Can any of you Alaskan taxidermists tell me if it's possible to get a mountable ptarmigan that's in the brown phase or the in between phase? All those that I have had the misfortune to work on have been pathetic birds for mounting. But I have seen some pretty decent looking mounts of birds that are half and half. I have a customer who is looking to get a mount of the winter and brown phases and I have my doubts if we can get him decent birds. I know the winter(white) birds will be fine.
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Lot's of pin feathers when they're "in between", but most certainly mountable. All brown aren't a problem, but generally nobody is hunting them that time of year. I have rock ptarmigan and willows both in the in between stage in my house. They look great. I have a pair of white tail ptarmigan that are all white too. I don't currently have any in my freezer, or I'd fix you up. Where we hunted caribou this year, there was SQUAT for ptarmigan........
Yes you can, I have about 25 to do for customers at the present time.
Both Rocks and Willows. They already turned and the only extras I have right know are all white. Let me know if you need any help.
They are abit harder to do when the pin feathers are thick.
-northern wings
.....I've mounted a lot of them, too. With the exception of a handful, the half and half birds have been so full of pinfeathers, they were unmountable or made poor mounts at best. The few that mounted up well were very nice birds. But I want to know...... when is it that the good half and half birds are taken? Those that the guys shoot in the fall, when they are hunting are never good. But the ones that come from "a friend" in Alaska are sometimes very good. Is is just LUCK or is there a particular time that a half and half bird can be taken with a reasonable certainty that it will be a mountable bird?
One of the very best birds I ever mounted was a true half and half bird, front half brown and back half white. Was this bird taken at a particular time of year to get this phase? Or was it just a case of dumb luck?
Seems to me the best half & half ones I've killed is when it's freezing early in the fall. Dumb luck or coincidence, I don't know. I've never killed one in the spring when they're changing back to brown. Season closes in March or April, depending on the unit. They're still fully white then...
Just in general, I don't need a specific location.
is where I live. Anchorage is where I punch the time-clock.....
I have an old high school buddy who recently contacted me from Alaska. He's lived there for many years, but I haven't heard from him in along time. He offered to get some ptarmigan for me, but he didn't know just when to harvest them. I wanted to get the right birds rather than waste money shipping junk down here.
should be good. Tried to snow here in Los Anchorage today. Frost just about every morning. Anywhere north they should be in good shape now. Maybe getting a little too white for what you want. Where is your buddy?
.....He seems to move around a lot. He sent me an email a couple months ago through his brother. We've been in touch a couple times since then. He was home about 8 years ago and we got together then. before that it was 30 years ago that I last saw him. I'd rather get "good" white birds than marginal birds with mixed color, so I think I'll have him wait til a bit later in the year. Maybe next year I'll see if he can get me some of those "early frost" birds that you mentioned were decent.
Well I am pretty sure they are 100% white.
Up at high elevations where we get them, the last bunch of Rocks I guy showed my digital photos of were all white and walking around in a foot of snow.
How many white Ptarmigan do you need? I may sell afew frozen specimens this year also Spruce Grouse, Sharp-Tailed Grouse and Ruffed Grouse we will see.
-Northern Wings