Wet Feathers....any tips??

[Toby from MO]

Anybody have any tip/tricks for caring for feathers before and during a rain storm and then reshaping them after you get home and dry them out? Do I need to worry about the feathers being a little raged?

This is my rookie year with feathers instead of vanes. I water proofed them with the aerosol spray used for waterproofing a whisker biscuit. I was told it worked well, I should have asked them to define well. I got my first dose of wet feathers this morning. They called for rain in the afternoon. At 5:30am it was clear and the sky was filled with stars so I headed out this morning with no rain gear in hand. Long story short….I sat in a light drizzle from about 7:30am – 8:30am. No big deal, I noticed the water beading on the surface of the feathers. Well at 8:30am, almost instantly, one clap of thunder, the wind picked up to 40+ mph, the temperature dropped from the high 40’s to the low 40’s and it started raining, and hailing, so hard I couldn’t see 10’ in front of me. Needless to say my feathers got wet, laid down and now they look like they have been through hell.

Any tips??

Thanks for the help.
Toby

[ChefKell]

I stea them over a teapot (GENTLY) and pet them like a puppy till they come back to the shape I want. Let them dry first though.
Good Luck.

[svltech]

For feathers try a dry waterproofing powder from Bohning. I used it last year and it worked for me great.

Chris

[BGfisher]

Both naswers will do you well. You can get waterproffing from Bohning or you might try FletchDry. I've used fletchdry in the past and had pretty good luck with it. Of course, a well tuned bow can shoot arrows without fletching, so a little water shouldn't hurt much.