good weekend.

Knew a person that got a ticket for picking up a eagle feather by an CO, was told to tell it to the judge.

Just started to open a new pack of Trueflight feathers and on the package there is a label: CERTIFIED By the U.S. Government NO: { Hazardous viruses,inc Bird Flu { Disease {Bugs {Insects,Larva or Eggs

Who would thought it would be USDA approved.

Full molt now! I have 68 good ones.

Joe

Got 12 of the best feathers of the year! That brings me to 80. I usually get around 85, but I was picky this year and only took the best or I could have had way over 100. I have to process them, get a video of it, and finish my video on how Stone Age people actually made arrows. You'll like the video. It will be poorly produced. My photo tutorials are better, but a video shows the process being done, so it will add clarity to the process.

Joe

Thirteen more beauties this afternoon on my bike ride...and I thought they were all done.

I got about 90 plus, but I rejected lesser feathers. Yesterday, out biking, I saw 3 beauties but didn't go back for them. Glad you're still picking them up Herbie!

Joe

Who's going to shoot the arrows you make? Or are they just to make people think you know what you are doing?

That is the trouble with this country. They arrest someone for picking up a feather. Unbelievable.

Tell the truth Joe you go to the parks and when no one is looking you start up the truck and drive over a few. LOL

On a more serious note. I was told that it is illegal to possess feathers from wild birds, unless those birds were taken legally and in season. I call such laws kind of namby pamby. In any case, the game warden that told me that was not 100% sure himself. He caught me collecting turkey feathers where there was a flock of over 100 turkeys were roosting every night. By the way, that entire flock got a thing called black head disease and died off.

B arthur- You must be asking Herbie? Nobody would dare to question my abilities.

Picking them up is probably illegal, but I'm above the law. I make the laws around here!

Gold Hat

The game warden that caught me picking up turkey feathers, thought it was a pointless law and helped me spot a few more fresh ones. I would bet no one anywhere within 300 miles of Rochester, Mn cares what happens to goose feathers. Dang things use to be a water fowl trophy, now they are a pain in the butt, they are everywhere like english sparrows and starlings. Use to get a nickel for a dead starling.

Do you prefer right wing or left wing? Does it still work if they get wet or are dropped in water? i know where there are a bunch floating in an impoundment.

Don't any of you wash your feathers before your dying anyways.

Problem is Joe might not know which side he picked up? Just wondering? LOL

All we know is we could get flesh eating bacteria?

As far as getting wet is concerned, Canada honker feathers are very water-resistant.

My mother used to order 8 loaves of bread and 4 cherry pies from the Amish Lady who lived a few miles from our cabin in northern Michigan every time she went up north.

She would stop at the Amish ladies house on Friday afternoon and put her order in and pay for the goods and pick them up Sunday evening on her way home.

She would distribute the goods to her lady friends when she got back home and they would all beg for more.

One day we swung by the Amish place early to see if we could pick up our Bread as we were going to leave for home early to beat the traffic.

When my mother knocked on the door the lady opened the door and there were two little barefoot Amish kids dancing up and down in a big old galvanized wash tub.

When my mother asked if the bread was ready the lady said not yet but the children are just about finished kneading the dough.

I will never forget the look on my mother face as we got back into the car. I asked her if we were going to wait for the bread and she shouted, "WE WILL NEVER EAT BREAD FROM THEIR AGAIN." I figured it was a good time to tell her I had seen the Amish lady loading several gallon cans of cherry pie filling from the local Glens grocery store into her buggy a year earlier but never said anything because I enjoyed eating the pies.

I still buy bread and pies from the Amish and I still laugh out loud every time I think of my mothers face as she walked down off that porch with those kids dancing a jig on the bread dough in the wash tub behind her. Good Day

Lol Friskey

D31- I take your post to mean you're not afraid of a few germs, lol!

Joe

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