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You are in a losing situation. You can skin the duck for practice, but if you can't freeze it, it's going to be un-mountable by the time you have supplies. Borax is going to make the skin rock hard, and impossible to re-hydrate. Same with salt to a lesser degree. The legs and wing bones will lock up, and you will never make it work. Skin it, the toss it, and you'll be leagues ahead.

 

Joey’s right. Unless you can sneak it into the freezer without getting caught - I’m kidding (well, sort of ) - you don’t have any other viable alternatives. It will begin to rot quickly.

 

I’ll disagree as I would salt dry it and hydrate it later.
Birds that are shipped out of the country to here are generally skinned and salted. Yes it’s a pain but your not going to be that dried out. Make sure you do your best on getting the fat and meat off prior to salting.
no matter what your going to have an issues and personally check with your laws on waterfowl roadkills. That’s federal if it was wild and I’m not sure on them as I get them brought in legally.

 

I really don't like to see a novice start off with a challenging specimen. A freshly skinned duck offers enough challenges to a newbie. I don't care to work with salted ones, and I've mounted hundreds of ducks.

 

Don't invest in expensive Master's Blend on your first bird. Buy some glycerin from McKenzie, and mix it 1:1 with denatured alcohol and inject with a small (18-21) gauge needle. What species of duck is it?

 

Glycerin can be obtained at a pharmacy. It will plump the feet up, and with the denatured alcohol, do a better job of preservation than Master's Blend (MB), which does zero preservation. The glycerin mixture will dry much slower, several days, whereas MB cures immediately. Your major issue with a farm raised duck will be de-fatting. They are mega-fat compared to wild birds. Without any equipment, you will need to take a scalpel or razor blade, and cut VERY shallow lines in the fat about a quarter inch apart, then criss-cross them the same way. apply borax liberally, then lay the skin across something like a baseball or a light bulb, and cut the little checks off with a pair of scissors. You then sprinkle with borax and take a fine wire brush (like a wire toothbrush) and go over each area, before moving on. This seems impossible, but with a delicate hand, patience, and a little time, you will de-fat the bird.

 

Look up Matuska Taxidermy on you tube they have a some great video. One on feet injection.

 

Forget about gas. Don't ever start using it. You will need to wash your duck in mildly hot water saturated with Dawn. Wash, rinse, wash rinse, rinse rinse. Hang to let drip dry, then roll in a towel to remove excess moisture inside and outside. Use your hair dryer, and in 30-45 minutes it will be fluffy and dry. Don't get the duck super hot when drying. You can regulate this by the distance the dryer is from the plumage. Most people use a combination of carding and tape. Tape on the top side, then tape underneath. Remove the tape on the show side after a few days. Tape on the underside can remain til finishing.

 

Question Frank, I have a salted turkey (in my freezer right now at about -10 degrees), how would you suggest I rehydrate him?

 

Water, bactericide
It can be a long process as you have to work the skin. They just don’t hydrate like a normal skin does. Plus you may not have as much issues that you salt and froze it.

 

Isopropyl alcohol will work.