I have read through these forums with great interest for the last few years. Two items have been of particular interest, the debate on the use of Coleman fuel, and injecting duck wings. I used Coleman fuel for over 25 years and was always afraid of blowing up the house. It did have one Wood Duck ignite when I lit a smoke while working on it. How do you spell stupid? After reading this forum, I stopped using it. Guess what, I did get just as good results with out it. Not injecting the wings will be a little harder for me to get used to. I have always used Balmex with good results. I have taken current pictures of my mounts and posted them at http://www.geocities/cdhaynesjr/gallery.html
Some are 25 years old. It seems to me that if a mount has lasted that long, the process can't be all bad. Be gentle in your response, I'm an old man.
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And you're probably in the same ballpark as I with age, so let's not go there.
If there's meat, there's the right way and then there's the easy way out. I invert all my wings down to the wrist bone. On smaller birds, I inject, but the geese, turkeys, etc. get an incision and get cleaned out. Turkeys and flying geese get the incision from the elbow to the wrist as well. This allows the primaries to remain attached to the bone and allows me to secure the wire to the ulna and the humerous bones. I use aircraft safety wire and wire twisting pliers (sold by Harbor Freight if you aren't an aircraft mechanic) and those wires will stay put forever. On strutting turkeys, don't bother sewing. Staple them up as they're unseen anyway.
That meat you inject is still susceptible to bug infestations down the road and certainly a mouse attractant if you have those vermin around. Get the lead out, get the meat out.
BTW, Balmex is WWI embalming fluid. We've come a long way since 1919. If you don't know just how far, go to www.google.com and type in "balmex". There are 68,000 entries and almost every single one of them lists Balmex as an ointment for diaper rash.
I just reinspected my mounts - Not a single one has diaper rash. Thats one benefit I hadn't thought of. Thanks for your input.
Nooooooooooooooooo
The common defense in shortcuts always seems to be, "I have been doing it this way for years, and here's a picture of one in my living room from several years back, that still has no signs of grease or bugs". The problem, IMO, is that every bird that leaves your shop will be exposed to an entirely unique environment for the rest of its life. Someone made the good observation a few months back that many families travel during the summer months leaving their homes without AC. High heat and hummidity will certainly affect the way fat and/or meat left in the mount react. Imagine how much more dramatic this effect will be on a mount left in someone's hunting camp, which often isn't air tight to begin with and will likely not be occupied (by humans) for 8 months out of the year. Down here in the south, the hummidity is so bad during the spring, summer, and fall, you have to fight your way through it just to get from your house to the car (and when you get there, you're soaking wet). Naturally, if you live in the northern regions of the country, your mounts won't be impacted as much by hummidity. But, even if you are, do all of your mounts stay up north. This year alone I've mounted birds that ended up in 8 diffenent states. On the other hand, I must admit, I have only been in this business for five years, and have no experience working with Balmex or any other 'embalming' type chemical, and thus, may be deemed unqualified to even speak on the subject. Just putting in my two cents. Best of luck to you, though.