Waterproofing arrow feathers

[Sambar]

Hi there all just wanted to see how all of you water proof your arrow feathers when hunting in wet weather?

[Cool Arrow]

Gateway feather co. Sells a procuct that helps. It's a white finely ground powder. I'm told that it is silicone. you pour a little in a plastic bag, insert the fletched end of the arrow.
 Grasp the neck of the bag to prevent the powder from escaping, and shake the bag. I've found from ny experience that it helps to actually rub the powder onto the fletching while it is in the bag. Hope this helps.
      Larry

[Terry Lightle]

I use goose feathers

[lpcjon2]

I have used the powder but wear gloves and a mask it dries the heck out of your hands. I like 100% food grade silicone spray. But I just got some goose feathers and I am hooked on them.

[joe skipp]

Anything with a good Silcone base. Coleman offers some repellent, Product called No Snow...spray them down good and you'll be fine....

[Zradix]

Hairline watershed works pretty good.
It's a fishing fly sealer.

[creekwood]

Kill a turkey and convert the primary wing feathers into fletches and you will have the best water resistant fletchings there is. I think that when you buy commercially prepared fletchings, their processing involves some kind of cleaning that removes the natural oils so they can dye them, etc. That's just my guess though.

[NoCams]

Creekwood is correct in that natural wild feathers from turkeys are better than store bought. However, as others have said above..... goose feathers are the best. Rob Distefano did a 5 min water test and the goose feathers are far superior to everything else. stringstretcher on here is grinding goose feathers and may have some for sale ? We will gather all the molted primary feathers this June at the state park where the geese hang out.

[bigbadjon]

Wet your feathers down and shoot them to see how they react. I do not bother to waterproof them.

[Huntschool]

I know it may sound foolish but I keep a set of arrows fletched with goose feathers to use when the weather looks or is wet....

[Daz]

After years of using the powdered feather and fly dressings i went to using aerosol ScotchGuard (the 3M stuff for spraying furniture fabrics). I think it may be silicone based, but i'm not sure.

Just be sure to spray both sides evenly, and do it outside, as it must have some serious "methyl-ethyl-badstuff" in it.

[Bjorn]

'Tire Wet' works pretty well. Nothing is 100% all you can do is slow the process. A tube quiver works well in foul rainy weather.

[Thumper Dunker]

Originally posted by bigbadjon:
Wet your feathers down and shoot them to see how they react. I do not bother to waterproof them.

Same here .

[silvertip73]

Do the feathers get stiff when you use the spray?

[Ben Maher]

i too keep half a dozen goose feathered shafts and always have 1 or two in my quiver .
Silicone fly sprays work ok as does the powder.

I also always have either an Arrowmaster or Cat quiver in camp for really inclement weather although I tend to avoid hunting in really heavy rain as blood trails disappear all to quick ...
Following up a Sambar through blackberries  with rain washing away a blood trail ain't my idea of a good time !

[Sambar]

Thanks heaps I will try some goose feathers and the silicone spray, I had an idea to make a cover for my feathers out of an old water proof jacket as well

[Bjorn]

The 'texture' of the feather hardly changes at all with the spray; but it does make solid colors look 'dirty'. Blood does that too.

[sbschindler]

there are several options for feather dressing and most work well enough. The best I've seen and used is called "water shed"

[Mint]

I use the spray for the whisker biscuit. I think it is called snow seal and it works great. it is a silicone spray.

[kbetts]

Goose feathers all the way.