Jacked up turkey mount - pics

[Spring_Woods]

That turkey is not really what I wanted. I just realized- 1) you can't see the spurs and the 2) beard doesn't appear 12" as measured after I killed him. I told him I wanted "half strut gobbling on a limb"

I told him I wanted that because I wanted to show off the beard and spurs which this bird had a long beard and dangerously sharp, long curved spurs.

As you can see in my mount the spurs are not properly displayed and the beard is showing looking like 10" or less in length. I think I may need to talk to him about that.

I want to see the spurs. I'm a spur guy.

What would you do? I haven't paid on full yet. An to be honest, at this point I want the beard spurs and fan and a refund.

[Turkeykiller12]

If it wasn't what you agreed on, I'd talk to him about it. Hope you get it fixed.

[redarrow]

The sooner you talk the better. Beard looks good to me but I agree on seeing the spurs.

[CT Spur Collector]

I can't see the beard in the photo but he appears to be in half stut. He should have exposed the spurs. Talk to him, if he wants anymore work, he'll fix it.

Be nice.

[Spring_Woods]

I can't see the beard in the photo but he appears to be in half stut. He should have exposed the spurs. Talk to him, if he wants anymore work, he'll fix it.

Be nice.

I have left him a message, he has always been very prompt at calling me back.

As far as being nice, that part may be difficult.

Bottom line is; if I can't see the spurs, I'm not paying.

[TRKYHTR]

I usually don't comment on turkey mounts because if you don't have a turkey taxidermist mount your bird it usually doesn't look good. I personally don't think the bird will turn out very good even if the spurs are showing. Take a look at a good turkey taxidermists mounts and compare. Here is a link to birdsonly. That mount wouldn't even go in my garage. JMO

TRKYHTR

http://birdsonly1.shutterfly.com/2011pictures/156#54

[fallsflight]

Hopefully it hasn't dried too much and he can make the changes as I would not be happy with it either for your reasons and more.  As TRKYHTR mentioned, I would find a taxidermist that is known for his turkey mounts or specially mounts birds and nothing else.  I send all my waterfowl to another state to have mounted to a taxidermist that only mounts birds and nothing else.  They all look like they could fly away at any moment.  Good luck getting it corrected, I hope you get it worked out.

[Turkey Beard]

TRKYHTR, is that your bird? That is truly a FINE looking mount!!

[renegade19]

I'm not highjacking this thread, but that mount with the peeps and mushrooms in it is amazing!

[TNTOM]

Birds Only explains why James Beard is so good.  He only does turkeys.  He has several good examples of what you want with spurs visible.

I think it's reasonable not to pay if you don't get what you asked for.  Good luck

[TRKYHTR]

TRKYHTR, is that your bird? That is truly a FINE looking mount!!

If you are talking about the gobbler on birdsonly's page, no that is not my mount, but I do know what a good mount looks like. I have mounted a few turkeys and am nowhere near Mr Beard and several others. I do know that turkeys are totally different than any other taxidermy mount. Some guys are good with deer and mammals some are not. Some are good with birds and some are not. Then there is the turkey guys. Here is my last gobbler that I mounted. Like I said I am not a taxidermist just a jack of all trades master of none. LoL

[Spring_Woods]

 Dang those are some nice mounts. I don't really have thousands of dollars to send birds off like that but I can def see the difference. I guess ya get what ya pay for!

I spoke with him tonight and he's willing to fix it to make me happy he said. He never gave me a worse case scenario though? I'd imagine if I'm not happy we can go down that road when the time comes.

[GobbleNut]

My very first question about your mount would be "is it finished yet"?  Obviously, without the head, it appears to me that he was still in the process of mounting the bird when you stopped in and took the picture.  If the taxidermist was still working on the bird, which he obviously was, there is no reason to get concerned about it just yet.  The entire process of mounting turkeys requires patience and a number of steps to produce the desired product. 

I looks to me like he had not done the final body, wing, tail, or feather placement on the bird yet,...which is all part of the mounting process.  If it looks like that after the head is attached and he says "it's done", then you got a really poor mount from a taxidermist that does not know how to do turkeys.  However, it looks to me like you stopped in on the day he was mounting the bird and it is nowhere near complete.  Of course, if that is the case, he should have pointed that out to you at the time.

Assuming the bird is still at the taxidermist shop, go back and look at the bird again to see if it still looks that way before panicking about it.  I could be wrong, but you may find something completely different than you expect now,...of course, I could well be wrong about that.

Having said that, if the mount ends up not being satisfactory, you can always get a replacement cape from your next bird and use the spurs and beard from this bird with the new cape and repeat the mounting process with someone that knows what they are doing.  All is not lost if this mount does not meet your expectations.

As others have mentioned, turkey taxidermy is a art and skill that many taxidermists don't have the patience to acquire, and some will never get it down.  The real masters at turkey taxidermy are just as gifted as skilled artists. 

[busta biggun]

I would respectfully offer an opinion that differs from Gobblenut. This bird appears to be in the drying phase and whether it is completely cured or not, the posture is set and the posture is bad. Really bad. Once things start drying, it is too late to make any major adjustments. The legs are way too short and the wings are all wrong. I would not pay at all for this bird. The spurs cannot be used on a future mount, only the entire legs, so if he mounted the feet wrong, (angle, painting, curing, etc. ) they are unusable for a future mount. I really feel bad for you Spring Woods, because that was an impressive bird!

I go to Cally Morris at Hazel Creek in Missouri. I had a lot of my friends laugh at me when I told them what I was paying but you look at this thing every day of your life, and trophies like this only come by so often. If money was an issue, I would rather not get a bird mounted as this would be a source of anger for me every time I looked at it. This is a very unfortrunate situation. Sorry this happened to such an awesome bird!

[Turkey Beard]

My son-in-law is a taxidermist, too, and he is just flat scared to work on turkeys. He'll do them and do a nice job, too, but he sure doesn't go out LOOKING for more!