Yes, a great frustration there, especially for today's newbies. I agree folks have to make a living, but 3 and 400% markups seem over the top to me. I'm old and have a cedar chest full of materials that will see a couple of subsequent generations through their needs. ALWAYS keep that well stocked with a couple boxes of moth balls.
The areas that are tough to circumvent are really fine hackles and exotic stuff like jungle cock etc. Just decide to allow ones self a bit of luxury once in a while and spend the bucks for a fine neck or something.
Probably 90% of my materials, however, have come from simply being aware of opportunity. Lots of good feathers on a $2.00 feather duster. Friends sharing stuff, taxidermist's trimmings, flea markets & yard sales (yep, grandma's fur coat), road kills, a friend that raises meat chickens, and hunting friends/relatives out of area that might have game not available to me (wood ducks, teal, and such not locally available but they frequent western Oregon).
A buddy hung around one of the bird facilities at the San Diego Zoo one AM and asked a keeper if he might have a couple handfulls of feathers scattered around in the aviary. A minute later the tender handed him two bags full of feathers with probably half of them being technically illegal to import.
I scored Macaw tail feathers from our local vet. Seems a bird dropped a few while in his care. Another is to be on the watch for white sources of materials that can be dyed and/or colored with permanent markers. I.e, white ducks, rabbits, chickens, geese, swans, and turkey. White hair from a Hereford or Charolais is damned near identical to polar bear, but one never sees them in a pattern listing.
Last for tinsels, thread, etc hit the sewing/hobby/craft shops. A fifty yard spool will be 20% of what one pays for a 2 yrd card in the fly shop. Just be discrete, as real men don't go there.
Be patient and have a good one,
Last edited by 1minute; 01/10/16.
