I am a taxidermist that specializes only in mounting turkeys.we mount around 1100-1300 turkeys a year and 70% of the turkeys we get turn out better if the hunter follows the step that we reccomend. which are,#1 after you shoot the bird, get to it as quickly as you can and pick it up by both legs(watch for the spurs) and hold it outaway from youuntil it quits flopping. This is because on the ground the bird will flop several feathers out and if they do not pull out right right thenit will loosens the quills up from the skin and the feathers will fall out later on in the mounting process.
#2 take a pair of panty hose with you, right after itquits flopping,stick the turkey head first into one of the legs of the panty hose until it is completely covered.This reduces the feathers getting ruffled up and also keeps a lot of the blood off of the feathers.
#3 be careful while transporting the turkey home, make sure towatch that the tail stays straight and try to keep as much blood off the feathers as possible.
#4 when you get the bird home, sandwhich the tail feathers between 2 pieces of card board,staple or tape the edges of the cardboard together so it wont come off. wipe the blood off of the feathers and turkey head and stick the head into a sock. Place the bird back into a different panty hose head first. Cover the cardboard with the hose also.
#5 put the bird in a black trash bag and freeze it. if your going to take it to your taxidermist that day then only follow steps 1-3. 90% of the cases when i recieve turkeys is when customers ship them to me from all over the world, thats why i was talking about freezing the turkey to ship it.
I hope i was some help to you. Thank you.

[align=center]The Turkey Roost[/align][align=center]Drake Morris[/align][align=center] [email protected][/align][align=center][/align]