Are Turkey Feathers the best?

[bigcountry]

I was curious about this.  Is this the best feathers for arrows?  Or is a better one out there?

[BobW]

I've been hearing a bit of favoritism toward goose wings.  The natural oils are supposedly a big plus.

[dino]

Yep if I had to choose I would only shoot goose.  Pretty limited on color but the natural water repellancy is a big plus. dino

[bigcountry]

I have shot alot of goose. Not alot of large feathers on them.  Maybe out of the tail.  They don't seem as stiff as turkey either.  Migh thave to save a few next year.

[Orion]

No doubt about it, turkey feathers are the best.  Goose feathers aren't as durable.

[TRAP]

I like the durability of wild turkey feathers.  I found goose feathers to be a little softer but plenty tough. My only complaint was lack of color selection.  Peacock feathers are pretty good if you can find enough.  

Trap

[JEFF B]

yup turkey feathers all the way i like em they are good.      

[baretraks]

I've found natural turkey feathers last a lot longer than any of the commercially made ones.

Since I am a REALLY bad turkey hunter, I get all my feathers from friends and cut em with a traditional chopper. They fly just as straight and do seem to withstand the rough treatment I put em through.

I used to grind them until I found out you could peel them back off the quill. It works just as good and you dont make the wife mad because of the wonderful aroma that fills the house when your done!!!

[sparrow]

Turkey all the way. If you are interested, Gateway Feathers will grind your feathers for you. They only do it in Nov and Dec and the last ones I had done were .23 cents each. They will do full length or any of the sizes and shapes they make. My hunting partner and I share all we collect. He takes the left and I take the right.

[PowDuck]

One of these days I may have to try goose feathers. They're fairly plentiful.
 

[Little John]

I hear the best feather out there is EAGLE feathers, but if your not native American, you can't have them.  Wild turkey feathers for me. I grind my own and get sick from grinding goose feathers.The dust smells different and makes me sick in the stomach. Goose feathers are also louder than turkey feathers.

[Beepy]

A friend of mine swears that owl feathers are silent, but I have no idea where he got that idea or how he ever tested it....

[dino]

These are just my experiences of shooting goose feathers over the last five or six years, so take it for what it is worth.

-They are much softer than turkey, but when I have them four fletched on a arrow with two goose and two commercial turkey feathers on an arrow, the turkey feathers wear out first under normal shooting.  Goose doesn't tend to hold up as well being ripped backwards out of a target or shot thru targets repeatedly.

-All of them that I shoot or 4" or 5" shields both left and right wing.  I cannot tell a noise difference what so ever between turkey and goose.  The 5" that I cut is identical to a Trueflight which is relatively low profile and very quiet.

-I use both primaries and large secondaries for fletching and I cannot tell a difference in one from the other when fletched.  They appear to have the same rezilliance unlike turkey were the secondaries are softer and don't hold up as well.

-I have tried some domistic white goose and they don't have the stiffness that the wild grey goose has.  Shoot fine, don't last long.

Just my experiences. dino

[DeerSpotter]

On the owl feathers I am sure eating it a chance to test them, that would be illegal, but when I was coming out of a hunting area I had an owl fly over me twice in about half-mile walk, both times I did not see it or hear it, until he was right over my head and that was at about 4 ft. above me.

So I imagine he gets his idea from how silent they fly.

PC

[amicus]

I don't know if Owl feathers on their own are quite but as a bird they are silent. I watched one fly straigt to my tree stand and land a few feet from me and I didn't hear a thing. m2c

[Littlemans-Grampa]

Well Guys, I use both turkey and goose. I'll use turkey feathers for deer,elk and of course turkies, but when I go out huntin for Cats I take them goose feathered arrows cause they don't lay down like the turkey fletches. Any feather is better than no feather.