Just recieved an owl from the local game dept, never done one before and herd there were some tricks to them like cleaning and the eyes, what a treat to do one of the awsome birds, I would hate to mess it up.
Thanks for your help
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I do quite a number each year (we can mount several sorts of owls legally in Sweden.) & they mount up easily. Think about this; Save the whole leg for wrapping - up to the hip joint. Save the hard eye capsule - that is, if you are using the natural skull. Clean it out, fill w critter clay and set eyes. You can invert the neck - no need to cut throat skin. These birds are usually not very fat and if they are, they are easy to clean. DO NOT TUMBLE the skin in sawdust or similar stuff - the feathers will never come clean from it. Use a dryer or air compressor. The feathers will fluff up like a dream.
I usually carve my own bodies, but we have some commercial ones. I really like doing owls, they are among my favorites. If you encounter any problems, feel free to e-mail me for details. Good luck /B S
.....Cut base of neck and wing joints skin down to tail butt...also split back of head then invert skin otherwise to difficult...Owls have a eye socket-save clean and use to your advantage.It is easy to hide legs with all those feathers..also all the feathers cover up a lot of mistakes....Lloyd