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Turkey mounts?

bmc

By bmc
in Turkey Hunting

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bmc Mentor

bmc

Posted
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Being it's almost turkey time, I was wondering what you FMer's have for turkey mounts. I don't have alot of room at my place, especially with 7 different pieces of taxidermy already on the wall, but am hoping to add to the collection this spring. If I get a bird I'm planning on using the Vandykes Lifelike turkey tail kit. Has anyone here used that to mount their bird's tail feathers and beard? If so was it easy to do and how about a pic?

Thanks,

Brian

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

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I shot my first turkey and bought a kit for it and did it myself. I've never done any other kind of taxidermy or tanning, but it seemed easy enough. I don't have a picture yet, but I will try to get one up for next week. I did the fan and beard on a plaque.

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glenn57 Grand Master

glenn57

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bmc, counting your turkey before its shot is bad luck. i paid about $40 to have my tail feathers mounted by a taxidermists. my opiniom a once in a lifetime thing pay someone who knows what they are doing for taxidermy work. i had a bear hide done by ray nyberg, (you may know of him) hes done almost all my mounting but had a bad tannery do the hide and had to throw it away. im still sick about it. $500 bucks shot. just my 2 cents. good luck turkey hunting, i have to wait another year.

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Shoot2Kill Proficient

Shoot2Kill

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 Originally Posted By: glenn57
bmc, counting your turkey before its shot is bad luck. i paid about $40 to have my tail feathers mounted by a taxidermists. my opiniom a once in a lifetime thing pay someone who knows what they are doing for taxidermy work. i had a bear hide done by ray nyberg, (you may know of him) hes done almost all my mounting but had a bad tannery do the hide and had to throw it away. im still sick about it. $500 bucks shot. just my 2 cents. good luck turkey hunting, i have to wait another year.

I hardly think that a turkey is a once in a lifetime thing....you can kill them in multiple states, and every single year in MN if you want to bowhunt them the last 2 weeks of the season. We're not talking about a Marco Polo Sheep here....

Turkey tails are NOT hard to mount...anyone that has never done one before can do it.

1 - Cut the tail off at the butt of the bird - I use a scalpel to flesh away all of the meat connected to the ends of the feathers (you can do this with no experience), turkey tails have different "layers" of feathers (3), you can take them all apart and dry separately if you like and put it back together once they are all dry but not necessary.

2 - There is a small piece of bone in the middle of the tail at the butt, you'll feel it, grab onto it with a pair of pliars and pull it out.

3 - Get some borax from your local grocery store before you kill your turkey (should be step one before killing your turkey). \:\)

4 - Get a big piece of cardboard (2 or 3 layers would be good) and about 50 sewing pins.

5 - Cover the butt in borax on both sides...work it into all the cracks. Fan out your tail on the cardboard as far as it will go, but not to the point of separating the feathers in the fan (no gaps). Pin the last feather on each side in place through the vein of the feather. Place all the remaining feathers as they should lay naturally..you'll know. Pin each feather about 3-4 inches up from the base. Cover the butt again in borax and let dry for a minimum of 1 week and your tail is nearly done. After 1 week, take a few pins out...do the feathers move? If not, it is dry (should easily be dry in 1 week). Brush off all the borax. For added insurance that the tail will never fall apart or move on you I then put a thin layer of 5 minute apoxy on the exposed area of the last inch of the feathers at the butt. Let dry for 30 minutes and your tail is NEVER moving or falling apart.

6 - Cut the meat off the end of the beard, dip in borax and let dry.

7 - Get whatever kit you like from any of the multiple taxidermy supply catalogs, follow the directions, and hang your tail and admire your work for years to come in amazement that you actually did it and didn't pay someone to do something so simple for you. I would give you a HSOforum to get a mounting plaque from that does far superior work than most supply companies but the moderators here will just delete it. \:\) Email me for [email protected]

Please don't think you have to pay a taxidermist to do this for you....it is very simple to do - even if you have never done anything like it before. Heck, where are you located? If you get one you can come to my house and we can do the "hard" part in under an hour, you can take it home and wait for it to dry and put it all together no problem. \:\)

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brittman Mentor

brittman

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I use a mix of borax and salt. Make sure you dry inside and keep away from flies. (outside = flies = magots = mess).

I have done four turkey fans myself, plus a half dozen ruffed grouse fans. The kits at Mills or other sporting good stores look great if you are not a woodworker. Lot's of options.

Make sure to include the beard or even leave room for multiple birds. Spurs too?

If you do a full body mount, a guy at pheasant fest (lake city, mn) does a great job mounting turkeys - he specializes on big bird. His full body mounts were plain great!

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wooly1 Enthusiast

wooly1

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What I have done is different. I have one tail mount and didn't want a bunch more so what I do is cut the beard off and borax it, I then cut the legs on both sides of the spurs. Once they are all dry, I wrap the beard end in a small piece of deer skin. With the spurs I pull the tendon and drill out the leg bone to thread some deer hide strips through. I then tie the dangling spurs to the deer hide patch at the one end of the beard. I then hang them off my antlers.

Different and doesn't take up alot of space.

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Hotspotter Veteran

Hotspotter

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 Quote:
I hardly think that a turkey is a once in a lifetime thing....you can kill them in multiple states, and every single year in MN if you want to bowhunt them the last 2 weeks of the season. We're not talking about a Marco Polo Sheep here....

Relatively few folks kill a bird every single year, even with a gun. Even less people kill a bird in MN with a bow, let alone every year.

True, they're not a rare quarry, found in only one small portion of the world, but there is nothing "gimme" about them. It's a common misconception that turkeys are easy to kill, but all one has to do is look at the overall averages of folks that kill turkeys every year to see how it really stacks up.

Gun - ~25%

Bow - ~4%

On average, 3 of 4 walk out of the woods carrying only their gun, and 19 of 20 feeling only their bow, not a turkey leg, digging into their shoulder.

Joel

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Shoot2Kill Proficient

Shoot2Kill

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 Originally Posted By: jnelson
 Quote:
I hardly think that a turkey is a once in a lifetime thing....you can kill them in multiple states, and every single year in MN if you want to bowhunt them the last 2 weeks of the season. We're not talking about a Marco Polo Sheep here....

Relatively few folks kill a bird every single year, even with a gun. Even less people kill a bird in MN with a bow, let alone every year.

True, they're not a rare quarry, found in only one small portion of the world, but there is nothing "gimme" about them. It's a common misconception that turkeys are easy to kill, but all one has to do is look at the overall averages of folks that kill turkeys every year to see how it really stacks up.

Gun - ~25%

Bow - ~4%

On average, 3 of 4 walk out of the woods carrying only their gun, and 19 of 20 feeling only their bow, not a turkey leg, digging into their shoulder.

Joel

I'm sorry, I guess I just think differently since I kind of do view them as a "gimme" if you do your homework, actually hunt where there are birds, and put in the time. In my post I said you "can" kill them (you have the opportunity to)....didn't say everyone would.

Even if you didn't kill one in MN, IF YOU CHOOSE and plan accordingly, you have multiple states to hunt them in, some states even as a NR you can kill 2, the tag fees are relatively low, draw rates are high for NR for many states, and there are birds in more than half the states in the US, thus making them hardly a once in a lifetime even for MOST people unless you stop hunting them after the first one you kill.

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Powerstroke Grand Master

Powerstroke

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I would never ever consider a turkey a gimme. Hearing Joel say so is even more consoling to me. Anyone who's hunted turkeys for any amount of time has been humiliated or embarrassed by a turkey, not just a tom. THey may be suckers for a sweet yelp, cutt or purr, but they don't get to adult size by being stupid.

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Shoot2Kill Proficient

Shoot2Kill

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 Originally Posted By: jnelson
Point taken.

However, if you still think they're a gimme, I'd like to hunt more with you! \:\)

Joel

Make no mistake I've been made a fool many times by a smart ol tom!! The key is having more than 1 group of birds located before the season...if that same tom whoops you more than once you move onto another one that isn't as smart. \:\) I base my opinions on having grown up in Iowa and have hunted timbers that are plum full of turkeys - unlike many parts of MN. The numbers here are increasing, but they're nothing like the numbers where I used to hunt in IA.

You ever tried a pretty boy decoy with a lone hen dec? Most of my experiences with the pretty boy almost make it seem that it's not fair for that old horny tom! \:\)

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