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All right, you've selected the specimen you're going to have mounted. Now come the rules for having the bird readied in the field, within the United States, just before storing and shipment to Avian Design. If you will be shipping your specimen from outside the United States, the instructions for preparation of the specimen are a little different.
- Resist the urge to immediately place the bird in a plastic bag; wait until actually placing it in the freezer. The closed environment wreaks havoc on the specimen.
- Keep the specimen cool and aired.
- A great way to hold the bird is to place it in a nylon stocking. The stocking will hold the bird firmly while at the same time providing the necessary airing. Holding the bird firmly is important because it prevents feather breakage. So, take along a stocking or two and don't worry if your fellow hunters think you are odd.
- Fold the head under the wing and then insert the bird into the stocking.
- Do not gut the bird. More damage is done in the field through gutting than most hunters realize.
- Do not apply borax to the specimen.
- Your bird will need to be skinned, fleshed and salted.
- Flesh all areas of the bird skin. No meat should contact the skin.
- It is best to completely separate the skull from the skin by detaching the skin at the base of the skull, where the soft skin meets the hard bill.
- Skulls should be fleshed but otherwise left intact. All meat, eyes and brain are to be removed without destroying the skull. The skull can be reattached to the skin with some tie wire. These procedures allow the entire neck to be inverted for salting.
- Wings should be fleshed in a manner that doesn't detach the feathers from the bone. Take extra care that all wing bones remain intact. Open them up by making an incision on the undeside clear out to the tip.
- Take a few moments, get pencil and paper and trace the skinned carcass. Also get the neck measurements. The tracing and measurements will be very helpful to your taxidermist.
- Once the bird is fully skinned and fully fleshed, it should be well salted. First wash off all blood prior to salting. Salt sets the blood in the feathers and is very difficult to remove. Use non-iodized salt. Apply generously to the skin.
- Time is critical, now. Skins should be kept frozen if possible or at least cooled and shipped as soon as possible, preferably hand carried by you as you return to the United States.
- Do not pack in air tight containers. A pillow case or a game bag is a good choice for carrying. Do not allow skins to get crispy dry, unless it cannot be helped because they will be months in transit. Unlike mammals, bird skins do not do well with drying. Sometimes, skins are allowed to dry to the point of crispiness and when they reach that condition, they often can not be rehydrated completely or properly mounted.
- The feet and legs of larger birds (crow-sized or larger, for example) should be cut up the back of the leg and under the toes so the skin is free from the bones. The bones are to remain intact.
- If available, freezing of whole birds or their skins is by far the best way to keep them for taxidermy.
© Stefan Savides
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