Mounting a Turkey Tail (instructions)
07-27-2004, 05:14 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: NewLowell ,Ontario ,Canada
Posts: 2,765
Mounting a Turkey Tail (instructions)
I just did up a Tail this passed few days and thought I would take some Pic's and make a post for the ones that want to try it themselves.
There are a few different ways that one can do to put your own turkey tail on the wall.
Here is the way I have done Tails for years and seems to work.
I will try to exsplain as Pic's down load for you to see the job in view. (This post could take some time to finish as there is about 8 pic's to download) It took me 2.5 hours to make this post, so please have patences.
Step 1
You will need a number of tools for this job,
1/ A sharp skinning knife
2/ Side Cutters
3/ Borrox
4/ Pins with a long shaft
5/ Styrafoam 2x2
6/ auto Body filler and hardner
7/ cut thin cardboard strips 1 in wide
By taking your bird and placing it on the front , you can make 2 cuts down each side of the tail towards the wing bases, this will determan how long of a Cape (Feathers) that will hang from the tail when your job is finished. By taking the Tail base or (Knob) pull up the tail, that you can cut into the Vent area and easyly through the bone, being carefull not to cut the skin in the back area. Carefully cut through the meat and follow the skin down the back area using the two side cuts for a guide. I like to take all the cape from the tail to the back of the neck for this type mount. This allows me to decide later , How long of a cape I would like to have in the finished product.
Some tail mounts have short capes and some have long , but it is easyer for the worker to take off , instead of trying to add.
After the Tail base and cape is cut off you will need to skin and take out the flesh from the feather quills.
By taking your cape and folding it under the tail carefully not to bend or break feathers, you can start to skin away the skin around the pocket of the tail. You need to skin this area back to where the Quills and skin meet being carefull not to cut the skin. This is an important step, there is a row of feathers that are right below the main tail feathers that one needs to take time and skin around them and back towards the main quills. In this step after all skinning is finished up , You will notice that the center of this base, has an odd structure in the center. This is a bone that allows the bird to lift his tail, Take a pair of side cutters and make a little snap on the quill end on each side of the tail on this bone and this will help remove the Knob from the quills.
When this is complete it should look like this;
Step 2
After the tail base is removed , it is time to scrape out as much of the yellow grease and flesh from the quills. This can be done by the same method as above and taking a knife and scrapping between each quill , to remove all matter from between each. I work each side untill this subject seems to hang, then by taking my knife , I can pull most matter off, cleaning this area is important , as it will help the tail base to dry quicker and keep it more bug free. After this area is cleaned up it is time to add Borrox to the exsposed Base and quill area.
Borrox will help dry up all matter that is left. The bag in the photo is Borrox that I have just taken out of the box. When this step is finished , also do the flesh side of the cape as well, rubbing it in. After you have did both the Tail base and cape you can pick up your tail and give it a easy shake to remove any lose borrox. Now it is time to go to the next step ( Fanning the Tail)
Step 3
Your Tail needs to be pinned out in a Fan . Using the styrafoam , you can pin it out easy. This will take some time and patence. By placing your tail upright so you can see the feathers , you can spread out the tail and adjust the smaller feathers as they should be. This will help the finished product in the end. After you have the feathers close to the way they need to be, easyly turn over your tail and lay it feather down on the styrafoam.
Center the tail, and by taking your time and remember not to move it around on the foam, so you don't move the feathers. Take the two main center feathers in the tail and pin them down (not tight). Now work each feather in the fan , over lapping about half of the next feather. Depending on (Jakes) and (broken feathers) you may have to adjust each tail differently. As you work each and every feather slightly pull each feather out a little and pin it. This will take out any slack of skin and help from a quill bunch up at the base. Your fan should be even all the way around when finished.
In the photo it is hard to see the pins holding each feather. The long feathers on the skin at the tail base can be cut off to the main quills. This will make it easyer to work Body filler into this area and being able to seeIn this photo I did not cut off the feathers, I did it after the photo.
Step 4
You have your Tail Fanned out on the styrafoam and are ready for body filler. This is something that needs to be done quicker as bodyfiller tends to harden fast.
Take your finger and easyly lift up the quills at the base and work out the skin even so that you can work the filler in under the quills a little easyer. Take a little body filler that will fill this area and add hardener. The first area you will want to do is under the quills, putting some on half of one side of the area and some in the other half. Then quickly give it a press down with your fingers. Then add the same above under the pocket skin on each side. Then take a small pc of cardboard and press down on this area with minuim presure to sqeeze the Filler around all sides of the quills. Hold for a few minutes untill the body filler hardens. This should make the filler Flat at the back to work with a plaque.
Step 5
After step 4 is complete, I leave the tail for a day for all body filler to Dry Hard and Cool. Leave it pinned to the styrafoam for the day. This will ensure that all quills in the main tail harden aswell in the filler.
In this time you can work on your beard and spurs. I cut my spurs off and borrox them . They can be cut straight or on a slight angle.
Make sure all content is removed from out of the inside of the bone. A nail or quewtip works well for this. Borrox them and allow them to dry up. Clear finger nail polish added to the spur , will make them shiney.
I have not added a photo of the beard. The beard can be done in different ways aswell. Some place them in shotgun shell casings , by cutting the case near the brass and hot glueing the beard into the case. By adding paper in the brass area it will help by keeping the beards base closer to the end to the shell as you glue it. Work the glue all the way around the beard in the casing and allow to Harden.
Step 6
After the Filler has dryed and Cooled. You can take out the pins of the quils and turn over the tail. There will be some of the smaller feathers out of place. By taking your time you can work all the smaller feathers into place and pin your cardboard stips over these feathers to keep them in place. Once the Borrox has dried the skin (takes about a good 1 week) you can remove it from the styrafoam.
Its time to fix it to a finished plaque , and add your beard and spurs in the way you would like. When adding the Fan to a Plaque , make sure you drill into the Body filler with a very small bit for the screw. This helps not to crack the filler as the screw enters it.
This way of doing a tail can put it on the wall in your trophy room in only a week...BT
There are a few different ways that one can do to put your own turkey tail on the wall.
Here is the way I have done Tails for years and seems to work.
I will try to exsplain as Pic's down load for you to see the job in view. (This post could take some time to finish as there is about 8 pic's to download) It took me 2.5 hours to make this post, so please have patences.
Step 1
You will need a number of tools for this job,
1/ A sharp skinning knife
2/ Side Cutters
3/ Borrox
4/ Pins with a long shaft
5/ Styrafoam 2x2
6/ auto Body filler and hardner
7/ cut thin cardboard strips 1 in wide
By taking your bird and placing it on the front , you can make 2 cuts down each side of the tail towards the wing bases, this will determan how long of a Cape (Feathers) that will hang from the tail when your job is finished. By taking the Tail base or (Knob) pull up the tail, that you can cut into the Vent area and easyly through the bone, being carefull not to cut the skin in the back area. Carefully cut through the meat and follow the skin down the back area using the two side cuts for a guide. I like to take all the cape from the tail to the back of the neck for this type mount. This allows me to decide later , How long of a cape I would like to have in the finished product.
Some tail mounts have short capes and some have long , but it is easyer for the worker to take off , instead of trying to add.
After the Tail base and cape is cut off you will need to skin and take out the flesh from the feather quills.
By taking your cape and folding it under the tail carefully not to bend or break feathers, you can start to skin away the skin around the pocket of the tail. You need to skin this area back to where the Quills and skin meet being carefull not to cut the skin. This is an important step, there is a row of feathers that are right below the main tail feathers that one needs to take time and skin around them and back towards the main quills. In this step after all skinning is finished up , You will notice that the center of this base, has an odd structure in the center. This is a bone that allows the bird to lift his tail, Take a pair of side cutters and make a little snap on the quill end on each side of the tail on this bone and this will help remove the Knob from the quills.
When this is complete it should look like this;
Step 2
After the tail base is removed , it is time to scrape out as much of the yellow grease and flesh from the quills. This can be done by the same method as above and taking a knife and scrapping between each quill , to remove all matter from between each. I work each side untill this subject seems to hang, then by taking my knife , I can pull most matter off, cleaning this area is important , as it will help the tail base to dry quicker and keep it more bug free. After this area is cleaned up it is time to add Borrox to the exsposed Base and quill area.
Borrox will help dry up all matter that is left. The bag in the photo is Borrox that I have just taken out of the box. When this step is finished , also do the flesh side of the cape as well, rubbing it in. After you have did both the Tail base and cape you can pick up your tail and give it a easy shake to remove any lose borrox. Now it is time to go to the next step ( Fanning the Tail)
Step 3
Your Tail needs to be pinned out in a Fan . Using the styrafoam , you can pin it out easy. This will take some time and patence. By placing your tail upright so you can see the feathers , you can spread out the tail and adjust the smaller feathers as they should be. This will help the finished product in the end. After you have the feathers close to the way they need to be, easyly turn over your tail and lay it feather down on the styrafoam.
Center the tail, and by taking your time and remember not to move it around on the foam, so you don't move the feathers. Take the two main center feathers in the tail and pin them down (not tight). Now work each feather in the fan , over lapping about half of the next feather. Depending on (Jakes) and (broken feathers) you may have to adjust each tail differently. As you work each and every feather slightly pull each feather out a little and pin it. This will take out any slack of skin and help from a quill bunch up at the base. Your fan should be even all the way around when finished.
In the photo it is hard to see the pins holding each feather. The long feathers on the skin at the tail base can be cut off to the main quills. This will make it easyer to work Body filler into this area and being able to seeIn this photo I did not cut off the feathers, I did it after the photo.
Step 4
You have your Tail Fanned out on the styrafoam and are ready for body filler. This is something that needs to be done quicker as bodyfiller tends to harden fast.
Take your finger and easyly lift up the quills at the base and work out the skin even so that you can work the filler in under the quills a little easyer. Take a little body filler that will fill this area and add hardener. The first area you will want to do is under the quills, putting some on half of one side of the area and some in the other half. Then quickly give it a press down with your fingers. Then add the same above under the pocket skin on each side. Then take a small pc of cardboard and press down on this area with minuim presure to sqeeze the Filler around all sides of the quills. Hold for a few minutes untill the body filler hardens. This should make the filler Flat at the back to work with a plaque.
Step 5
After step 4 is complete, I leave the tail for a day for all body filler to Dry Hard and Cool. Leave it pinned to the styrafoam for the day. This will ensure that all quills in the main tail harden aswell in the filler.
In this time you can work on your beard and spurs. I cut my spurs off and borrox them . They can be cut straight or on a slight angle.
Make sure all content is removed from out of the inside of the bone. A nail or quewtip works well for this. Borrox them and allow them to dry up. Clear finger nail polish added to the spur , will make them shiney.
I have not added a photo of the beard. The beard can be done in different ways aswell. Some place them in shotgun shell casings , by cutting the case near the brass and hot glueing the beard into the case. By adding paper in the brass area it will help by keeping the beards base closer to the end to the shell as you glue it. Work the glue all the way around the beard in the casing and allow to Harden.
Step 6
After the Filler has dryed and Cooled. You can take out the pins of the quils and turn over the tail. There will be some of the smaller feathers out of place. By taking your time you can work all the smaller feathers into place and pin your cardboard stips over these feathers to keep them in place. Once the Borrox has dried the skin (takes about a good 1 week) you can remove it from the styrafoam.
Its time to fix it to a finished plaque , and add your beard and spurs in the way you would like. When adding the Fan to a Plaque , make sure you drill into the Body filler with a very small bit for the screw. This helps not to crack the filler as the screw enters it.
This way of doing a tail can put it on the wall in your trophy room in only a week...BT
you are a turkey God......
Excellent advice !
07-29-2004, 03:24 PM
#6
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Sarnia Ontario Canada
Posts: 53
RE: Mounting a Turkey Tail (instructions)
Hold off on the formaldehyde Wooddust , it's a known carcinogenic. Leave that stuff for the undertaker . Borax , that Adrian has mentioned , has been used successfully for years and a helluva lot easier , cheaper and safer to use .
