I'm attempting to mount my first pheasant with a kit I purchased online and I want to use the real head.
I have two questions that were not answered in the video.
1. What is the down side if I don't clean the bird in Coleman fuel? (in the instructions it says this step optional for upland birds)
2, When turning the head inside out one of the waddles pulled away from the eye hole.
It's still intact and I wonder if I can super glue this back into place later or should I start over with a different bird?
Thanks for any help/advice you can offer.
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the coleman fuel makes the bird dry faster after you wash it. I would not do that. It is DANGEROUS! Just wring it lightly in a towel and blow dry to fluff the feathers.
Just super glue the waddle back in place. It is your first bird. You can't expect perfection.
Some think Coleman fuel is used to degrease but most use it to displace water from the feathers. Use dawn detergent to clean and degrease the bird. Towel dry the feathers the best you can then use a hair dryer (set on cool) to fluff the feathers.
You can glue the waddles back or rebuild with Apoxy sculp.
(1)There's not going to be a downside by not using the fuel, but there will be if it's not degreased and cleaned properly.
(2) When you said it pulled away, do you mean a tear or cut? You might not even need to super glue. If you rebuild the wattles with clay you can work the wattle back together with a small tool. When the clay dries you will probably only have a small blemish or line that can be seen. That can be fixed if you paint the wattles which you should do anyway or they will fayed and discolor after several weeks. Hope this helps.
you have to completely turn the head inside out right up to the edges of the bill. The wattles are part of the head skin so they will turn out over the skull just as the rest of the skin. You will need to split the wattles to get them to fill properly. You should split both the cheek wattles and those above and in front of the eyes on both sides. Also make sure to use a sharp small scissors to remove the menbranes around the eyes. Good luck.
here is my tip take it for wat its worth i just started in taxidermy myself but here it goes. a thawed out pheasant with his internals still forze a bit or just cold seemed easier for me. they dont bleed which in turn eliminated the need for washing. invert the wings verse cutting them which eliminates sewing. plenty of borox cuts the grease and with a little care in keeping ur feathers off of the meat i havent had feathers get greasy. cut the back of skull off pick brain out and put borox in skull and it helps loosen excess brain matter from skull.lol others may only agree with the dummy part of this but i havent run into any problems doing it this way good luck