Ok guys, now that duck season is over I figured I would post a quick how to on skinning and preserving a duck for fly tying. Bear with me as I had to make a conscious effort to stop and take a pic of what I was doing at the time. If you need clarification on anything just ask and I will try and take a pic of it in the near future as my wife is ready for me to get the dead ducks out of the freezer and I will be doing plenty of skinning over the next few weeks.
First, lay the duck on the back and make a small incision at the breast bone. To do this you will need to spread the down feathers to see what you are doing.
Next, take this cut in a straight line up to the bottom of the bill. Then, keep the incision going all the way down to the anus, but do not puncture the anus.
Now work your knife (I think and xacto is best) from this cut toward the back of the duck. Only use your knife to assist, as it really should not be doing much cutting.
Next, you will need to cut the legs off at the joint and work the skin down till it is freed from each leg.
After this, keep working the skin to the back of the duck. I also like to free the neck and head as I go as this makes it easier to do the wings.
Once you have worked your way to the wings, you can either cut them off and free the skin much like you did the legs, or you can work the skin to the first joint and cut here to preserve the wing. The first method is easiest by far, but the wing will not be attached.
Now all you need to do is free any remaining skin.
“As an American I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, but that America gave him the White House based on the same credentials.”
Very Cool… I have heard about “bugs” in the feathers… does the freezing kill them off or is there something else you need to do to make sure you don’t have little creepies crawlin all over your tying materials? Thanks Buddy!
Have you found yourself using much of the teal/woodrow feathers on your saltwater flies? I usually just pluck the feathers (such as the woodie flanks) that may be useful and keep them in a ziploc bag. Do you have any pics of your flies and how you incorporated the duck feathers?
I use a fair amount of all ducks. Teal, woodie, hoodie, buffle, gadwall, etc. I like to use them for any fly the needs to push water. The feathers are more boyant and work fantastic as legs for shrimp patterns. I also like them for tying crab patterns that need splayed feathers, I do not think I have found a better feather for gurglers than bufflehead. Also, the hood of a hairy-head has fantastic action in the water, much like maraboo.
I will post some pics of the flies.
“Fishing is alot like sex…when its good,it’s really good, and when its bad, its still pretty good.”
Here are some pics of flies tied using duck feathers. All the feathers you see in these pics are from some type of duck. I am sorry the quality is not that great, but I did not have much time.
As for the coozie, I found it walking one day and it quickly became one of my favorites. I have no idea who Sanders Bros are, but they do put out a kick arse coozie.
“Fishing is alot like sex…when its good,it’s really good, and when its bad, its still pretty good.”
“As an American I am not so shocked that Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize without any accomplishments to his name, but that America gave him the White House based on the same credentials.”
