Back in the day,( 1967) during college, I built a down sleeping bag for my daughter which also fit me as an elephant foot. As a starving college student working for $1.80 an hour I needed to keep everything as inexpensive as possible. I hit on the idea of harvesting down from ducks and geese. Being a hunter that seemed like a reasonable way to go. I tried a few ducks but soon gave that up as the down was not good quality, and it soon became obvious not worth the time and effort involved. The big Canadians however were excellent. So that is what I used. I found that laying the goose across my knees with the breast up and the head to the left, I was able to get my fingers under the feathers and pull them out while leaving the down intact. Since the outer feathers overlap like shingles it was easy to just pull them out and not get any of the down. Then using an old thrift store Torpedo style vacuum with a bag inside made out an old sheet, I was able to hold the nozzle with my hand and just work the down loose and into the tube with my thumb. I got good enough at it I was soon plucking geese for other hunters. Long story short, after about 18-20 geese I had enough down for the project. All down with no feathers at all. The bag was about 4 ft. long and differentially cut and used offset baffles so there were no cold spots throughout. She used it until she outgrew it and then it was passed down to each of our 6 kids in turn. Including many winter camps and backpacking trips. After I started hanging in the late nineties I decided I needed a camping-quilt and remembered this bag. So I got it out and harvested the down again with a vacuum. I built the quilt with 1.1 ripstop and mosquito netting then stuffed it using the vacuum method. I have been using it since then as a shoulder season quilt, good to about 30 degrees F. I need to open one of the baffles and redistribute down to some of the others which did not get sufficient. When the original bag was new I could lay it on the floor and it would fluff up to over 7 inches and was extremely warm. With the top-quilt I have about 3 inches of loft.
I used it as an elephant foot bag (half bag) with my down coat for the top half in my 24 hour pack, while I was active in Mt. Search and Rescue in Idaho and Washington. At the time I built it originally I used info gleaned from REI and the book Mountaineering,Freedom of the hills. ( I have low REI number being a member since 1964).
So yes it is possible to harvest down and make your own gear. Having said that I also have recently purchased some lighter gear from our vendors.
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