WING"TIPS" #27 straightening pheasant tails

[wingman]

Hello! Heres a quick tip, I prefer to not wash pheasant tails if possible, if their clean, undamaged I found it faster and easier to not wash them, I remove all pheasant tails. A topic I believe was a previous wingtip, Wheel the feather quills and mount,.... BUT often times even though the rest of the tail is pristine the two long center feathers are bent or twisted from being in the freezer  What I did in this case is to ''dip'' the twisted/bent portion of the tail in HOT water until it starts to straighten out then I hang the tail, attach a clothspin to the tip to ''pull'' it straight let it dry and then fan it out ,mount etc, I do wrap the feather portion of the tail with a paper towel to keep it clean while wheeling. I like the time this saves in completely washing the tail and they always seem to look better if they are not washed, NOW if under any circumstance the tail needs to be washed do so as washing/soaking the entire tail does a GREAT job to remove any unwanted ''kinks'' and cleans them if they are dirty, But for those tails which are pristine but just ''kinked'' this is a quick fix method. GOOD LUCK!!

[NstarBill]

Awesome tip, Wingman.  I really appreciate and respect all of the members willingness to share their experience on this great site.  I only hope that I am able to "Pay it forward" in the future.

On another note, you answered a post of mine recently about the neck on a mallard stretching out really long.  I did as you suggested and it turned out great.  Neck form could have been a tad longer, but I like it.  I'll post a pic after I paint the feet.

Also was able to get not 1 but 2 geese last Wednesday, my first.  Cant wait to see how long those necks get!!

[crankin]

thanks wingman!

[outwoods taxidermy]

i dont really care much for birds but thats a good tip....

[afthunt]

Thanks i would never thought of that!

[mk]

good tip,  wingman -do you ever seperate each individual tail feather and clean them and then hot glue each one into position to have it fanned out for a flying bird or layered for a standing bird?

[KMA]

Great Time Saver for us wholesalers - Thanks Eugene!

[wingman]

mk, I dont know what number wingtip it was but there is a complete topic which covers removing and mounting tails I cant even find it with the search button?

[almt1012]

great tip!!

[Chad]

Great tip. Keep them coming,and look forward to the next one.

[JP a.k.a Taxi-lover]

Nice tip Wingman,again!! Thanks a lot...

[Roger L.]

I would like to see the topic of removing and mounting tails that Wingman mentioned if anyone knows where to look. I havn't had any luck locating it.

[curti66]

Another GREAT wingtip!  Thanks for sharing your wisdom!

[illinibowhunter46]

I think i might try that next time around.

[wingman]

mk, Wingtips#13 detached tails, don't know how to put up a link?