No dubbing...when I take the occasional greenhead, I take the CDC, shoulders, and flanks. Occasionally I'll pull the primaries too. Other than that, I don't find many of the feathers terribly usable. The breast feathers can make good wet fly collars, but one bird can supply more than I will use in ten years.
Greenhead Dubbing?
My son has been whacking the ducks this year. Lately he has been getting a lot greenhead mallards. Has anybody given a drake greenhead a haircut and used those iridescent head feathers and turned them into a useful dubbing? Seems like it would have some of the same qualities as peacock herl. Just wondering. Thanks
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Sounds like a novel idea, try it and report back. When my kids and I were duck hunting, I thought the feathers would never end.....now I find myself paying for wings, breast feathers, bronze mallard, CDC, etc......stock up while you can!
The bronze shoulder feathers on a drake are found on lots of old classics and they're expensive to buy. The brown collar feathers are nice on caddis pupae patterns and for a wing on an old pattern from central BC, the Dexheimer Sedge. Also if you flip the drake on his back there's a nice black feather that is perfect for small spey patterns just in front of the tail. A friend just let me pluck what I wanted from 3 nice drakes yesterday and you can get a lot off of one bird.
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