I am trying to mount my first turkey.I have mounted several pheasant and grouse before and have skinned the wings the same as I did them,down to the hand.Was it right to free the secondary feathers from the bone, and also do you have to skin the wing to the very end and if not what do you do with that part.I am trying to mount a strutting turkey.Any help would be nice.
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Dave,
The best advice is to get every scrap of meat out of the wing possible. Using human anatomy description, you should be able to get down to the elbow easily enough. If the bird is a flyer or strutter, you need to cut an incision on the inside of the forearm area and remove the meat from this area without disturbing the feather attachments to the sinew and bone. From the wrist to the fingers requires the same method. This is just too much flesh to depend on injection fluids in most cases. On your standers, you can peel the wing down to the wrist. It takes a little effort to turn the elbow and to detach the feathers from the bone in the forearm, but it can be done.
Once you remove the flesh from your flyer/strutter, run your wire down to the finger tips and tie it off to each series of bones that it passes along the way. I use aircraft safety wire and waxed nylon cord, but some people use garbage ties. On the upper arm, I use wire and cover it with electrical tape. I seldom fill the voids with anything as it doesn't show anyway, but you can use batting, paper towels, potters clay, or epoxy clay if you desire.
Once your bird is mounted, I use strips of light cardboard stapled together and 2 inch masking tape to hold feather sets in their proper places.