Fletching arrows with your wild turkey feathers?

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Does anyone here fletch their own arrows using the primary wing feathers from wild turkeys that they have harvested? I'm pretty new to archery, but I'd like to use the wild turkey feathers I've saved from my harvests to fletch my next dozen carbon arrows and would like some advice on what kinds of fletching jigs to use and any other tips of tricks. I've found a few websites on how to do this, but there's no substitute for talking with someone who has tried it.

 

[Rudd]

Did it a few years ago. Used what I think was called a Lil Chopper. You put the wing feather in and hammer the cut. I think they are some of the best looking arrows I have made.

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Re: Fletching arrows with your wild turkey feather

Those do look good, Ryan.

Were you able to get more than one finished feather from each wing feather?

I've read about the Lil' Chopper tool and will have to get one.

How did you do the sanding? By hand or with a belt sander?

 

[Rudd]

Re: Fletching arrows with your wild turkey feather

I don't remember how many out of each feather. Also....if I recall correctly Limb had a company that if you sent your feathers in they would prep them and send them back to you. This was a couple of years ago as well. The Lil Chopper was manufactured somewhere in Iowa and I bought the one I used on ebay.

 

[Limb Chicken]

Here is the best thing I have found...send em here and have some extra time to shed hunt or whatever else you want to do... grinding and cutting yourself is time consuming and in my opinion not worth the time when you can send em to truflight...scroll down towards the bottom of the page on the link. Good luck!

truflight FAQ

 

[NebraskaWhitetail]

Thanks for the link, Limb. I may have to go that route if I can't acquire the other equipment needed. Call me glutton for punishment, but I thought it'd be "fun" to take the feathers through the entire process myself from the bird to the arrow. Sounds like a good summer project where there's nothing to hunt.

 

[BW]

Limb is right, the most efficient and look good method is sending them to trueflight in Nov & Dec each year.

Collect the wings from all your hunting buddies that shotgun hunt each spring. A mature bird can yield 5-6 good enough feathers from each wing. I usually get 50-100 feathers each spring to send in.

Have them done in full length for Flu Flu' and get a chopper or burner for your hunting needs. You can even cut them with scissors if your hand is steady.


Traditional bowhunting magazines cover the homemade processes pretty regular.

You can strip them off the quill just by pulling or use utility knives, and files/sandpaper. You can make a jig to hold them or just use a fletching jig clamp.

Nothing but the natural........