starling.

in the latest issue of fly fisherman it talks about using starling for flys, i was wondering if its legal to shoot these pests in washington

 

YES

 

They're not native and not considered a song bird. You can shoot them anytime.

 

OR you can BUY Starling pelts at a certain tying source that begins with "F" (they are NOT sponsors BTW)

SD

 

ok, have you guys tried using starling before?

 

I have used starling feathers quite a bit. They have been suggested as an alternative to junglecock for eyes, I tried it but it's just not the same. However they make great softhackle feathers, and interesting cheeks.

 

Never looked at the bird much before but after seeing this post looked the bird up on the net.
Intresting looking feathers. I might have to find a winter pelt or at least some winter pelt breast feathers to try out some time. Looks like the winter feathers might make some intresting streamer cheeks for decievers and such.

 

you can blast those birds anytime you please, just pick out a nice bull

 

kill as many as you can, they invade songbird nests and basically get the native birds chicks killed

 

Starling feathers are used on many traditional English soft hackle patterns; Starling and Purple comes immediately to mind. The starling feather is small enough to work well in the smaller sizes and has a nice metallic greenish sheen. John Smeraglio ties a nice Baetis soft hackle emerger with a trailing shuck of Z-lon, an abdomen of one strand of black and one of peacock Krystalflash twisted into a rope, a thorax of dark olive dubbing and a starling hackle.

 

Here's a picture of John Smeraglio's Baetis Soft Hackle Emerger.