HuntingNet.com Forums - How to Cut, Preserve, & Mount Fan, Cut Beard, Use Spurs

Okay you have gotten your bird and would like ot mount your fan for either the wall or maybe using on a Jake decoy to make it look more real.

So let"™s get started.
First thing is to cut the tail as close to the main body of the bird as you can. You will feel a "œV" shape of the tail bone (Same as a chicken and ya all eat chicken!). This cut is done just above the anus. Grab all the tail feathers and bunch them "“ take a small knife and cut through the bone and body till it looks like this.

I use a piece of plywood with drywall screws placed as such. Place the fan on the plywood good side down. The meaty portion of the tail needs to be facing you.

I then take the right bottom feather shaft of the fan and put over the drywall screw. I stretch the fan out and place the left feather shaft over the left dry wall screw.

I then position all feathers and place a wood strip over the whole fan likes shown. Once I have all feathers arranged as I want them I tighten the dry wall screws so the feathers don"™t move.

I then add Table salt and mound the meaty portion of the tail real good. I will check this several times over 3 months and may add more. I just put mine in the basement "“ You really need to keep it away from animals, mice and insects. I will spray the tail with several light dustings using a typical House & Garden household spray "“ such as this can of Raid.

Now I use almost everything from the bird. I make a wing-bone call and date it with the bird stats, area I hunted and add the spurs and have put the beard in the spent shot-shell casing I used. I like to mount mine using a piece of drift wood to place on a shelf. The beard I let dry in a cup of borax with the meat portion down and the spurs I cut and put in borax too. When dry I just clean the marrow out of the leg with the spur. I don"™t do anything else to them. I will thread them on a leather lanyard as show.

Finished product

Cons:
There is another way to shave off the meat and bone and preserve yor fan but I have never done it. It will make the fan much easier to mount as the bone is gone.

Or you can do this "“ add it to a Jake Decoy.

Now all I did for this is make a real thin plywood bracket in a "œU" shape with a 1 inch spacer bottom. All is painted flat black to which I use wing nuts and then a 1/8th by 14 inch metal stake. I jstu stick this in the ground behind my Jake or you can add this to any Pretty boy. Mine have lasted for 5 yrs now and are no worse for wear. I used them in wind and rain. Just dry them out and spray them lightly with Raid House & Garden at the end of the season and I store between two pieces of cardboard to protect the feathers. It is light to carry into the field.

So if you have a better idea let"™s hear it!
I hope this helps

Here is a wall mount that has been up for almost 8 yrs

And let's do the beard.

Pull the beard back and cut away from the bird at the white skin show here.

I started tp cut away the beard

Another look - I cut just past my thumb and the soft skin past the end of the beard you will feel.

You will feel a knob like thickness if you squeeze past the beard. Cut off past that and don't worry about excess skin.
Trim that skin and place in a bit of Borax for a few weeks

Here it is cut away.

Now the spurs

You can air day the leg - I sue nothing to preserve them and have many legs I use for demonstration for my Hunter Education classes.
To get them to dry in a certain configuration use rubber bands.
OR
I save all spurs and this is what I do if I do not want the leg

These is jsut put in a cup of Borax. Once a few months ahve passed I clean out the Marrow with a Que-tip and thread onto a lanyard - That's it!

Here is my hat Band!