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Sqemish? Road Kill Free Furs??

2K views 19 replies 15 participants last post by  JDJones 
#1 ·
over the last few months I have kind of went on a shopping spree Feathers and furs and everything else and even into OOHHH God! Tube fly stuff
If there are no fish to be caught or my old flies do not look edible to the fishies or maybe both?
So off to spey pages and look what people are making and yes off to wooo Hhooo YouTube! and download a bunch of vids
then off to web shopping and local fly shops
Well the tally is up and the amount spent is big $$$'s
So I stop and think at the fly tying desk how much $$$'s everyone else has spent on feathers and furs and this and that to make these dam flies that do not catch
fish every time THEY ARE CASTED?

the next day off to fish and nothing likes what I am offering up at the end of the fishing and time to head home
the first thing I see as a dead gray squirrel down the road about 10 miles a raccoon a bit farther anther raccoon when I get into the tribal land by fort hill there on the side
of the road is a chicken HEY feathers
closer to home I get on are road only ten miles to go I see 2 chipmunks 1 squirrel a dead skunk (this don't count)
if I catch a fish and plan on taking it home I can club the dam thing cut it's gills gut it and all that
but when it come to free feathers and furs I am to dam SQEMISH to touch the dam things
but at the fly tying desk I can open that package of stinky feathers and furs rip them apart or cut them up and do not even gag??

to be able to collect free feathers and furs would cut my cost a lot but I just can not touch them dam things for the welfare of my wallet:(

Bill
 
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#2 ·
Bill,

I had to laugh as I read this. At 70 years old I have reached the point when collecting the roadside freebies is no longer an option for 2 reasons...I too have become a little squeamish about it...plus my supply of tying materials will easily out last me at the pace I tie anymore.

That being said I'd recommend the following if you intend to take advantage of these usable materials.....

Carry the following items and tools; a box of rubber or vinyl gloves (available at your local hardware store); side cutters for squirrel tails and the like: a VERY SHARP knife (NOT a folding type for cleanliness reasons); large zip lock type bags; a few plastic trash bags; hand sanitizer; surgical or dust mask; a pair of safety glasses. That should about do it. Thoroughly clean all tools after each use with bleach and detergent.

Needless to say when you get the materials home they must be cleaned and treated immediately...then isolated where the can dry properly. When that process is complete the materials should be quarantined in a zip lock bag or seal-able soft plastic box with either paradichlorobenzine crystals or a piece of Hot-Shot insect killer for at least 30 days.

You are now ready to put these goodies to work...and good luck!!
Cheers,
George
 
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#3 ·
Squeamish? Not squeamish? I don't know. I see plenty of road kill around here, beavers, squirrels, skunks, ground hogs etc. Even some birds but most of them are protected, dead or alive. For all the time and effort it takes I just buy what I need. I also do not want to risk tick, fleas and disease brought into the house.

Dan
 
#4 ·
i am a roadkill master .i always have a pair if disposable gloves and a baggie . in the last month a got a gorgeous grouse pelt and a huge prime male mink who met his demise on the highway . ony his nose was run over ! black squirrels , fox squirrels , skunk, various birds .i have standards though , if i see guts , i keep rollin' . (-:
no shame !
thanks , jim
 
#5 ·
I was on a job site somewhere between Bismarck and Minot last year and we were hitting pheasants left and right that were flushing out of sunflower fields. One day we must have hit ten birds. As tempted as I was to keep all of that food and feathers not knowing the laws on possession I had to leave them as I didn't want to wind up in handcuffs.
 
#9 ·
One of my favourite memories from my teens is driving to a hockey game with about 5 of my buddies in our families big old Doge Ram van. My father, an avid fly tyer who bought his first car by selling flies, pulled the van over as he spotted a prime squirrel. I was riding shotgun and instinctually I popped the glove box, where there was a pair of metal shears and a ziplock bag. I popped out of the van, clipped the tail and was back in the van as fast as my friends jaws hit the floor. Always wonderful to see how something so normal for one family is totally bizarre for another. I still have a few of the Squirrel Hair Caddis flies my dad tied with those tails. Every time I fish them the memories flood back in a wonderful way.
 
#11 ·
I feared posting photos not long ago, but let's just say in the last 2 months alone, I have skinned and tanned/prepped the following that I can recall
1. 3 Nutria (great hair, btw)
2. Multiple ducks (widgeons, mallard, pintail, gadwall)
3. A woodpecker
4. A beaver

PS...
An InstaPot is like a traeger. It can make anything taste good.
 
#12 ·
Bill I hear ya! I'm a bit of an outcast on this forum- probably less "refined"than most here. Before I ever steelhead fished, I spent many years on these rivers trapping mink, otter, and beaver. So while you might wish for a tiny dose of my non-squeamishness, I wish for a dose of your squeamishness, which would probably equate to me becoming a better flyfisherman and being more civilized overall. Trapping season ended today in Oregon, but if I can help with tanned furs next season, hit me up. I like that you're thinking of making use of roadkill, where the fur would otherwise go to waste. DS
 
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#13 ·
When you find roadkill, the first thing to do (after parking safely) is to check it for suitability. An animal lying neatly on its side may be wet and maggot-eaten on the underside. Give your find a sniff-test, and don't hesitate to shrug and walk away.

As a boy, when I shot my first squirrel, my neat-freak mother surprised me by letting me skin it out on the kitchen floor, after putting down newspapers. And then cooked it, too!
 
#14 ·
I live just off the Rez here and can get a good chunk of most furs for $5-10. They have rabbit,fox, beaver, coyote, nutria, skunk,**** etc. They have boxes of seconds or pieces pretty cheap or you can buy a whole skin, nose to tail. Going to the trouble of skining, cleaning, tanning is just not worth it for me. I can certainly see it for meat harvest depending on the animal.

Dan
 
#15 ·
Fearing such behavior to be illegal in my state, I asked the google ball what's up, and it answered that Washington changed the law prohibiting the removal and use of roadkill by its citizens back in the summer of 2016, provided you have a permit. Sounds good to me, though I would never do it, to squeamish I am.

And I no longer tie flies. I lost all my fly tying equipment in a burglary two years ago when I also lost all my spey gear with the sole exception of my rods. Lost about $25,000 worth of stuff, all uninsured. Authorities believe it took two truck loads to clean me out and, of course living in the woods, nobody saw nut'in. All they left was a mess and several used syringes. The thieves are thick in them there thickets, Theodore.
 
#18 ·
A good source of large mammal hair is your local taxidermist. The hides are not always tanned but usually dried.

One can always leave a dozen or two dry flies as a show of appreciation.
 
#20 ·
Most anyone who has taken a fly tying class had heard multiple stories of road kill tying material. If anyone in your family hunted, you were accustom to seeing small game dressed out, & most likely, all that fly tying material discarded. Considering the prices for a patch of fur or a small bag of feathers, anything laying on the side of the road just had money written all over it.

I used to carry a tomahawk, a hunting knife & a trash bag in the trunk of the car for just such occasions. I remember the time I spotted opportunity alongside the road & started to pull over. My wife had a fit, exclaiming "we are not going to be decapitating any poor creatures along the road" So much for wives. After finally convincing her the "poor creature" had gone to heaven & no longer gave a hoot about it's tail, I pulled over when the next opportunity presented itself. Upon closer inspection, there was no was I was going to put any part of that critter along with the host of parasites crawling out of it, in my car. :eek: Thank you very much, I'll pay five bucks for a packaged tail.

I have a nice collection of those little books from the typical roadside tourist traps. One such book being on road kill recipes, Braised Bambie, Rack O'****, & the like. It speaks of road warriors, chain saws, & heavy vehicles having massive bumpers & large trunks.:chuckle: Oregon recently passed a law allowing people to harvest road kill. However, you must remove the whole critter & dispose of it properly, whatever that means. :tsk_tsk:
 
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