Thanks to those who gave me the helpful tips on skinning the head! So let me get this straight... AFTER I dry the skin with borax I can REWET it? Also, I didn't "wash" anything, just fleshed it and rubbed some borax on it as I didn't want to get the feathers wet. I was thinking about just peeling the skin back off the head to the bill and just working the meat off the skull while leaving it attached and then simply pushing the skull back into the skin on the head...will that work? I think I dang near got it on my last attempt but like I said, the darned skin shrank up on me too small to stretch back around the skull. Not to mention while cleaning the skull it breaks apart as the muscles are removed...lil more help guys and i'll get her!
Derek
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I was thinking about just peeling the skin back off the
head to the bill and just working the meat off the skull
while leaving it attached and then simply pushing the skull
back into the skin on the head...will that work?......Yes
AFTER I dry the skin with borax I can REWET it?.....Yes.. a damp
towel will do fine. No need to soak it.
Don't forget to use your brain spoon and clean out the skull.
If you're breaking the skull, just slow down and take your time.
Is this grouse a skin that you intend to mount? Or, is just going to be skin that you lay out to display... Either way... why are you not washing it? I'm confused....
If you are planning on mounting the bird.. why are you drying the skin? Although a dried skin can be rehydrated enough to mount, it is rather a pain in the arse. If you are running out of time, and thinking you have to dry the skin, don't. Put it back in the freezer until you can find the time to finish. You can get away with this atleast a couple of times before you run into problems.
As a general rule the whole skinning process should happen in one setting, no drying of the skin before completion. Once skinned, it needs to be fleshed and fleshed well, meaning all the fat and extra meat in wings, legs, skull needs to be removed. Then it has to be washed. Then you dry the feathers, not the skin. At this point you can rub the skin with borax and mount. Even if you let the bird sit overnight with the borax on it, I doubt seriously that it would skrink enough that you would have problems reinverting the skull.
I am assuming this is your first bird, and from the sounds of it.. I don't feel that you have researched and read about proper procedure. If not, you're starting off on the wrong foot to begin with. Bird mounting 101 is a complex procedure and if you don't have a general understanding of what needs to happen then you're driving down a one way street backwards.
I apologize if this sounds harsh, it isn't intended to be. I'd be more than happy to help ya, but I just don't comprehend where you are going and what you're trying to do. Feel free to contact me via email and I can recommend some good study guides that I'm pretty sure will answer lots of your questions and get you on the right track.
Best Regards,
Jon~