I am going on an archery Merriam's hunt in a month and if I am fortunate enough to kill a nice bird I plan on getting him mounted. I was wondering how much shot placement could affect the quality of the mount. Would a head shot be the preferred method? I feel like I would be more comfortable with a shot in the vitals but didn't know if that could cause too much damage for the quality of the mount. Any thoughts? I appreciate the help!
I did taxidermy a long time. Most taxidermists have spare freeze dried heads lying around so honestly a head shot would be preferable. Now as an archer the head shot is tough. So a body shot has higher odds of collecting a trophy. I'd say if possible don't go extreme on the broadhead size if you want to mount., Feathers will be cut off either way n I'd rather fix smaller dsmage. Bird feathers lie in tracts so one hole can already do lots of damage
Head shot. Go with a fake head. Lots of quality ones out there and any good taxi can paint it great and put all the hairs in . Pay attention when picking a taxi, if they get paint on the hairs....... No good.
I'm a taxidermist. Shoot them in the head but don't settle for a fake head. We have plenty of extra freeze dried heads. Owe buy extra heads for $5/$10 a piece for this reason and I personally do not charge clients for them if they need them as they truthfully save me time and turn out better than fakes.