Pheasant feathers?

[STEVEF39]

So one of my neighbors gave my son a pheasant, How and what feathers are good to keep, im assuming almost all of them, and how do you go about getting them off. I have never had one before and have only used the tail feathers to tie. Any suggestions or should I just look it up online.
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[flygoddess]

I have no ideas. I get the whole pheasant but it has been treated. Nice colors?
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[STEVEF39]

Yeah pretty nice I guess [:/], I found this on another form Just in case anyone else wants to know!
First you want to make sure the skins are as clean as possible. Make sure there are no fatty or fleshy deposits left on the skin side. If the flesh and meat has been left in the neck area, you want to clean that out or cut it off. The neck feathers are quite usefull, so you should make efforts to clean out the neck if you need to and save the feathers.

Saving the feathers on the skin is the way most of us would save a full skin. The wings if they are on the skin can be cut off, There is flesh and meat in the lower part of the wings that would need to be cleaned out. I usually just cut the wing quills off, and discard the rest of the wing.

The whole thing should be washed in a tub of soapy water. Then rince it out in clean water. Spread the skin out on a stack of newspapers FEATHER sice down. Use sea salt, or borax (OT Boraxo) as a driying agent. Sprinkle one or the other liberally on the skin side. Spread skin sidid out as you do this to cover all areas of the skin. Once you have your skin salted or coated with borax, then press several layers of newspaper on top of the skin side, and carefully turn the bird over. Now you can take the newspapers off the feathers. If your in a DRY climate and you have an area that is secure from scavengers you can air dry the skin. The salt or broaxo will draw the moisture from the skin as it drys. If your in a less dry area, you can use a hair dryer with out heat to help dry off the feathers. You should check the progress of your skin after a day or so, and if your drying agent (salt or borax) is soaked, then peal off the soaked newspapers and re apply.

Once your skin is dried out, then place in a zip log baggie with half a dozen mothballs (the kind that KILLS moths.) It doesn't hurt to give the hide a 15 second cooking in the microwave before baging it up. To that twice. I always store any game feathers or hides away from my other materials for at least a month.
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[flygoddess]

Awesome! Beautiful bird. Sounds easy enough. Those neck feathers make for fantastic softhackle.
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[HFT]

Found some good info there. I have tacked them to a board for drying,it allows you to stretch them and keep them from curling.
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[STEVEF39]

Thats why I couldnt make it over, ill try tomorrow []
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