I recently received this e-mail and photo from Jim Ottevaere, coordinator of Project Healing Waters fly tying classes at US Army Ft. Belvior and MCB (Marine Corps Base) Quantico. I wanted to share this information with my readers and blog visitors.
Here is Jim’s message:
“We’ve had a long, hard winter here in Virginia. It gave us plenty of time to hold fly tying sessions with our Project Healing Waters warriors at Ft. Belvior and Quantico. Here are some of the patterns we tied from Ruffed Grouse and Ring-necked pheasants. All the feathers were donated by bird hunting PHW supporters and volunteers from Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota.”
And here is the photo:
Project Healing Waters flies, original designs, created with feathers from ruffed-grouse and ring-necked pheasants. These were tied by warriors in the program at Ft. Belvior and MCB Quantico. Photo by Jim Ottevaere.
I am pleased to present these flies with Jim’s permission. They are a beautiful expression of creativity in the use of pheasant and grouse feathers, along with other traditional fly-tying materials.
Jim Ottevaere and his assistants are doing a fine job of helping the wounded veterans by leading them in their participation of this program. I am very pleased that Jim and his students have found the information in my blog to be a helpful element of this program. Thanks Jim for your leadership!
