After much internal deliberation, I'm going to attempt my first taxidermy mount with the Turkey I shot Sat. Morning. (First 1 Yea Team!) Anyway I have the bird wrapped and frozen patiently awaiting the procedure. I am now taking the time to aquire the appropriate materials via the Archives, books ordered thru WASCO, ect. Knowing that the only way to learn is to do, are there any other tips that yall may suggest to help things along? George was kind enough to provide me a "Plan B" in case I really screw the pooch on this for a nice fan and beard mount. I had'nt anticipated a bird to be my first mounting exercise, but hey, ya gotta start somewhere! I have time as I am awaiting materials & additional information. I have also been told that Turkey innerds have a smell that will knock a buzzard off a $@#t wagon at 100 yds, any tips on this aspect? Being as I have been studying mammals more than birds your tips are appreciated! Many thanks in advance! Have a great day!
Mac
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Mac,
Congrats on your harvest! Now comes the fun part.. First you need to decide how you want to mount the bird, because this will dictate some of the skinning procedures. If you are attempting a strut mount then I'd go with the modular system like Ferebee,s or others, this is where I'd take the wings off and process them separately. If you are doing a standing or flying mount I would leave the wiings on. Turkeys take time to skin, but it's like any bird, you start down the middle of the breast from the crop down to the tail. Then I like the separate the skin down to the back of the bird on both sides. Then I work down to the legs, on any mount I do I cut the legs off at the knee joint and process them separately too. This also makes it easier to get the skin around the leg. With the legs done I go after the wings. I flesh around the joint of the humerus bone (where it attachs to the body) and cut the tendons holding the joint, this frees the wing. (I flesh out the wing later when processing the skin). I then roll the bird and skin around to the back as far as I can. After the wings are free I'll go back to the tail and flesh down as far as possible until I'm at the base of the primary feathers. then I use scissors to cut right at the base of those feathers. Then usaully I cut the tail off the bird leaving 1" of skin around the base in case I want to sew it back on. Now I can process the tail in any fashion I want. Now comes the fun part, around the neck and crop/gobblesack. I use a sharp razor blade and carefully skin around the sack. Sometimes if it's fresh you can use borax powder to separate it with your fingers by prying it. Once you get around crop then it's down to the neck. Notice I left the head for last, this is usually the bloodiest part (it did take the shot load there). So I try to skin up the neck as far as I can, then I start at the base of the waddles and start skinning down the neck. If I can't release all the skin, then I cut the head off at the neck try to control the bleeding, then pull the neck through on the body side, skinning it as you go. Now with everything removed, if I got blood on the neck feathers, I like to wash that out with dawn/water mix immediately. I then flesh out the wings (ulna and radius) right up to the carpal joint, most times I go into metacarpel area and flesh that out too. Now alls you need to do is clean up the skin and put it on the wire wheel to open up the fat cells, these are the worse along the sides, legs and the back of the bird. Then I wash the bird and prepare it for mounting by degreasing it, wash it again then I usually soak it in colemans fluid to remove the water. I then tumble it for 15-20 minutes off to the mounting stage.. Good luck hope this helps some, look at the archives for other pro's procedures..
Tom
congrats on your bird. i skin all my birds by cutting skin loose around the knee then cut from knee to knee and skin it that way leaving both bones in leg. not sure whish body you going to use. some have build in drumsticks & others dont . so you may need both bones. .skin the legs out then work way to the tail cut it off then to the back & wings. i leave the wings attached to the skin.then to the "mess" the crop it will be bloody so take your time here & try not to cut any holes. then skin down neck & cut off head.
then i do as tom wash a few times in dawn till water is clear then in some paint thinner , then in the tumbler for about 15 min.
i've been doing turkeys for about 12yrs. now & still learn something new each time i do one .i would say make sure you body fits you skin. you need to have some room to "taxi" the skin around.and also make sure ALL your feather tracks our 100% dry before you start mounting . but you also want the skin to be moist.
i say get some tapes & watch our there are some good articals in breakthroought.
Tomdes & Tim,
Appreciate your time & info. Being as the bird is fairly small, 12-13 Lbs, I am contemplating a basic standing mount, nothing fancy. The bird was on ice within 20 minutes of being shot and was in the freezer by the end of the day with the tail feathers protected in cardboard and the whole bird in a plastic bag. I am still looking at my supplier catalogs and am going to be ordering some reference books for later on. Ensuring I get the appropriate incision and where exactly to make the cuts (I need to learn my bird anatomy more also!)on the wing joints is my greatest concern. My Books & Video are on their way from WASCO as I type and I have to get another order in for a few tools as well. I have read that some use puffed borax during the skinning of some fowl, is this something mainly for smaller birds, I'll be looking that up t-night in the archives (On the tail end of lunch now) as well. Again, many thanks for your comments and suggestions. It is greatly appreciated.
.....Before you start to run. In this case you are doing a marathon!Get it skinned out and freeze it and then get yoursef a good bird mounting book. Read is cover to cover, several times, and find some smaller birds to get some practice on. To run a marathon you need to get into shape by training, taxidermy is no different.
Without some kind of practice, before you attempt this bird, you could get very discouraged in a big hurry.
Does it have a beard? Have a bottle of Captain Morgan around incase something goes bad. Works for me! Got a 23lber in the freezer that I'll be mounting strut pose in 3wks.
Mac, my friend killed a 22 lb. turkey last year. I have wantched my dad (35) yr taxidermist. He was busy last year so I took on the task of skinining this bird out. My advice is get a video (like I did). The tape I watched about 10 times was on a struting bird. My friend wanted the gobblin bird on a branch. I skined the bird except for the wings. My dad and I just mounted this bird last week. He was been in the freezer for 10 months. He looks fine! Don't forget to get the marrow out for the legs, with a wire it comes out easy. Also don't forget to inject the wing tips and legs. My best advice is get a video. I use an artifical head. I wondering what color to paint the open mouth. They always tell you about the head but mine is a open mouth. Hope the helps you. And go ahead skin him out you want have any problems if you tak your time, Alota skining is with your fingers. The skin will just slip right off around the neck. You can use your fingers to get around the legs.
...but his spurs are bout non-existent. He was one of those Oh crap he's right on top of me situations, (I was making my way back to my truck at the time and made 2 quick clucks then here he come!) and you know how it goes hunting, they always look bigger before you take them! LOL! Capt. Morgan"s? Naw, no thanks, I"ve a bottle of 12 yr old Scotch that would do the trick if needed but I am optimistic and do not anticipate crackin the seal just yet. Ol Fart, would you mind elaborating as to what birds you would suggest? I am not against experienced opinions as yall have walked this same path at one time or another. You have peaked my curiosity as to why you suggest a smaller bird. I have read in the archives, I believe, that other birds have a tougher skin and that a turkey's is more delicate. Is that part of it? I have definitely spent more than one semester at the "School of Hard Knocks and Stubborn Students" so again, I am open to suggestion. I would like to get the bird skinned so that we may enjoy his bounty, but do not want to rush to open him. I have read about doing a ventral incision, and working from the bottom up, but that was on waterfowl and I believe the dove done in Breakthrough was accomplished the same way. I have also read bout folk doing an incision from leg to leg so as to preserve the breast feathers. I have books & videos on the way to add to my growing collection and have no intention of even looking at the bird until I have repeatedly reviewed the book & video. Again, I appreciate all of yells suggestions and comments and am trying to look at this from all angles before I dive into anything. Thanx.
Mac
I know a few hunters that WISH they could get a bird called-in AND see it. Check out the informative articles in "Breakthrough" and "Taxidermy Today" on this subject, they're complete with the instructional pictures to guide you. If you can, refer to the articles by/about Roger Martin(of Martin Industries)-they are really easy to follow(and Roger will even encourage you to call him-if you have any questions about the procedures). He's been a great Instructor at the seminars I've attended. Hope this helps-Susan
I have a subscription to Breakthrough and more than likely shall be following up with Taxidermy Today. I've read that issue many times over and learn something every time. I shall definately keep Roger in mind. (I'll be printing this thread later on and as it gets updated) I've to get back to the archives & keep adding to my notes while I can keep my eyes open! Long Day. Thanx again.
Mac
and see if he has any of his instruction sheets that he gives out at his seminars. If not, e-mail me and I'll try to get a copy of mine to you. I don't have his number in front of me, but if you look up a few posts to the one about wholesale turkeys in Missouri, his number is there. Good luck. BP
I most certainly will! ;)