I mounted my first Wood Duck Drake last week. It was my second duck ever. It had no black and white feathers on the sides or on the chest area maybe one or two but that was it. Do they loose these feathers at times? I know it was a poor speciman to begin with but all in all it came out ok. I think it took the full load of what seamed to be double O buck LOL. Just wondering about those feathers. Thanks Jack F.
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Here in central NC, we have a duck season that lasts 3-4 days at the end of Sept. or beginning of Oct. The main species killed is wood duck. I have lots of clients that try to bring them in at this time. They make poor mounts because they are so full of pin feathers. Once in a while, you will get a really mature bird that doesn't have quite as many pins as the younger birds. But still, the later in the winter into spring, the better the birds look.
Pin feathers are new feathers that replace feathers that were lost during molting. The pin feather shafts are soft and when they dry out, they shrink and fall out of this skin. Many times, pin feathers are lost during skinning, fleshing, and washing. Its hard to tell you what to look for from the feather side of the bird to determine if there are pin feathers. Once you know what they look like, you can easily spot them. From the skin side, pin feather quills are blackish in color. You can easily spot them when skinning. Usually if a bird has a lot of pin feathers, I will call the customer and tell them. I generally recommend NOT mounting these birds. They don't turn out well. I have mounted a few that didn't look so bad...but in general, highly pin feathered birds will make even the best taxidermist's work look substandard.
I often get woodies who don't have those beautiful black and white feathers. Usually the case is that those feathers are not fully grown when the duck was shot. Usually, the rest of the duck is fine, so a flying mount will probably work. I don't suggest doing a standing mount, since there are no feathers to tuck the wing into!
That is some very good information. I knew it had pin feathers when I skun the bird. Not as many as the black duck I mounted first but it had some. I have seen lots of those in my days as we raised our own chickens and butchered them. I mounted a greenwing teal hen for my third duck and it was a beautiful duck. It had no damage whitch was a plus and it had O pin feathers. That bird mounted up very nice. I have come to realize the better the speciman the better the mount. Thanks again. Jack f
Was it lead?