I am a beginner taxidermist and I have a male and female mallard, I already skun out the drake and had a ridiculous time to try and pull the skin over the head, it was so tight. Is there any other way to get the skin over the head on the female easier. Any help would be appreciated.
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Are you using the real head or are you going to use and artificial head? If using an artificial head you can skin to about the base of the skull and then sever the head from the neck. Then re-invert the skin and start skinning out from the bill side of the head.
If using the real head you can skin the same as above but will have to make a small incision in the top of the head to finish skinning it. hope this helps! Andy.
Todd;
You can always make a small incision on the head. do the cleaning, remodeling of the muscles, setting the eyes. Then pull the skin back over the head and sew up the incision. Don't make this incision more than about a inch long, or just enough to remove the skull. And sew it up with fine monofilament fishing line. Very few ducks will slide through the neck. So a small incision is your best bet. Hope this helps.
Coyote
Breakthrough bird manual, and a videos. i make an small cut at the back of the skull, at the point the neck and head meet. take the neck off through there, then gently turn the skull up trough the opening,you may have to make it a little bigger, careful with the feathers. i can picture it while i'm typing it ,but it might not make sense to you the way i explained it , sorry if it doesn't
keep checking in i'm sure there will be lots of good tips posted
Thanks for all your help.About the head I will be using the real head. Will monofilament line hold tight like a thin wax string? Do I skin right to the base of the neck then make a small incision up to about the top of the head? Thank you so much for your help.
i stop my breast incision, at the start of the neck, then go to the back of the head, why create more sewing i say
sorry i kinda repeated what some of the other guys said in my first post but you had no replys when i started typing.
When you are doing a bird and only one side is seen . Make the insicion on the side if the head which will be concealed or unseen. It gives you a little more fudge factor room if your sewing isnt quite perfect yet.
To answer your question directly...yes...the Monofilament line will do just fine.
~ ETCC