Can anyone help me out...
I would love to have my first turkey mounted but after calling around the best price I could get was $500.00 which I have seen the taxidermists work and she is excellent but I do not have that extra cash to get a mount done professionally.
Is there any books, videos, or any other literature that can help me guide me through a self mount of the tail feathers and anything else I can do to preserve my first gobbler.

There are less expensive options than a L/S bird. You could always just do a shoulder mount (bustmount), or have the tail professionally done.

nice work timberland

Very Nice.

You may want to consider freezing it until you can get it done by a professional unless the bird has no real meaning to you and you just want to learn. I have watched many videos, several times and just mounted a hen yesterday (my 1st bird) and man, what a pain! It turned out pretty good, but there was a lot of altering of the form due to her being so small. She will be my decoy next year. I have 2 toms that I am going to mount next. But keep in mind that there is a lot of work on these birds and you need a lot of patience! $500 is not enough! I know my taxis will love to hear that!

I turned one down at $700 the other night. To do one correctly, it takes alot of time. ANd if you don't do one correctly, you are gonna have a greasy mess after a short time.

That is very true nctaxi! When I was fleshing, it was a lot greasier than I thought, but adding some DP helped with that. When I was done fleshing, it got a mineral spirits bath and two washings in water w/ dawn soap! Worked really great! I was mostly suprised at how fast and shiny the feathers dried in my tumbler w/ corn-cob grit! She was mounted for the sole purpose of being a decoy, so not a ton of detail went in to her, she looks pretty good though, post pics later.

I'd settle with a fan/beard mount ....should I ever get my first LOL

I do primary deer and mammals. And for turkeys I don't even plan on ever touching those anytime soon.They are a greasy mess and a pain to make look really good. $500 is a very good price for a full mount turkey. I wouldn't touch one for less than $700.

same here ; $500.00 is a good price.
do one and you will start to save your money to have the next one done by a pro.
you can always do what is called a shoulder mt.the head and breast with the tail and wings turn around.sorta like a deer shoulder mt.
looks really pretty good.
you could do it your slef for the first one,then the next will be worth every penny.

if you do do it yourself,after fleshing,wash in Coleman Lantern fuel a couple times.it get rid of the oil from the fat and it drys really fast and leaves no oil of it's own.