To start off I'm not a man of great patience but I am learning. The woodduck is the hardest animal/bird that I have mounted yet. I have a few problems/questions with these birds.
I have yet to have a woodduck manican fit the woodducks I am working on, the manicans are always to big and I have to widdle them down.
I would much rather do a flying mound of a D woodduck because of the gold feathers. I have been having a heck of a time getting the gold feathers up over the wings correctly and normally just give up and leave em under the wings. Where might I be going wrong? Is there a trick? I am cutting the manican for the wingbones to fit in. These birds are still turning out beautiful but the gold feathers is what makes a wooduck mount in my mind.
These things are a pain in the butt and I have 12 more of them in the freezer. Frustrating! Im ready for fish taxidermy season.
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Though I much prefer a standing woodie to a flyer because I can display the crest and topknot, a flyer can best be displayed with BOTH wings vertical. This allows you to adjust the golden guard feathers as well as the sergeants stripes where they can be seen from all angles.
Sounds like the body is to big and will not allow you to position the skin properly, allowing the gaurd feathers to allign. What "brand" bodies have you tried? Ferebee's seem to run big for me while some of the others are OK. You can always wrap your own, using the bird as your pattern.
Start shooting bigger birds or start using smaller bodies. :)
Are you measuring your body after skinning? This is the most important thing you can do. Then go just a hair smaller(especially on standing mounts) when ordering your body...Many of the bodies in the catalogs are just to damn big...(Christy Alley big) This should help you out, but Wood Ducks are a tough!
Dont order a WOOD DUCK BODY. Order a DUCK body with the right diensions. Doesnt hurt to keep that body as a reference. A lot of skin degrease per and freeze. Then order your body, thaw and mount. Dont Assume your bird will have a body that matches the catalog. Right now, I have a mallard that doesnt fit ANYTHING, cuz he is so huge! Just did a nice snow goose that was too small for all the snow goose manikins.
With the feather placement, reference is always your bible. Study the whoooole bird. It seems you really need pull that skin UP and forward on wodies to get it all in the right spot. If you are doing work for others, get used to em. Everybody wants one!
From time to time folks have a problem with wing placement. Where you attach the wing and how you fold it for placement in the wing pocket is critical. Whether you carved a recess out or left the humerous head on the wings bone without the associated depression in the manikin can also create the challenge you describe. Although I agree it sounds like the manikin you selected was too big. Inaccurate placement of the wings can easily cause the same problem if they are too low on the manikin. It is also possible that you were too generous with replacing the meat on the bones causing the wings to not lay properly on the manikin. Keep trying and it will work. I frequently have to alter manikins for any number of reasons - they are just not perfect for every bird. Good Luck
A few swipes of the sure form with the carcass on the bench to measure by and you would be able to have exactly what you want..
I use a big set of calipers to get the right dimensions on the form. Measure on the duck carcass between the wing joints, from front of breast to tip of tail,widest width across breast and deepest point from back to bottom of breast. All a bird form does is gives you a place to secure your wires so any form will work, but you must alter them to the right dimensions. I rarely rebuild the meat on wing bones on standing birds, preferring to tuck caulk or cotton after it is mounted to rebuild those trouble spots-something to try in the future...
I usually make the form quite a bit smaller. This gives a lot of slack to the sides and wing pockets. I pull the feathers up and over the wings, and keep adjusting till it is right. I know some people say to use forms the same size as the bird's body, but for me, smaller forms usually work for nice standing mounts.
Becky