Pheasant mount?

deer-hunter18 · 03-07-2006, 12:18 PM

I have a question for you taxidermist on here! I really want to try to mount something, i think i want to do a pheasant. I was on Van Dykes website and they sell a kit to do this for $39 i was wondering how hard it is to do a pheasant? do you have to do anything with the skin on birds before you mount them? I am a one of those guys that it has to be perfect so i am going to have to work hard at it but i just want to give it a try. The web site says that the pheasant is the easiest bird to mount so i want to try. Any help would be greatly apprecitated.

nctaxi · 03-07-2006, 01:47 PM

Hunter, The problem with those kits is that they only show part of what is needed.I've never done a kit, but from reading posts elsewhere, they don'y say enough about fleshing the bird, setting the wings and a few other things. So I have heard. The way I mounted a pheasant was to use a special low torque wire wheel "bird Flesher". You can try,because a pheasant is the easiest bird to come by and to mount, but if I were going to recommend a first mount it would be a squirrel. Maybe someone else has a better suggestion.

Windwalker7 · 03-07-2006, 05:07 PM

I used a kit from WASCO to mount these pheasants. I thought the instructions were good. After I mounted a couple pheasants, I decided to make this lamp.

http://www.taxidermy.com/

deer-hunter18 · 03-08-2006, 07:04 AM

Hey windwalker that is very cool! On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the hardest how hard is it for a beginer to mount a pheasant. I figure it is only $40 for the kit so i wont be out much if i mess it up.

Windwalker7 · 03-08-2006, 02:23 PM

About a 7 for me. The hardest part for me was skining it, the wings and head especially. Be careful on the back and rump area, the skin is real thin there. Make sure you allow lots of time to complete it once you start. And one more thing, Make sure to blow dry the feathers until quite dryafter you wash the skin. Use a hair dryer on theCOOL setting.

The first one I did I did not blow dry it and it had a ruff look to it. I'm only an amature, myself, maybe one of the pros could give you better tips. I'm just basing things from my own experience.

Look at the kits from WASCO they are only about half of that price.

Go ahead and try it. Just take your time skinning it out so you don't get any bigholes. Good Luck!