wild turkey feather question

[Cal Bergsma]

Can someone tell me if all the barred feathers of a wild turkeys wing be used to make fletchings or are some much better than others. I am assuming that the last section of long flight feathers on the end of the wing are best, but are the shorter rounded off ones farther toward the middle and base of the wing just as good ?

[Jim now in Kentucky]

Flight feathers are definitely better than secondaries. I don't bother with anything but the 8 or 9 feathers at the wing tips. I have used secondaries, but they got ragged quickly and tended to be noisy in flight.

[bowless]

Like Jim said, just the primaries.  They tend to be thicker than store bought and more water resistant.  I guess secondaries could be used for flu flu's but that's about it.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I have used the secondaries for flu flus. I use the spiral pattern. Works great.

[Stone Knife]

You don't get many feathers off a turkey, I was going to use them all.

[Pat B]

I have used primary, secondary and tail feathers for fletching with good results. The secondary and tail are softer and make a bit more noise but they work fine for me. I shoot self bows almost exclusively and at the speed my bows shoot it doesn't seem to make much difference. On faster bows it might.     Pat