Fly tying

[sisu]

I'm getting ready for the up coming fishing season early because of surgery, so I have been busy tying flies; nymphs, drys, wets and even a few wild looking bass, pike flies.
I'll post some places to buy locally grown game birds for fly tying only. This guy has a nice web site but I can't get it to load up right now. But the point is he has great hackles right down to size 24 and he does not charge an arm and a leg for his birds.
I found a product review of his birds but like I said I can't get his site to load as of yet.
http://www.flyanglersonline.com/prorevw/conranch.html

[Ray]

Very cool. You can add in links for fishing here so that if threads get buried with good links other people can stumble on them later. http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php?action=links;cat=4

Also there is a "links" button up at the top of the page as well. They both go to the same place. If someone needs to add more categories all they have to do is hollar.

I hope you are feeling better after getting gutted and stuffed.

[sisu]

Stopped at the Swede's today on Ash St. in  Spokane to buy some tying materials and a fishing pack that doubles as a vest. It is made by Clear Creek but is discontinued in 2007 in preference to a bigger version. This one is small enough that it does not overwhelm you with gear. Too bad they discontinued it and an even smaller one that did not have a back pack. BTW the back pack disconnects to use separately but the front section can't be used separately YET. Pat and I are going to get some matching buckles and rig it to use independent of the pack. Then I can fit the pack to my seat on the cataraft and wear the front portion over my PFD.

[boneaddict]

kikescove.com  has some nice looking birds. 

I was ticked the other night. One of my best junglefowl broke his neck on the wire because of a neighbors Irish Setter.  I am going to do a full mount of him.  If you guys want to see some cool pheasants, take a gander at the photo section of my website.
If you want to see as they lay pics of a dead Irish Setter, stay tuned.j/k  He was very good about it, and was happy to reimburse me, sort of what he was worth.  He immediately spent a couple grand on a nice fence, so I really appreciate that.  He was very honorable about the whole thing.  I sprayed dirt on the dog with an 06 round and then beat it over to the owner.  He heard the shot, and "his lights came on."

[sisu]

Boneaddict says, "www.kikescove.com  has some nice looking birds. "

And he is not kidding when he says that. WOW! I am impressed.
Exotic birds and fish always amaze me. I've spent time three pronging on the Big Island and birds hunting there also. It always amazes me what Mother Nature can do to fish and birds to make me lust for a close up look at them.

Boneaddict, you have some beautiful birds. If I drive in your direction to see Jerry I'll have to make it a point to include you in my trip plan.

Maybe you can answer this question for me. On the Big Island of Hawaii there are three turkey species, quail, ring neck pheasant, two (could be three) species of Franklin to hunt but near the National Park there is a black fowl that resembles a pheasant(I can't remember if it has any red on its feet or head though). It will roost in the upper branches of large trees so that it's about 20 to 30 feet above ground. When we have encountered then hiking it is always in forested areas higher than 4500 feet and they are always in flocks. Any clues as to what this bird is? I've asked the locals that are friends of ours and they don't know either since it's the NPS and no one is allowed to hunt there.

[boneaddict]

Thanks!
I'll get back to you on that.  I'm not sure which one that might be.  I'll take a gander.

[jackelope]

The bird i think you're talking about is a "nene"...it's the hawaiian state bird. assuming its the one they warn you about all over at volcano national park. am i on the right track?

[boneaddict]

A nene is similiar to a duck, or more like a goose I believe.  I think they are mostly in the water and on the lava flows, not trees I don't think.  Other than that, I think you tumped me.  I'm not sure of any pheasants in Hawaii unless somebody introduced them?

[sisu]

No, I know what a nene looks like for sure. Been so close to those darn things that I was afraid the NPS would give us a fine. No, these birds can fly real well and cluck on the take off similar to a pheasant except they are all black, they roost and hang out in coveys.

I'll do some digging on the Internet and send a couple of emails out to my Flip friends and my son. Maybe someone will turn up a name. BTW you have never been hunting until you've gone in the trees looking for pigs with flip-flop Flips. Those guys got some major balls when pig hunting but I might add they can climb a tree faster in flip flops than I can in tennies.

[boneaddict]

The Mikado fits your description fairly well.  They are actually blue not black, but look black unless in bright sunlight.They are from Taiwan, but could easily live in Hawaii if planted there.  I think I have a picture of one on my website, but here is a link to a picture if it works.  They are very similiar to our pheasants, but they live in trees in the mountains from 5-10 thousand feet.
http://www.gbwf.org/pheasants/mikado01.html

[sisu]

THAT'S IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'd love to shoot one but the NPS would freak out, eh! Hey thanks a lot. I'll tell my Filipino friends what the heck I am seeing in the Park. If I ever see one outside of the boundaries I am going to harvest it.

[boneaddict]

The picture you sent me looks like a white crested Kalij.  It is also from that Taiwan area but could easily be transported and take up residency there.  Here is a link to another picture of one of them.
http://www.gbwf.org/pheasants/kalij05.html

[sisu]

Ya, Boneaddict, the locals get all kinds of critters there for "pets" and let them either roam free or they tire of them and release them. Then they either perish or breed if there are a pair. That is when trouble comes to paradise. Hey thanks for all the help on this. I am nearly 100% sure that the bird I have seen is the Mikado.