Hello, this is my 3rd duck I've mounted and I was just wanting to know how to get the feathers on the back of the bird to lay in a natural position. They look fluffy and unorganized rather than flat, smooth, and layered. All the other feathers look great except for the back feathers. The duck is a drake wigeon. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jeffrey
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Jeffery, it can be caused by several things , the body you are using could be to large causing the skin to be strecthed to tight and not allowing the feathers to lay into the correct places, legs being inserted to low on the body can tighten skin in the same fashion causing the same problem, wings inserted to far forward also can cause this, if all your insertion points are correct to your belief then I would say your skin in the back section is to dry, dampen skin with a wet cotten ball before mounting. Study the body after skinning your bird and see where the legs and wings were cut off in relation to the body you will be using, when you have anatomy correct every thing will fall into place making grooming the bird a breeze. good luck