Shot a few doves in my pasture this morning and thought of this thread when I was plucking one that had some pin feathers. NOT NEARLY as bad as some of the ones ducks can have in which it is merely a tiny tiny feather just out of the skin. These are easy and I pull them out.
Ahh, ok. Yeah, new feathers. Its almost as if they are wrapped in a layer of plastic. I shot a Pintail last season who was absolutely perfect, and my dog made a nice retrieve, and I was going to put him on the wall but his sprig was a new feather that was still pushing out. I tried to pull the sprig out a little from that casing but it just came out of the skin. I know what you are talking about now. Honestly not many of the teal we shot had these, at least not the ones I bagged. Duck season opens this Sat over here. Stay tuned for another thread for Duck Season. Hope to see others posting pictures of their hunts. Nice job on the dove!