Left Wing?, Right Wing?, what is right (pun intended) for you? As the feather
descriptions read, left wing feathers come from the left wing of a turkey
and right wing feathers come from the right wing of a turkey. To tell the
difference just look from the "back" of the feather to the front
and see which side of the feather the smooth side is on.
(In photo, left wings are on the
left, right wings on the right).
There have been some past writings that suggest
that right handed shooters should shoot left wing and that left handed
shooters should shoot right wing. The theory behind this advice is that
the arrow should spin away from the bow riser. Actually, it doesn't really
matter and the choice is really a personal one. I currently have the remnants
from two different sets of arrows in my back quiver. One set is fletched
with left helical, the other with right helical. I really cannot tell any
difference in how they fly or in how they are wearing. The one critical
thing is that you do not mix left and right feathers on the same arrow.
Always fletch left wing feathers with a left wing fletching jig and right
wing feathers with a right wing fletching jig.
You can use a straight jig for either left or right wing feathers and then
adjust the offset to the left or right (assuming that your fletching jig
has this adjustment). So why is it that left wing feathers are cheaper
to buy than right wing feathers? The most widely given explanation is that
at the turkey farm one of the bird's wings is clipped to keep it from flying.
Since most people are right handed and they grab the turkeys from behind,
the right wing is the one that gets clipped. I can't verify the accuracy
of this story, but it sounds plausible.
In the next segment, I will discuss chopping
and burning feathers.
