Taxidermy prep

[born2hunt]

I'm sure its been asked on here before but I didn't see anything.

For those that have had full mounts done, do you sacrifice the meat for the mount or can you at least breast him out. I would like to get one done this year but hate the idea of wasting the meat.

[Jim K]

I'm a taxidermist. If guys get me their bird the same day they shoot them, I skin them and give them the meat. I don't think I would want to eat it if it's the next day. Some guys will breast them themselves which is ok but I prefer to skin them my self as I make an incision from one leg to the other not up the breast. Hope this helps. Jim

[ILHUNTER]

All depends on what your taxidermist wants.  You need to get a hold of your taxidermy that you have in mind and see what he wants. My taxidermy guy lets me cape the whole bird out and I usually refrigerate the cape until I can get it too him.  I have butchered several animals since we process or own meat so he trust me.  It takes a little bit of time to do it right but I enjoy it.  Just hang the bird up by his legs and cut down the inside of both legs from where the hair meets the scale on the legs.  This is the only cut that is made.  You just skin it out all the way down from there, dislodging the tail just like you would to make a fan and also dislodge the wings at the joint.  Skin as far as you can down the neck then cut the head off.  Like mentioned earlier, prob want to check with your taxidermist first to see what they prefer.  Good luck on your hunt.

[Bowguy]

I did taxidermy a long time. Gonna warn other taxidermists we are not licensed to food handle. To get out of any jam I'd just use a clean area, clean knife and rough skin the bird. I'd than give it to a customer clean and ask them to discard the bird. What they did with it than is beyond me.
Now here's a couple things. One day a scalpel is being used to skin the toes of a coyote, anus of a fox, penis bone of a coon, septum on a deer. You want that nasty thing skinning your food??
Make sure it's a clean non taxidermy area, and he uses clean stuff. Most guys would way rather skin it themselves. Birds have tracts. Cutting that up is extra work and may effect your mount.

[GobbleNut]

I suspect most guys aren't going to be able to get their birds to their taxidermist right away.  There is absolutely no reason why you cannot salvage all of the breast meat and thighs regardless.  Just make a cut at the vent either vertically or horizontally (between the legs) just big enough to peel the skin back to expose the breast and thighs and carefully cut the meat out, preferably without making any more cuts in the skin anyplace. 

Caping a turkey for a mount ain't rocket science.  Simply put, it's all a matter of skinning out the bird by making the smallest cut necessary around the vent and then working the skin off of the bird from the tail to head in one piece.  More detailed instructions can be found in the taxidermy section here on OG (or better yet, just go to YouTube and look for a video on it).  For those wanting to have birds mounted in the future, simply learning how to cape your birds makes it so much easier to deal with your turkeys,...and you never have to worry about keeping the meat to eat.

Whether you take your bird whole to the taxidermist or cape it yourself, the critical factor is that if it is going to be a day or more before you can get it to him, you need to either freeze the bird/cape or otherwise keep it very cold (if its just going to be a day or two).  In case of doubt, freeze it.

[born2hunt]

Thanks for all the input.

I have cleaned a pile of turkeys but never with any care of the cape taken. They just seem so thin skinned I get nervous thinking about it. I'm sure it wouldn't be as bad as I think though.