I've been doing birds for about 2 years now and still am having a hard time with the pheasant tail feathers staying in tact to the body through the tumbling process. Is there anyone out there that pulls them out or cuts them off at the ends then reconnects them during the mounting process. Is this a bad idea or what can I do to keep this from happening. Thanks in advance.
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Typical problems of destroying the tail feathers on longtailed birds during tumbling. remove them for best results.
its far easier. There is always more than one way to do things. I remove the tail be cutting around the tail feathers after the bird is skinned. I then take each feather out and clean the quills. Once done I position the feathers back in the attitude and spread I want for the mount and hot glue together on both sides. After the glue has cooled I bend 14 guage wire into a "U" shape and hotglue it to the underside of the tail feathers. Once cooled this allows for a stirdy reattachmemnt to the manikin. Good Luck. I do the same on grouse and turkeys.
Nate email me and I will tell you alittle trick that has helped me.
Ok I havent been on here for a while, been too busy. You can take them off if you want and it works great. I personally tumble them with them intact. The trick for me has been to run the tumbler on a slower gentler speed. Thats if you have variable speed control on your motor. it works for me. One issue you may find with a tumbler is that the tail may take on a slight curve to one side depending on the rotation direction of the tumbler. I feel that this is an accidental added life like touch that just happens. If you dont want that take them off. Removeing them and reinstalling them is very easy.