Ok, dumb beginner question. I've looked in the archives about freeze drying turkey and vulture heads, and there's a lot of good information, but I can't find anything that says why you do this. Can't they be skinned and tanned like other skins? Is it the color change? Shrinkage? Too thin-skinned? So .. why is this the practice?
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Turkey heads contain too much tissue. They are normally skinned, fleshed, and mounted on a foam form before freeze drying. The purpose of the freeze drying is to prevent shrinkage and to preserve and small amounts of flesh that remain on the head after skinning and fleshing.
They are a protected bird in the US...