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Pardon me if there's already been a thread about this topic, but are there any hunters on here who've shot geese for the purpose of obtaining down? I inherited a duck hunting 12 gauge from my grandfather, and though I'm not a hunter myself it got the wheels turning. I found a blog by some guy in Finland who had done this; I'm sure it's an extremely ineffecient way to get down - and a quilt would require a LOT of ducks - but I love the idea!
Anybody?
That, and the eatin' is good as well . . .
. . . at least I hope you would.
:D
You might want to hang with a couple of hunters . . .
. . . you would learn the way, quicker,
and likely get more down quicker as well.
:D
You know what they say at the disco
"Get down tonight . . ."
:D :D
I thought down came from baby geese. I would first ask how do the other suppliers do it? You may not need to shoot the geese to collect the down.
the only problem with this is you will not have a good quality down....
cause it will have all the stems and all in it....so you will have a very low fill power
I did some research, and the best down comes from Mature geese....Quote:
Originally Posted by NCPatrick
Maybe go down to the old geeser home... (sorry)
Fowl are plucked by machine, as I understand it. Somewhere I saw a separator that stirs the feathers/down and moves air slowly up a tube so the fluffiest down floats away and is collected...
I remember watching a Dirty Jobs episode where Mike visited a place that uses all parts of a goose. Once most of the feathers are ripped off. There is a machine that brushes off all of the down into a chamber. The chamber looked amazing, so much downy goodness :boggle:
I posted this on another thread, but here you go, getting your own down Haven't tried this, waiting for goose season :). I have already talked to a buddy who goose hunts. Hopefully by the end of the season, I'll have enough down to try a DIY UQ.
Thats so much work, seriously.
Well, if you want "hunt down" it's going to take work, if you want to buy down, it takes money :)
one thing you got to think of is how many you will need...and you will need a good bit just to make one UQ ....
you figureat least 8-10oz of down for each quilt thats alot of geese
and don't forget a goose is not all down...there are alot more feathers then down on an animal
800 fill down had hardly no feathers in it ...... so you got to factor that in as well
in the end after you pay for the shells and the tags to hunt the geese...it would be cheaper to buy down since you can get it for only 6.50 an oz
and another thing to think of is some states only let you kill so many per year.....so unless you have a few friends to help you out it could take you a few years to havest the Down
Quote:
Originally Posted by greenlespaul
After I get some of the "green", I am going to buy down for a DIY full UQ. Will see what I end up with after hunting season is done, may have to wait until next year. But would still like to make my own, with down I collected
I say try it out...and see what you get
but only count the clean down...not the stems or the feathers
also don't forget if it's a body shot....your going to loose some down as well ;)
let us know what you come up with at the end of the year ;)
RR72 from what i can find ....you can get a half an oz of clean down from a small goose....so after cleaning it up...you probly looking at .25 oz a bird don't forget you are going to drop some while harvesting...and will also loose some from the kill shot
so you lookng at close to if not more then 40 small geese and probly around 15-20 large geese .....to make one UQ
with CLEAN down ...no feathers or stems
i guess thats why it cost some much per oz LOL
Yeah, I realize this would be a really inefficient and time consuming way to acquire down; I'm interested in the idea mainly from a self-sufficiency/survivalist perspective more than a practical one. I like the notion of DIY all the way from the raw materials up to the finished product. My grandfather was a lifelong duck hunter, but he never took us kids so I don't know the first thing about it. It seems like a pretty challenging sport, and certainly inspires obsession ( abit like hammocking :D) I own one of his 12 gauges, an Ithaca that is in really nice shape, and I've played with the idea of taking a hunter safety course and getting the stamp one of these years. The only thing is, between hiking, fishing, trail running, snowshoeing, hashing and hammocks I've already got enough hobbies. One more might be the last straw for my gal....;)
I still think it would be a cool for someone to try it and see how much they can get in a year span ........ would be good to know for a Self-Sufficient life style or survival .....Quote:
Originally Posted by Flatland
even if you only get a few oz...you can mix that with vendor down and save you a few $$$ .... ;)