I have the chance to get some peacock feathers for free. Are they any good for tying flies? Are they expensive?

yeah get em! Feathers are ridiculous, I was in a shop the other day and 2 pheasant tailfeathers were 9.99. What a crock... I should go into the business myself, have all sorts of materials from the critters I shoot.

Peacock is used in a lot of patterns, its very versatile

the herl is used to tie thoraxes for many commonly used patterns, including pheasant tail nymphs, as well as wings in streamers like lefty's deceiver. grab 'em!

wow, gobluem where are you buying materials? Very expensive!

hah i didn't buy anything, just saw em. It was the Fly Angler/Thorne Bros, in fact.

what? that is ridiculous!!!! I've seen enitre pheasant tails over at sportsmans warehouse, for like $3 or $4 bucks and thought that was pushing it.

best bet is to find a bird hunter and ask, beg, or trade for the skins/feathers. Most will gladly give them to you as they usually will just throw them away. grouse, turkey, partridge, mallard, wood duck, anything you can get your hands on will provide for some good tying.

I forgot to mention that roadkill finds can be a good score if the kill is fresh

yeah man, i take roadkilled turkey feathers, fans, etc. coon tails, fox tail, coyote, pheasants, grouse...


thats on top of all the stuff i hunt in the fall. I don't really need to buy much in the way of natural materials. Just brighter dyed stuff