How to mount a Turkey Fan

Turkeys are some of the most beautiful birds with their iridescent bronze feathers and magnificent tail fans that make your heart skip a beat during turkey season. And I've seen some fantastic birds harvested by our amazing ladies! The tail fan is the most distinct part of a wild turkey and preserving it is not that difficult. With some household items and a few from the local hardware store you can preserve and mount your own turkey fan.

Materials:

-Sharp knife

-Tweezers

-Small sharp scissors

-Wire cutters

-Wire brush

-Borax

-Dawn dish detergent

-Bondo

First you'll want to cut the tail off from the rest of the skin. I leave enough of the back skin and feathers for a nice look on the fan, these can be trimmed later if needed (and saved for other crafts!).

From here you will need to get all the flesh and fat off the skin and feather barbs. Take your time, this will be a bit tedious, but the more fat you remove the better you mount will last.

There is also a small bone right between the tail feather barbs, called a pygostyle (did you know birds are the only animals with this bone?).

You may need the wire cutters to cut this little bone out. Don't forget the oil glands on the inside back of the skin.

The feather barbs on my husband's jake had a fat layer between every shaft. Tweezers and a sharp knife are handy on scraping all this out. Be sure not to cut the feather shafts!

The wire brush is really helpful in getting all that extra fat off the skin and cleaning up those shafts. I found mine in the paint section at Home Depot.

Once this is all done then you can wash the tail section in warm water and Dawn dish soap.

This is not completely necessary, but if you have any blood or a lot of mud or dirt you can do this.

Don't be afraid! Your tail is going to look a hot mess.

Pat and swish the feathers and use your fingers to work any leftover oils and fat from the skin. You can also pull off any bits of fat and flesh that may be left over.

Work out any bits of dirt and blood from the feathers. You can let the skin soak for about 10 minutes if you need to.

After washing give it a good rinse under cold water and blot on some old towels. 

Now comes the fun part, seeing all that mess of feathers come back to life!

You can use an air compressor (the noise drives me crazy but the pressure really fluffs up the feathers quickly. Make sure you don't use full pressure, only enough to fluff the feathers), a hair dryer on the cool setting (warm can cause bacteria growth), or like I did with this one, hang it in front of a box fan.

Just work the feathers apart with your fingers and fluff them around to ensure they all dry nicely.

Once your feathers are dry rub a generous amount of Borax inside the skin. This will help kill bacteria and preserve the skin. Shake off the excess and brush any excess out of the feathers. 

Lay your fan out flat and arrange the tail feathers how you want them.

Pay attention on how the feathers naturally want to lay. You can cheat a little to hide any imperfections with some creative arranging. Set the back feathers down in front of the tail one layer at a time.

You can see and follow the line of these feathers and spread them out evenly. A Popsicle stick, pencil, or piece of wire (anything long and thin) can be helpful in lifting and arranging the feathers.

If you need to you can put a nail into a back board to hold your tail feathers open. Be careful not to pierce the feathers themselves.

Next mix up about a tablespoon (or more if need be) of Bondo (following the instructions on the container).

Make sure you are in a well ventilated area, this stuff is strong!

Carefully lift the back skin to expose all the tail shafts and apply a smooth layer to the top of the feather shafts.

You have about a 10 minute work time before the Bondo hardens, so make sure most of your arranging is already done.

You can still do a little bit of tweaking while the Bondo sets.

I let the tail dry for at least an hour, I didn't want anything shifting for the next step. Flip the tail over and mix up another small batch of Bondo. Again, make sure all your feathers are arranged how you want them. Apply this batch to the other side of the feather shafts and let dry.

Allow the rest of the skin to dry for about a week or two (depending on temperature and humidity). Once it's dry you can mount it anyway you wish, preserving the memory of that hunt!

And congratulations! You just did your first taxidermy project!

Written by ReelCamo Girl Pro Staff Erika Forsythe.