My son killed a bobcat this year and we are having it professionally mounted in an upright attack position. We thought of mounting a quail and would like to try it ourselves. Do you recommend any kit over others? Should I even try this? Are quail easy enough for beginners?
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Although I have never mounted a quail, I have watched a beginner try to mount one - he ended up using it as a dead mount because it lost so many feathers and got so many holes. Quail are tiny gamebirds and do have to be handled very gently. I would suggest starting out with a pheasant - they have tougher skin.
Quail can be semi-easy. It depends on how steady you are, and if you have a light touch. If you can put together a balsa and tissue airplane model, you can probably tackle a quail. A pheasant has fairly tough skin, but the wattles are very hard to do. The skin on a quail is thin but not too tightly connected, and they usually don't have much fat.
I think they might be OK as a beginner's bird. I suggest, at the very least, that you get a video on quail mounting before you start. WASCO has some, I believe.
Nancy M.