Finally got out for my first hunt of the year Thanksgiving morning and had a good day, 2 mallard drakes and 4 gadwall hunting by myself. It had been mentioned to me in a previous post that waterfowl feathers make great tying materials so I took what I could off of the drake mallard that was in near perfect condition. It is beautiful stuff, I don't think I ever took the time to appreciate how intricate their feathers are until I picked this hobby up. My question is do I need to do anything to prepare/preserve the feathers? I clipped the wings off and they still have a little meat on them, do I need to stretch them and salt the meaty areas to dry them out like you would a turkey fan? Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, thanks in advance for the help.