What’s Proper Turkey Prep?

[JerseyGobbler]

So I don’t have any plans to do a full body mount any time soon, but would like one, one day. But you never know when you will shoot that bird. Last year I helped a buddy bag his first turkey. When we realized how gorgeous it was, a true limb hanger, with four beards, and a gorgeous tail, I told him if he ever wants to mount a bird this is probably it. With that said I didn’t know what to tell him prep wise. What is the proper care for a bird that you want to mount?

[redarrow]

I would contact a few different taxidermist and ask them . I'm sure they have some horror stories . Also find one that specialized in birds.

[JerseyGobbler]

That’s exactly what I told my buddy to do. You’d think I’d take my own advice lol. Just didn’t know if we have any taxidermists here. My taxidermist does not do birds.

[WV Ridge Reaper]

Wipe all if any blood off the head as soon as possible wrap the head with a towel of some sorts..take a pair of panty hose..the bigger the better..and drop the bird into them head first it helps having a pair of extra hands..obviously you would get the bird in a freezer after that or to who’s mounting it.


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[Tail Feathers]

Is there anyway to get the meat out or is that just going to be lost to make a good mount? I can't really see how you could save it.

[2nd100]

Go to a good bird Taxidermist and have him teach you how to skin a turkey to mount. Most will happily get you headed in the right direction . Different Taxidermist skin them different also . I learned how and usually get stuck with the knifeing one up on out of state hunts to free up the meat and make for a lighter package back on the plane .

[JerseyGobbler]

I guess we will have to learn to skin if we want to save the meat

[HunterGKS]

Wipe all if any blood off the head as soon as possible wrap the head with a towel of some sorts..take a pair of panty hose..the bigger the better..and drop the bird into them head first it helps having a pair of extra hands..obviously you would get the bird in a freezer after that or to who’s mounting it.


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This is what I have done. The only things I would add is to remove any dirt gently & stuff paper towels down
the birds throat to soak up any blood that might leak out.

[JerseyGobbler]

Good stuff guys. My guess is when stuffing them in the pantyhose, the only way to take em out is by cutting the pantyhose?

[HunterGKS]

Good stuff guys. My guess is when stuffing them in the pantyhose, the only way to take em out is by cutting the pantyhose?

Yes. Again, from the head to the tail preferably with a pair of scissors with rounded tips instead of pointy.

[MountNMan]

I agree with what others have said. You can also just put them in a trash bag if you don't have access to any other way, then freeze them immediately or take them to your taxidermist ASAP. DO NOT try to skin them to get the meat out! Just consider the meat a loss if you are planning on mounting your bird.

[Hobbes_mobile]

The meat doesn't have to be a loss if you can take it straight to the taxidermist and the taxi is willing to skin then and there.

Back when I did this, I preferred to skin them myself because most customers didn't have enough sense to do it right. A lot of guys can't cape a deer correctly, Sono way in heck they'd get a turkey right. However, there are some folks that could quickly be taught how to skin them.

[MountNMan]

True, but I usually don't have time to skin them on the spot for customers, as I am working on other customers mounts, so I just put them in the freezer.

[HunterGKS]

True, but I usually don't have time to skin them on the spot for customers, as I am working on other customers mounts, so I just put them in the freezer.

That leads to another question: Would the meat still be good when the bird is frozen right away? If it was skinned enough to remove the entrails &
then frozen, would that save the meat?

[MountNMan]

True, but I usually don't have time to skin them on the spot for customers, as I am working on other customers mounts, so I just put them in the freezer.

That leads to another question: Would the meat still be good when the bird is frozen right away? If it was skinned enough to remove the entrails &
then frozen, would that save the meat?

I'm not sure. Maybe, if it wasn't frozen too long? I skin my turkeys that I'm going to mount from leg to leg, so it takes some time to do it carefully and not tear the skin. A customer would be waiting awhile even if I could get started on it immediately.

[Hobbes_mobile]

If a customer brought it in and wanted the meat saved, I'd try to skin it then and there. Like stated above, that's not always possible. I also skinned them leg to leg past the vent, so usually told them I'd bag and freeze the meat once skinned. I didn't have an enormous workload, so could usually figure a way for them to keep the meat. Honestly, it was rare for anyone to want the meat once they had a mount on their mind.

I've refrigerated a lot of birds of my own, guts in, and removed meat late in the day. I suppose there is some risk but I've not had a problem yet.

[MFL205]

Pinhoti did a video with a taxidermist on what to do if you want to mount one...see link below.

[Hobbes_mobile]

My 2 cents

Good video, but still a lot of folks that'll make a mess of that. Some folks absolutely don't know how to take an animal apart let alone use a little finess to skin a bird for taxidermy purposes.

MountNMan may have better advice than me but I would confirm that your taxidermist wants the legs removed in that manner. There are definitely variations to that. I tube skinned but didn't fully remove legs at that point. I could have made that work easy enough and can see the benefits. However, I'd recommend confirming that with your taxidermist. A crappy taxidermist will be even less likely to know how to make something they aren't accustomed to work.

There are a couple tricky places while skinning (I don't know where they came up with "filleting"). The "arm pit" just before cutting through the wing joint and the wing shoulders after you cut through the wing joint are easy places to cut big holes, especially the shoulder. The crop area, especially if really fatty, can be tricky to tell if you are about to cut skin or are removing fat.

His bird had been frozen so it was not near the bloody and slimy mess that a turkey can be.

With that said, if you have any skills, you should be able to learn to do that. The problem arises when the bird that you want mounted is the first time that you try it

[FowlMouth]

Please please please…..never put a bird in panty hose….ever…….does absolutely nothing and is a wasted step

Also I try to walk customers through simple field cleaning but I also charge a repair fee for major screw ups…no need for holes where there are no holes to start with

[MountNMan]

Please please please…..never put a bird in panty hose….ever…….does absolutely nothing and is a wasted step

Also I try to walk customers through simple field cleaning but I also charge a repair fee for major screw ups…no need for holes where there are no holes to start with

Sorry, I disagree on this point. Putting a bird, head first, down the leg of panty hose ( cut to fit the bird ), lays all of the feathers down naturally, and keeps them from getting ruffed up or losing them. Works great with pheasants and grouse and waterfowl. Then you can put a tag on their leg and place them directly in the freezer with no worries. Taxidermists, myself included, have done this for years.

[FowlMouth]

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Sorry, I disagree on this point. Putting a bird, head first, down the leg of panty hose ( cut to fit the bird ), lays all of the feathers down naturally, and keeps them from getting ruffed up or losing them. Works great with pheasants and grouse and waterfowl. Then you can put a tag on their leg and place them directly in the freezer with no worries. Taxidermists, myself included, have done this for years.
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All birds get washed in dawn with warm water….99% of ruffled feathers will come out with that wash technique.

Panty hose will keep feathers in line however the head and neck will need to be stretched out all the way…thusly resulting in a broken neck if it gets moved too much in a freezer….and it takes up more space like that..second the whole purpose of taxidermy is to preserve the skin of a animal. Panty hose does absolutely nothing to keep the skin of a animal in the best working condition

If you went to the store and bought 3 ribeye loins on sale….you would no doubt cut most of them up and freeze for a later supper. What would happen to the meat if you froze it in panty hose….freezer burn….yes freezer burn in birds can be fixed but it adds time to the process and time is money….if freezer burn skin can be avoided why not do that.

Pictures below of birds frozen in panty hose. You be the judge. But if it works for you I’m glad…I don’t like doing extra work for the same amount of money….same goes for vacuum sealing

[FowlMouth]

Gallon ziploc bag would do better than this….2 trash bags for turkeys

[MountNMan]

I've never had any problems whatsoever, been doing it for 30+ years. Most pro taxidermists I have been in contact with over that period of time, through taxi shows and competitions, also use that method. Pull the hose on over the head, pull it off over the feet. Never had anything look like those pictures, unless you pulled it back off over the head, which would defeat the purpose. That head and breast looks like shot damage to me. You can use whatever method you want on your birds though. There is more than one way to get it done.

[Hobbes_mobile]

I didn't use the pantyhose method, but occasionally guys would bring them in that way. I don't recall the pantyhose hurting anything, but I never froze them in just a pantyhose. Birds always went into plastic before going in the freezer. A pantyhose my lay feathers down but it offers no protection from freezer burn.

Are you putting them in plastic after the pantyhose?

One thing that I didn't like was birds wrapped in newspaper or paper towels before plastic. If the bird was dry when they wrapped it wasn't a big deal. If it was bloody, it was a mess getting paper unstuck from bloody feathers.

[MountNMan]

I've never left a bird in the freezer any longer than 4 weeks. I usually have them thawed out and mounted by that time, but I've never had any problem with freezer burn. The only upland birds I do now are Pheasants. I don't consider a turkey an upland bird, but some do. If they come in fresh, I usually remove the tail and get it prepped first then put the bird in the freezer. I do the same with my turkeys as far as removing the tail, then freeze the bird, but I do use trash bags for turkeys.