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Can you breast a turkey and still mount it?
You can enjoy the meat of the turkey without risking having a great mount, but the skinning process should be handled carefully. As already advised, it is best to get the whole carcass to the taxidermist — don’t skin it unless you are a taxidermist yourself or there is some compelling reason to do so.
When should you mount a turkey?
Once the turkey has cooled off a bit, it’s time to get it to the taxidermist or into cold storage. “If you can get the turkey to your taxidermist within six to eight hours from the shot, then do that,” Roub says. “Most taxidermists can skin the bird on the spot and give the hunters the meat.”
Protect Your Turkey, a Specimen for the Taxidermist
What if you’re in turkey camp and have limited cold storage? Or what if, like me, you really want to eat your turkey now and can’t wait for a taxidermist to skin it for you? Both taxidermists interviewed prefer to skin the birds themselves, but Roub says the process for skinning your bird is the same as your taxidermist would use.
Start with an extremely sharp or replaceable blade knife, or even a disposable scalpel available at medical supply stores. The first step is to wring the legs exactly where the feathers meet the skin. Pick up the feathers and curl the skin underneath so you don’t cut off the small feathers.
Once you’ve cut the skin where it meets the feathers, make a cut down the inside of one leg to just in front of the opening and along the inside of the other leg until you reach the ringed cut on the opposite side.
Gently begin to peel the skin off the legs, eventually working up the turkey’s body, folding the skin back and inward like a sock as you go. Cut under the fatty connective tissue holding the base of the fan together and separate the vertebrae in the coccyx. Leave the fan attached to the back of the cloak.
When you get to the wings, separate the joint where the wing meets the body. Leave the wing bones in each wing; Simply cut through the joint where the drumette portion of the grand piano attaches to the spine.
Continue peeling the skin down to the neck of the turkey. Once you are above the body and the neck is exposed, cut through the spine leaving the head attached to the feathers. Fold the skin, feather side out.
You can freeze or refrigerate your turkey skin at this point. As with a whole bird, protect the head by covering it with a freezer bag and securing it with rubber bands or string. Lay the turkey cape on its back with its wings spread. Fold the fan up and over the bird’s belly. Next, fold in both wings to cover the fan. Finally, fold the head down over the wings. The turkey cape should be in a compact package at this point. Slide the folded cape into a garbage bag, squeeze out excess air, and freeze or refrigerate.
Hancock prefers to skin his birds himself. Once the hunter has wrapped the head in paper towels and plastic and secured the tail between sheets of cardboard, Hancock suggests tucking the head under one of the wings and then shoving the entire package into a large garbage bag. Squeeze excess air out of the bag and secure it around the bird with several wraps of tape to immobilize the wings while the bird is in the freezer or being transported to the taxidermist.
How much does it cost to full body mount a turkey?
…
| Species | Price |
|---|---|
| Turkey Standing | $475 |
| Turkey Flying | $500 |
| Turkey Strutting | $575 |
| Quail | $190 |
Protect Your Turkey, a Specimen for the Taxidermist
Deposits are required for all customers before work begins. Game Heads, Novelty Mounts and Fish Mounts require an initial 25% deposit. Bird and Waterfowl mounts require an initial 50% deposit. Deposits are non-refundable. Prices may vary and are subject to change. The average completion time is generally 8-12 months depending on the type and mount selected. The completion time for fish assembly is generally 12 months. Completed mounts not collected after 30 days will be deemed abandoned and become the property of Mounted Memories Taxidermy. Dressing and tanning is at the risk of the owner.
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Game heads and shoulder mounts
Species Shoulder mounted life-size Mount Whitetail Deer $525 Mule Deer $1700 $550 Antelope $1800 $550 Caribou $900 $3100 Moose $1300 Buffalo $5500 Buffalo $600 Rabbit $225 Squirrel $225 Mink $250 Raccoon $375 Beaver $500
*Price for life size mounts varies by size, mount position and type of base. The above prices refer to stock forms, simple bases and skins not in need of repair. Any life size mount must be specified. The above prices are estimates only. All mounts are professionally tanned.
Add $15.00 to each item for name tags.
Add $150 for each mount with an open mouth.
Add $25/hr added for extra bust stitching
» Shoulder Mount Gallery | » Photo gallery of the life-size mount
Mounts for birds and waterfowl
Species Price Pheasants $275 Capercaillie $225 Ducks $325 Small and Ross geese $325 Snow geese $345 Blue geese $345 Canada geese $425 Turkey standing $475 Turkey flying $500 Turkey strutting $575 Quail $190
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fish mountains
Species Price Walleye $18 per inch Bass $18 per inch Crappies $18 per inch Northern & Muskie $18 per inch Salmon & Trout $18 per inch Panfish (under 13 inches) $235 (minimum base price) Reproductions $25.00 per inch
* Prices are for brackets only. Driftwood and additional scene work can be added for an additional fee.
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badge holders
Species Price Deer (Oak or Walnut) $95 Antelope (Oak or Walnut) $100 Moose/Caribou (Oak or Walnut) $175 European Deer (White)
$125 European Deer Mount (Silver or Bronze)
$125 European Deer Mount (with plaque) $165 Laser Story turkey tail (oak) $150 Crested turkey tail (oak) $135 Trimline turkey trim (oak or walnut) $85 Turkey trim (oak or walnut) $110 Beard turkey trim $75
» Plaque and Novelty Mount Gallery
Do you field dress a turkey?
Turkeys should be field dressed as soon as possible to allow the carcass to cool faster and help prevent the meat from spoiling. It doesn’t take long and all you need is a small sharp knife.
Protect Your Turkey, a Specimen for the Taxidermist
Let’s assume your hunt was a success. Your turkey is down. Congratulations! Once the excitement dies down and your heart stops beating, it’s time to take care of this bird.
Well, take photos first. Treat any animal you kill with respect, so make sure the bird is tastefully displayed and that you can see its beard and bright head.
Turkeys should be prepared in the field as soon as possible so that the carcass cools faster and the meat does not spoil. It doesn’t take long and all you need is a small sharp knife.
When the weather is cool, spoilage is not an immediate concern, but, gutted or not, do not leave a turkey in the sun—either outside or in a vehicle—as dark feathers absorb heat. Hang it in the shade if you can’t handle it right away. Filling the body cavity with ice also helps cool the meat.
HERE ARE THE STEPS TO FIELD DRESSING A TURKEY:
1. Lay the bird on its back with its feet facing you.
2. Feel for the top of the breastbone where it forms a V pointing towards the anus. Pull the tip up and make a shallow cut in the skin. Then carefully cut through the skin—just the skin, don’t pierce the intestines—to the anus.
3. Carefully cut a circle around the anus, again being careful not to puncture the intestines. You can reach inside and follow the guts to the anus and then carefully cut all the way around the exterior.
4. Reach into the body cavity and pull out the intestines. You should be able to feel the gizzard, grab it and pull out with your intestines. You’ll likely have to reach back inside to remove the heart, lungs, and other tissue. Be careful not to leave anything in the body cavity. Some keep the gizzard, heart, and liver, known as offal, for gravy or stuffing.
5. If you have clean water, rinse and drain the body cavity. Or pat the cavity dry with paper towels.
If you plan to mount the bird, stop right there and take it to the taxidermist as soon as possible. A tip: Take nylon stockings or tights with you in your backpack, preferably an old disposable item, maybe from your mother, sister or aunt. Or a cheap stocking bought for this purpose. Slide the turkey upside down into the stocking. The tight nylon keeps springs in place and prevents damage. If you can’t get to the taxidermist right away, put your stockinged turkey in a garbage bag and then in the freezer.
If you don’t mount the bird, you can remove the beard by grasping it close to the body and pulling it away from the body with a sharp twisting motion, cutting it with your knife. To remove the fan, another nice trophy, carefully snip the skin away from the tail, gently tugging as you cut. Save your spurs too.
The next step is preparing your turkey for the table.
What are taxidermy animals stuffed with?
The stuffing itself—shavings known as wood wool or excelsior—can be found at craft stores. Taxidermists then add glass eyes, paint and makeup. It helps to have a strong gut.
Protect Your Turkey, a Specimen for the Taxidermist
Emily Humphries takes a frozen crow from her kitchen freezer, sets it on a metal workbench in her garage, and lights a scented candle. She draws a scalpel across the bird’s chest, pulling back the thin layer of skin and preparing to stuff it. Despite the candle, the smell of decaying carcasses hangs in the air.
Humphries, a film student at Portland State University in Spokane, recently had a mounted moose tattooed on her chest above the words Taxis Derma. She traded with the tattoo artist for one of her creations, a stuffed and mounted mole.
Humphries, 22, is one of a growing number of do-it-yourself taxidermists, many of whom are self-taught and work on roadkill or other dead animals they capture. Humphries, who says the hobby has become an obsession, recently completed a raccoon and a bush jay.
“I like the process of taking something,” she says, “seeing it work and then bringing it back to life.”
Taxidermy has long been a staple of museums and the living rooms of hunters looking to display their prey. It has long been dismissed as cruel art that is passé and cliche.
But interest in art has resurfaced – fueled by an eye for kitsch. It seems that no hip restaurant or bar can do without a mounted animal head.
“It’s morbid and weird, but there’s something classy about it,” says Brooke Weston, a chef with Whole Foods whose stuffed animals were recently featured at the Globe on Southeast Belmont Street. “It’s engaging and hilarious and ironic.”
John Janelli, a Florida taxidermist and vice president of the National Taxidermy Association, has also noticed an increased interest in his field. He says the internet has helped make how-to guides widely available as the art itself comes back into vogue. “Normal people roll up their sleeves and get in,” he says.
Paxton Gate, a natural science store on North Mississippi Avenue, has sold many taxidermy since it opened last year, often to bar and restaurant owners looking for signature pieces.
“People tell us about projects they’re doing with street kill and animal bones they’ve collected,” says co-owner Andrew Brown. “There’s definitely a steady rise in the trendline in this stuff.”
Debee Smith, a bartender at the Florida Room in North Portland, does freelance taxidermy in her small Northeast studio.
“It’s pretty incredible to get up close and personal with an animal that you wouldn’t normally interact with at all,” says Smith. “There’s something almost mystical about looking a beast like that in the eye.”
Like many hobbyists and local artists, Smith retrieves dead animals from the cityscape.
“I got a call from a girl who saw a squirrel get electrocuted and fall off a power line,” Smith said. “I was there in a few minutes.”
Smith is a graduate of the Oregon Taxidermy School, founded by Caleb May in 2007 in response to an intense interest in the art. May says he’s had no trouble filling his five-week training course; The cost can be $6,000. It costs $5,000 if you BYOA – bring your own pet.
But the self-taught have no problems getting the key material for work. “Borax,” says Humphries. “Lots and lots of borax.” The white powdered mineral helps absorb blood and other fluids, preventing hands from slipping while muscles and tendons are pulled from bone.
The filling itself — shavings known as wood shavings or wood shavings — can be found at craft stores. Taxidermists then add glass eyes, paint and makeup.
It helps to have a strong gut. To prepare the crow, Humphries hangs the bird on hooks. “At that point,” she says, “you just pull the skin off like a sock.” She also recommends VapoRub under the nose to reduce odor.
But it turns out that taxidermy as a kitchen-table hobby can be illegal without the appropriate OK from wildlife authorities.
Under state and federal law, only licensed recreational hunters, licensed rehabilitators, and educators are allowed to collect dead wildlife—even the crushed possum in front of your home.
Other laws designed to discourage poaching may also apply. But these permits only go so far. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act, for example, makes it a federal offense (up to six months in prison and a maximum fine of $15,000) to own any part of a protected bird, including a crow like the one Humphries worked on.
The risks don’t discourage hobbyists. “I know I’m not doing major surgery,” says Humphries, “so I’m not overly concerned.”
Not everyone sees taxidermy as a harmless art form. “We would never preserve and exhibit a beloved human family member,” Nicole Dao, spokeswoman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, wrote in a prepared statement in response to WW’s questions. “Photographs and video footage of animals in their natural habitat, showing how they interact, play, forage, and even relax, tell us much more about their behavior than a taxidermy.”
Not surprisingly, PETA is also critical of “Frankenstein” — an art form of mixing and matching animal body parts. A YouTube video demonstrating the steps for attaching duck feet to a mouse body has more than 35,000 views.
“It’s a morbid and irreverent hobby, like patching a piece of his dead grandmother’s foot onto the head of a stranger who’s been hit by a car because you feel like it,” says Dao.
Humphries doesn’t condone this kind of mashup prep. But she says many people reject what she calls the “hardcore PETA mentality.” She is a vegan and animal lover who sees art as respectful.
“People in Portland seem really anxious to use what they can find and not waste it,” she says. “Egyptians used to only keep the most important people, so I really honor these animals.”
WWeek 2015
Turkey Taxidermy Pt 2(Gobbling on a limb)
See some more details on the topic turkey mount on limb here:
Turkey Limbs – McKenzie Taxidermy Supply
These Turkey limbs are incredibly realistic artificial limbs. McKenzie offers several habitat display bases for Turkey mounts.
Source: www.mckenziesp.com
Date Published: 7/21/2021
View: 3329
Turkey Mounts On A Limb – Muhammad Ardhi
If you’re looking for a unique way to display your turkey, conser mounting it on a limb. This will give your guests something.
Source: muhammadardhi.com
Date Published: 3/28/2022
View: 6211
Limbs and Branches – Rocky Mountain Materials
Limbs and Branches. AL 700 – Rocky Mountain Artificial Turkey Limb. $69.95. $69.95. AL 707 – Apple Wood Artificial Turkey Limb.
Source: www.mountainmaterials.net
Date Published: 11/8/2021
View: 7785
Turkey Limbs ( by Mike Vernelson)… – Hazel Creek Taxidermy
Turkey Limbs ( by Mike Vernelson) ready to ship. Highly detailed & painted. Best part are the plugs on the bottom to cover up attatchment. The larger limb “ The …
Source: www.facebook.com
Date Published: 7/7/2021
View: 6217
turkey limb alternative ??? | Taxidermy.net Forum
Looking for turkey roost limbs eas as I have several roost/gooble turkey mounts to do. The ones in McKenzie are pretty expensive so I’m …
Source: www.taxidermy.net
Date Published: 8/9/2021
View: 2088
Turkey Taxidermy Gallery
Turkey Taxermy Gallery · 122 – World Slam on Barnboard · 121 – Strut on Limb Left Turn · 120 – Ocellated Cock-Tailed Strut on Metal · 119 – Strut on Marsh Scenery …
Source: hazelcreekinc.com
Date Published: 6/6/2022
View: 4896
Turkey Limbs
You never have to wade through a pile of driftwood looking for the perfect turkey limb. These turkey limbs are incredibly realistic artificial limbs. McKenzie offers several habitat display bases for turkey mounts.
Turkey Mounts On A Limb
Have you ever seen a turkey climbing a limb? It’s quite a sight. Turkeys are known to strut and fight; When they put on a show, it’s something to watch. Take photos or video if you’re lucky enough to see a turkey climbing a limb! It’s sure to be a memorable moment.
How do you prepare a turkey leg?
While it may sound like a complicated process, dissecting a turkey leg is fairly simple. The first step is to remove the skin from the leg, being careful not to damage the underlying muscle tissue. Next, the tendons and bones are removed, leaving only the muscle and fat.
The muscle is then everted so that the grain runs in the same direction as the wood grain used to attach the leg. Once that’s done, the muscle is placed in a mixture of salt and borax that helps preserve it. Finally, the muscle is sewn onto a piece of wood or other support and left to dry. With a little patience and time, you can easily make your prepared turkey leg.
When Should You Mount a Turkey?
Once you’ve taken your trophy turkey, it’s important to get it to the taxidermist or cold store as soon as possible. Ideally, you should have it there within 6-8 hours of recording. If you can’t do that, the next best thing is to store it in a cool, dry place. If it’s too hot or too humid, the meat will spoil and the feathers will fall out.
If you are storing the turkey in a freezer, wrap it tightly in plastic to keep it from drying out. Taxidermists can work with almost any condition, but the sooner you get your turkey to them the better. With a little care, your trophy can last for years.
How do you assemble a turkey?
Before you can assemble a turkey, you need to prepare the fan. First remove any smaller springs that are not part of the fan. Next, cut off the tailbone, and then remove excess meat. Once the fan is prepared, each feather needs to be separated. Once separated, you can coat the flesh with borax to preserve it.
After the borax has been applied, you will need to lay the fan flat on a piece of cardboard to dry. To speed up the drying process, you can use body filler. As soon as the filler has dried, your turkey fan can be assembled.
How much does a full body turkey mount cost?
The price of a full body turkey mount depends on the position of the bird. A standing turkey mount typically costs $475, while a flying turkey mount typically costs $500. A prancing turkey mount typically costs $575.
The typical price for a full body quail mount is $190. These prices are for the mounts only and do not include shipping costs or other additional charges. Full body mounts are usually shipped within 4-6 weeks of the bird being killed.
How do you assemble a turkey cape?
In taxidermy, putting on a turkey cape begins with skinning the bird. The next step is to turn the skin inside out, starting at the neck. Once the skin is rotated, it should be stretched over a wire frame.
The wire mesh is then attached to a piece of wood that will serve as the base. The final step is to add artificial eyes and attach the feet. This process can be challenging, but with great attention to detail, it is possible to create a mount that looks lifelike and natural.
How do you assemble a strutting turkey?
To mount a strutting turkey, you must first find a good spot on the bird.
The best place to mount the turkey is usually just behind the wings. Once you find a good spot, carefully lift the wings and insert the mounting bracket. Once the bracket is in place, screw it into the wood and tighten. That’s all there is to it! After that, you’ll be mounting a strutting turkey like a pro in no time.
Can you assemble a turkey head?
To mount a strutting turkey, you must first find a good spot on the bird. The best place to mount the turkey is usually just behind the wings. Once you find a good spot, carefully lift the wings and insert the mounting bracket.
Once the bracket is in place, screw it into the wood and tighten. That’s all there is to it! With a little patience and practice, you’ll be able to mount a strutting turkey like a pro in no time.
For many, mounting a strutting turkey is the perfect way to show off their hunting skills. Not only is it an impressive display of taxidermy, but it can also be a conversation starter at parties or other gatherings. If you’re interested in mounting your strutting turkey, there are a few things to keep in mind. First of all, it is important to choose a quality turkey feed. This will ensure your mount looks realistic and will last for many years.
Second, you must be careful when attaching the turkey’s wings and tail feathers. If done improperly, these parts can easily break off. Finally, it’s important to position the turkey mount so that it’s visible but out of the way. By following these tips, you can create an impressive display to impress your friends and family.
summary
If you’re looking for a unique way to display your turkey, consider attaching it to a branch. This gives your guests something to talk about and can be a great conversation starter. This method of presenting your turkey is not only unique, but affordable and easy to perform. All you need is a piece of wood, some wire, and some nails or screws. Follow these simple steps and you will have a unique turkey mount that will amaze your friends and family.
Protect Your Turkey, a Specimen for the Taxidermist
If you plan to have your trophy processed by a taxidermist, discuss this with them beforehand. He can give you information about the care and preparation of the preparation and tell you how to get it to him. Taxidermists make shoulder mounts, tapestries, and whole turkeys. Whole turkeys in strutting and flying postures usually cost more than standing ones. Expect to pay between $300 and $500 for a full mount, or possibly more.
By Lovett Williams
Don’t allow an amateur to mount your trophy unless you intend to let them keep it. Amateurs who do acceptable work on deer heads will not achieve your wild turkey trophy. Birds are particularly difficult for many laypeople. I have never seen a satisfactory turkey assembly job from a layman. Select a commercial taxidermist based on the work you know they have done. Check out his turkey work and be sure the same person at the shop is making your bird.
Viewing competition mounts is one way to assess taxidermy, but be aware that the work you receive will not match work done by the same taxidermist for competition purposes. Competition work is done with the judges in mind and is very time consuming. Judges have esoteric methods of grading work, and taxidermists must conduct competitive work with this in mind.
Discuss with your taxidermist the mount’s posture and substrate, as well as the type of head and neck you desire. The head types to choose from are freeze dried, dead bird scalp, dead bird molded man-made material, or pre-molded plastic.
maintenance of the specimen
If you can’t get full on-site care instructions from a taxidermist, here’s what to do. Make sure you have a large plastic bag at camp and a cooler big enough to hold the bird without pinching its tail. You’ll need ice or a refrigerator if you plan on getting the whole specimen intact to the taxidermist, and a box of salt or borax if you plan on removing the skin.
Take some paper towels with you into the woods. Shoot the eater in the head and hope it dies quietly. As you’ve seen before, he’ll likely strut around a bit when he expires.
Do not attempt to restrain a turkey when it is dying unless you have experience handling live turkeys. Don’t pick the bird up by the legs – you can get a nasty spur bite. Don’t try to hold him – you’ll just knock out more feathers. If you have compelling reasons to handle a dying turkey, hold one leg in each hand and watch out for the spurs.
Broken wings and legs, feathers thrown up in the mud and smeared with blood, and shot wing and tail feathers don’t make a good mount. Taxidermists can wash specimens, but washed bird feathers usually don’t look as good as feathers that haven’t had to be washed. I’ve ridden birds myself, and I know that a clean skin makes a better mount.
If a turkey is disabled but has its eyes wide open, approach ready to fire again. Stand far enough away that a second shot doesn’t ruin the specimen, and if you must shoot, be sure to shoot him in the head. A taxidermist can mend a badly shot head better than a shot-up carcass.
If the turkey doesn’t die within minutes, take it out with a smack on the back of the head with whatever comes closest to a blackjack you can find. When the turkey stops moving, grab it by its bare legs or neck. Don’t put pressure on the body feathers – they come out easily while the sample is warm. Stick a paper towel or two down your throat to block and absorb blood and mucus that might otherwise leak out. Gently turn the sample and look for large blood stains and remove any that you find. Avoid dabbing blood stains with tissue—that usually spreads it out.
Check the feeder’s anus. If a formed poop is on the way out, help it out. If the anus is excessively wet, wipe it off and use a small swab to poke a paper towel or toilet paper two or three inches into the anus.
Taxidermists can glue a few detached feathers back in, so save any large feathers that come out. If a large patch of small feathers is pulled out, salvage what you can, but don’t worry about just a dozen or so lost body feathers.
If you can’t get the sample into a freezer within about two hours, remove the guts in the field to speed up chilling. Make a small longitudinal incision below the breast. Don’t extend the incision any longer than necessary to get your hand inside.
Reach in and get a handful of guts and pull them out. Be careful not to get blood on the feathers when you disembowel the bird. You need to cut off the intestine at the anus. Open the body cavity with a small stick and let it cool to air temperature. Even the late spring air is cooler than the 102 degree turkey body temperature.
Clean your hands with wet wipes, which you should carry in your bag. Don’t get blood or other bodily fluids on your gun – they are salty and will cause rust.
It’s best not to try to eat the sample if you’re planning a full-body assembly, but if you must remove the breast meat, open the skin along the midline of the breast just enough to sever the muscle with a long-bladed knife remove. Just zoom in on the cut in the skin you made when gutting the bird. Cut the pectoral muscle into chunks — you’ll need to cut it up for frying anyway.
A carry case is useful to retrieve the specimen from the forest in good condition. Allow the carcass to cool for a few minutes and allow the feathers to firm up before placing it in the carry case. Flatten the feathers into their natural position and wrap the carcass neatly in the pouch, being careful not to crumple the feathers. Pull it head first to avoid damaging the tail feathers on vegetation.
Keep the specimen in the shade and away from heat sources and flies. Don’t put it in a plastic bag until it goes in the fridge. A warm specimen spoils quickly in a bag. If the specimen spoils, some of the feathers will come out and the taxidermist cannot save it.
If the specimen is going to hang for more than two or three hours, do not hang it by its legs. This will cause bodily fluids to flow to the head, causing it to swell grotesquely. Lay the sample flat or hang it upside down.
To prepare the sample for the cooler, lay it out and wrap your head and neck in paper towels, tissues, or a cloth rag. Tuck your head under a wing. Press the wings to the body and wrap the whole body in a double layer of newspaper like a mummy. Glue the paper to the body but leave the tail feathers sticking out.
Place the wrapped carcass on a piece of stiff cardboard protruding past the tail. The cardboard behind the tail is to prevent the tail from touching the container. Tape the wrapped specimen to the cardboard like a body splint to prevent it from shifting during transport. Be especially careful when cramping the tail. Pack paper and other soft material in the cooler with the carcass to keep it from moving during transport. Mark the top of the container THIS SIDE UP.
It’s much easier to get the bird into a cooler while it’s still pliable, but it becomes very difficult to pack one after it’s frozen. It is best to freeze the sample in a portable cooler with the lid open. If you must freeze the entire specimen before placing it in a portable cooler, be sure to freeze the carcass in a compact posture that will fit in the cooler once solidified.
If you are not going to freeze the bird, prepare the carcass as you would for freezing, chilling with ice. Leave the ice in plastic bags with no leaks. Double wrapping is a good idea. If possible, insert a half-gallon plastic milk carton filled with frozen water into the body cavity. If you have “blue ice packs” they are good. Use two plastic garbage bags or a thick body bag for the carcass. If you know a coroner, ask him or her for a body bag. Your taxidermist may also have a suitable bag.
Give the sample to a preparator on ice or frozen. A hard-frozen sample in an insulated cooler will keep for three or four days in shipping. Even in a plain corrugated box, a frozen turkey is usually in good shape after a two-day journey. When it thaws, freeze it again at the first opportunity. If you can’t freeze it, keep it cold.
You won’t mount every turkey you shoot and there will always be another. My suggestion is to be prepared not to mount specimens that are in questionable condition. Wait for a perfect example of the beautiful wild turkey. If it’s not in good condition, take lots of photos, save the beard and spurs, and eat it.
Skin a turkey
As previously recommended, it’s best to take the whole carcass to the taxidermist – don’t skin it unless you’re a taxidermist yourself or there’s a compelling reason to do so.
If you know in advance that you will be skinning the taxidermy, you should read a taxidermy guide book and take it with you. If you’re really serious, practice ahead of time by skinning a bird you don’t want to mount. Use a pheasant or grouse if you don’t have an extra turkey.
I’ll emphasize these things: Check with your taxidermist about whether to use borax or table salt on your skin. If your taxidermist routinely washes all turkey skins, they may say to use salt, but many taxidermists prefer borax. Also, ask him how to handle the head – some say cut it off, some say leave it on, some say skin it.
When skinning a taxidermy specimen, the idea is to remove the skin without cutting more holes than necessary. Ideally you should only make one hole. If there’s a dead turkey in camp that shouldn’t be mounted, practice on it first to see what you’re dealing with.
transportation and shipping
Check with your airline for the best way to send your sample to the taxidermist. Most will accept plastic coolers with frozen carcasses. Airlines don’t allow dry ice to be shipped because of the pressure the CO2 creates as it evaporates – an airtight container could explode in the luggage compartment.
You may be able to check the cool box like luggage and take it to the taxidermist yourself.
If you are a taxidermist
If you have a professional interest in taxidermy, you may consider entering the National Wild Turkey Federation’s taxidermy competition, held annually in conjunction with the annual late winter convention.
The Grand National is a good place to see examples of excellent taxidermy work. You can see the postures of taxidermists. Bring your camera and then show your pictures to your taxidermist before having your trophy mounted. If you show him the pictures, he will know that you have high standards.
One of the main mistakes I’ve noticed in otherwise good preparation work is the coloring of the head. The head and neck must be painted after drying. Taxidermists sometimes put too much or too little white on the top of the head and too much blue on the sides of the face. Sometimes the colors are not confined to the regions of the head where they belong and there is often too much red. There is sometimes far too much dewlap on a strutting eater.
If you have a good color photograph of your freshly killed turkey’s head, give it to your taxidermist. A recently killed turkey will slowly change head color; sometimes not for an hour or two. Take a close-up photo of your feeder’s head if you like the colors. If you have magazine photos that you like, leave them with your taxidermist. The figures on the color pages of this book show the natural posture and head coloring of turkeys. Take the book to your taxidermist, but don’t leave it with him – he’ll get bloodstains on it. Give him my address so he can buy a copy.
There can be small differences in head coloring between subspecies, but I haven’t noticed anything significant. There is so much variation within the same populations that average differences would be very difficult to spot.
Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from After the Hunt with Lovett Williams. For ordering information and descriptions of Williams’ other published offerings, visit www.lovettwilliams.com.
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