WING"TIPS" # 17 damaged skull ''quick fix''

[wingman]

Hello again, Here's a quick tip on how to deal with a damaged skull on an upland bird, this one being a pheasant. Often times you have to salvage whats left of a shot up skull, usually the skull is in pieces but quite often the top of the skull remains intact. What I do to remedy the problem is to rebuild my neck length to add about 3/4 of an inch in length, Then all I do is black tape the remaining top portion of the skull to the excelsior neck, rebuild the missing areas with clay, invert and mount as usuall. The pics once again explain it best,You can use this attachment method if you choose to ''cut away'' that portion of the skull also but I prefer to use the whole skull if I have the option. Thank God for being able to show in photos as it can be difficult to explain in words  Good Luck!!!

[wingman]

And two more!

[rocky don]

wing man i have wanted to know this for a long time...but how exactly do you clean the real skull?!....do you boil the back of the head or what?

[wingman]

And the finished bird.

[SteveP]

When I first seen the first picture, I thought "Where's the damaged skull? I don't see any skull. Oh, you've got to be kidding. You can rebuild that?" Wingman, if anybody's got it, you do! Thanks again. If anything bad ever happens to your camera, let me know and I'll send you another if it means keeping your Wing"Tips" coming.

[rocky don]

you aint kiddin i just wanna know how you clean the skull!!LOL..

[wingman]

Dang Rocky, you snuck one in on me while I was still posting! To remove the flesh from the skull is actually a quick procedure, I remove the eyes and brains, the brains can be removed through an enlarged ''spinal hole'' or cut a small hole in the top of the skull, air makes quick work of this if you don't mind the mess! Then I take my scissors and snip away the upper roof of the mouth, scrape the sinus area clean with a modeling tool and finally wheel any remaining membrane and flesh off while wheeling the rest of the bird, borax applied in between steps facilitates removal of all the ''gunk'', Takes about 5 minutes.

[rocky don]

thank you sir...i've always used artifical heads but if it only takes that long, and saves money im gonna do it that way!! i appreciate it wingman!!

[bird artist]

Wingman, forget about the skull, you nailed that pheasant!  Nice mount and great pose choice!  It looks very regal and the shape is spot on!
aaron

[hambone]

Wingman thats a great pose on that rooster it would sure be interesting to see your posing process also I have heard a lot of discussion on splitting wattles whats your opion splitting?

[mk]

wingman great post, i have always had problems with the wattles on my pheasants not being nice and full looking, what do you suggest?

[BeckyBird]

That is such a great pose!