My husband just shot his first turkey. It was a prize turkey - 20 pounds. The feathers are uncredible. Since we don't know when he will get another turkey, a prize one at that, we need to know how to dry the feathers to be able to mount them. We want it to be done right. Now, we were told by one of his buddies to put Borax on the meat to dry it out. Does this sound right?
How do we go about mounting the feathers ourselves or should we just stick to a taxodermist?
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When in doubt I would suggest taking the turkey to a taxidermist. To effeciently prepare the turkey feathers they must be washed and cleaned of ALL meat. Once this is done then they are boraxed and placed on a flat piece of foam. Once on the foam place pins in the feather quils (at least in three places). Let the feathers dry for a week and laying flat. Dust off the old borax and put new borax on them for another week. Do it again for the third time. Once this is dont the feathers should be dry and degreased. Mount to a board and there you go. Any feathers that are lost can be glued back in place. MAKE SURE YOU GET ALL THE MEAT OFF BEFORE YOU BORAX! Hope this helps, if you have anything else just email...Good luck
Stephen Godfrey Taxidermy
Go to Gander mountain or Cabellas....they sell turkey fan/beard mounting kits with instructions. Just make sure you get all the meat off and use bondo for the center of the fan. You can also prop the center of the fan up when it's laid out drying and pin the tips down (will give the fan a slight bow backward, towards the wall).
A nice touch is using the brass from the spent shell to cover the top part of the beard. Preferably the shell that killed the bird but any will work.