Prepping grouse feathers for tying (new hunter)

Finn

Finn

Steelhead
Hi folks,

My buddies and I are planning on giving grouse hunting a go this fall season. Should we be successful, I would like to add some grouse feathers to my tying material collection. I've done some research, and I'm now familiar with the freezing/borax process for curing/drying the skin. Where I'm not so confident is the skinning process. Where do I cut? What portions of the bird are worth saving for tying? Should I skip the skinning process and just pluck some feathers into a ziploc? Given that we're on a flyfishing forum, I'm hoping some of you may have some experience with this subject.

Thanks for any help you can offer.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
As a taxidermist in my high school and college days it is a simple skinning job. Slice throat to asshole along the breast. Peel away the skin carefully to remove from carcass. Clip off legs and wings without takeing too many feathers from the pelt. Lay flat and try to remove any fat from the skin. Dry and cure.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mike Cline said:
As a taxidermist in my high school and college days it is a simple skinning job. Slice throat to asshole along the breast. Peel away the skin carefully to remove from carcass. Clip off legs and wings without takeing too many feathers from the pelt. Lay flat and try to remove any fat from the skin. Dry and cure.
Click to expand...
Clear instructions, thanks for your help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Do not, under any circumstances, pluck a ziploc full of feathers and hope to use them later. Removing one feather from the top removes at least 10 from the bag, and selecting the pretty one you see from the side? Essentially impossible.

Most of that grouse will come up with your hands, just make the cuts @Mike Cline suggested and slide your hands between the skin and the flesh. Cut wherever that doesn't work.

My dry and cure process is 50/50 kosher salt and borax. Scrape the flesh/fat off the skin, staple it stretched out to a piece of plywood, rub the cure mix into every piece of flesh, then cover with a liberal amount of cure over the top. Put it in a sealed box and forget about it for 3-6 months
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
In case you didn’t know, after curing, I store in a ziplock. The skin has to be protected from various insects ( mites ) maybe? These insects can destroy the pelt in short order. Same with all commercial pelts i.e. expensive Metz Hackles.

If your pelt does get infected you can save the remaining by putting it in a freezer for 2 weeks or more.

Good luck.

Bob
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've cured skins of Ruffed Grouse, Sooty/Blue Grouse, and Mountain Quail. It was a decent amount of work, especially the quail, but I think well worth the time as I'll probably never use all those feathers. They make some great soft hackles. It's really nice to be able to pick the right feather off the skin, I don't think I'd like to dig through a bag
 
  • Like
Reactions: Zak
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top