Catch up with Brody Boese - your coach and virtual mentor for the Outdoor News Junior Pro Team as he walks you through a DIY turkey fan!
If you’ve had success with your turkey hunt this season, you’ll be thinking about ways to mount your bird.
There are many ways to mount a turkey from a traditional turkey fan mount, to a bringing your turkey to a taxidermist and getting a full body mount. Turkey fan taxidermy is a specific type of taxidermy that involves preserving and mounting a turkey's fan of tail feathers in a display. This type of taxidermy is often used by hunters to create a trophy of their successful turkey hunt.
Today we’re going to do a little DO IT YOURSELF and Coach Brody will walk you through the steps to assemble, and mount your very own turkey fan mount!
This doesn’t take much more than an hour to put together, and you can hang your traditional turkey fan mount on the wall. Coach Brody recommends you work with an adult the first time you tackle this project, but as you become a more experienced hunter, you will have the skills to craft your won fan mount in the future.
To begin the process of turkey fan taxidermy, the tail feathers are carefully removed from the bird's body. The feathers are then cleaned and treated with a preservative to prevent decay and maintain their natural color and texture.
Next, a mounting board is prepared. The board can be made from a variety of materials such as wood, foam, or cardboard. The board should be large enough to accommodate the spread of the turkey's tail feathers. (Brody has a favorite he purchased, that enables him to showcase the tail feathers and the beard on a wooden mount.)
The tail feathers are then arranged and attached to the board. The feathers should be arranged in a way that mimics the way they would naturally appear when the turkey is displaying its feathers. A variety of techniques can be used to attach the feathers to the board, such as using wire or glue.
The items you will need for this project are:
• A turkey mount board
• Gloves
• Sharp Knife
• Small wire brush
• Borax
• Super glue
• Auto body filler (Brody used wood filler)
1. Remove the feathers on the back of the fan. You will not be needing these.
2. On the front cut the meat off the front as well as cut of the tail bone. Also make sure to clean the fan/feathers to make sure everything looks good and clean too. You can gently clean any blood or dirt off the feathers and use a hair dryer on cool setting to dry them once you get started.
3. Cut between each father and use a wire brush to really get in there and clean all that wax and meat off the pin bones.
4. Once you can see between all the bones, sprinkle some borax and let it site for 20 minutes on cardboard or newspaper. This helps to preserve things.
5. Wear your gloves and use the auto body filler - Mix and use it all over the pins. This stuff will stick quick so work quickly, but carefully to place the fan the way you would like it and let it dry.
6. While that is drying - Put together your mount by adding the beard and/or spurs. Since each commercial mount kit is different, make sure to follow the directions on how to put together your mount.
7. After letting that dry and looks to be ready, attach your fan to the mount.
8. Finally, the completed fan mount can be decorated by adding a plaque with the hunter's name and the date of the hunt, or adding additional decorative elements such as feathers or other natural materials. The completed mount can then be displayed on a wall as a great keepsake of your hunt.
Now that you have the steps, take a video or pictures as you create your own turkey fan mount and share them with us! You can submit them at jrproteam.com/submit-photo-or...
1 май 2023
