Home Forums Bows and Equipment What's happenin' to things?

Viewing 17 reply threads
  • Author
    Posts
    • Ralph
      Moderator
        Post count: 2580

        I’m going to start with full length feathers. When I started burning, chopping now days, feathers I could get 1-5″ and 1-4″ without a problem. Sometimes 2-5″. That used to be the economical way to go.

        For the past few years I can usually get 2-4″ but not always.

        I chopped 5″ fletchings out of 36 full length feathers this morning and I had enough left out of most of them to get some 3 1/2″. So cause I see no sense in waste I’m going to see what an arrow fletched with 4 3 1/2″ fletchings will do.

        What else seems to be coming up short these days? 😉

      • Doc Nock
          Post count: 1150

          Market production of livestock, Hoss!

          From what I hear, they’re force feeding and accelerating growing fowl these days so that the fedders don’t get to grow to maturity, which not only affects length, but quality of stiffness, etc.

          I’ve been using 3″ x 1/2″ on my arrows for several years… course, I have a higher FOC than some…

          Did a very unscientific “test” standing behind a shed and listening to 5″, 4″ and 3″ otherwise same arrows go flying by… even to my near deaf ears, I could tell which were which…

          Found cross winds don’t affect smaller fletching as much… but hey…to each his own.

          attached file
        • Ralph
          Moderator
          Moderator
            Post count: 2580

            Why you talkin’ wind?:D

          • Doc Nock
              Post count: 1150

              Figured you’d catch that ‘reference’ if anyone would, given your recent weather conditions! :lol::roll:

              You’re quick, Ralph… I’ll give you that!

              Love your cartoons…:D

            • James Harvey
              Member
                Post count: 1130

                Ralph,

                I recently discovered there is a healthy peafowl population round here. Those guys are an introduced pest and just as fair game as piggies. If I bail up a peacock I’ll send you some full lengths from him and you can tell me how many flu flus you can make 😆

                By the way, I’ve never been one for trophies but I reckon that’s because I’ve never shot a deer. I love those antlers!

              • Doc Nock
                  Post count: 1150

                  R2 wrote:

                  What else seems to be coming up short these days? 😉

                  Ummm…that would be my bank account, Ralph. Can you add me to your deductions and do something to help ease that situation?

                • Ralph
                  Moderator
                  Moderator
                    Post count: 2580

                    David, I’d probably have better luck trying to deduct my lost or broken wood arrows. Ummmm….. Ought to be some kind of “green” angle there. 😀

                    Jim, I don’t go lookin but don’t turn’em down either. 😀 Thanks. I’ll have to take a pic of my wall of fame someday. I do have some good’uns but a whole bunch smaller too.

                    All but 2 were good eating. One wasn’t do to a sorry butcher, the other because a pack stray dogs ran a doe I shot before I could get to her and messed her up. My cousin rid the country of that dog pack a day or so later.

                    Peafowl are noisy, nasty.

                  • Doc Nock
                      Post count: 1150

                      WEll, DRAT! I was hoping you’d adopt me and claim me so we’d both make out! :shock:8)

                      I did hear of a fella who claimed that $3000 dollars worth of his find cigars were destroyed by fire and claimed THEM on his return…. Oughta be some way you could claim me! I AM younger so I could be another adoptee? Right?

                      Aussie, if Ralph doesn’t want them peacock feathers, I’d take a box full of herles… they make purdy flies!

                    • Stephen Graf
                      Moderator
                        Post count: 2429

                        R2 wrote: …What else seems to be coming up short these days? 😉

                        As I’m sure you know… it’s not the length of your feather, it’s how you use it 😳

                        And I have to second the notion that feathers will get shorter and of less quality as time goes by. industrial farms care about big breasts (don’t we all?) and nothing else. As they continue to select for turkey’s with more and more meat, they will not have the energy to put into useless feathers. The perfect factory turkey would be a naked walking breast.

                        Might be a market for heritage turkey feathers. Could look around your area for a farmer raising heritage birds. Better feathers, better meat. Happier planet.

                      • Ralph
                        Moderator
                        Moderator
                          Post count: 2580

                          Is this an aussie turkey?

                          One thing about it Steve, I’m so old my feather s don’t get ruffled much anymore:oops:

                        • Ralph
                          Moderator
                          Moderator
                            Post count: 2580

                            Doc Nock wrote: WEll, DRAT! I was hoping you’d adopt me and claim me so we’d both make out! :shock:8)

                            I did hear of a fella who claimed that $3000 dollars worth of his find cigars were destroyed by fire and claimed THEM on his return…. Oughta be some way you could claim me! I AM younger so I could be another adoptee? Right?

                            Aussie, if Ralph doesn’t want them peacock feathers, I’d take a box full of herles… they make purdy flies!

                            Only the feds would believe “docnockstrew”. I wouldn’t! Nor my wife:wink:

                          • Ralph
                            Moderator
                            Moderator
                              Post count: 2580

                              No mass to me on the long and the short of it, I think the 5″ feathers(on left :wink:) just look better on an arrow.

                              At my level of shooting skill, performance difference is negligible to my old eyes.

                              Using the leftover cuttings is waste not, want not.

                            • paleoman
                              Member
                                Post count: 931

                                Hey Ralph is that the same yard that looked like the Sahara a while ago? I see green grass:D

                              • Ralph
                                Moderator
                                Moderator
                                  Post count: 2580

                                  My water hose is working.:wink:

                                  The only thing green about that though is the grass.

                                  That kind of water costs more than Momma Nature’s. Can’t buy any feathers for awhile. 😆

                                  By the way, I received .1″ of rain on Easter Sunday. Thanks ^:D

                                  For real, @ archery range yesterday.

                                • James Harvey
                                  Member
                                    Post count: 1130

                                    Here’s an Aussie turkey Ralph.. they’re very sneaky…

                                  • Ralph
                                    Moderator
                                    Moderator
                                      Post count: 2580

                                      😀 Yup, Jim, I’ve seen those guys kickin’ tail in some documentary’s. Don’t turn around 😉

                                    • grumpy
                                      Member
                                        Post count: 962

                                        I resemble the “coming up short” comment. Grrrrr

                                        My feathers are 3″ x 3/4. They seem to work, but I’m not getting downrange when my lady shoots, even if there is a shed in the way. Better to get her to stand behind the shed, and listen while I shoot. 😆

                                        Wild turkeys don’t still seem to have full length feathers, best to get out and drive the back roads looking for road kill, or shoot them yourself. On the other hand we wouldn’t have the white or solid color feathers without the market turkeys. I like the white as they are easier to find, and they seem to be worth the cost, given the time to make GOOD fletching out of raw feathers.

                                        btw: I finally bought the constant companion a notebook. Just when the laptop died. Luckily the IRS refund arrived, and I am sitting in front of a brand new laptop, and its mine all mine!! That means I don’t have to clean food off the mouse every time I get to use it. WHOOOOOO WHEEEEEE

                                        And since the notebook is HERS she is taking better care of it.

                                        If I do anything stupid, I’ll let you know…

                                      • Mohawk13
                                          Post count: 24

                                          I’ve gone to using nothing but wild turkey feathers, so I have not noticed the change..They really coming up that short these days???

                                      Viewing 17 reply threads
                                      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.