Brad Harvey: Prepping your gobbler for a taxidermist

Each year, as April begins and our annual spring turkey season opens, I get word of someone who has taken a really nice gobbler, wants to mount it and didn’t have a clue what to do next.

They’ll typically try to wing it themselves and mess the whole thing up.

Do you know what you’ll do should you get a turkey this week?

We’re not talking about your run-of-the-mill turkey fan stuck up on the wall, mind you, but a full-blown, full-body mount of that prized gobbler in full strut, perched on a limb or even flying.

Getting your bird ready for a trip to the taxidermist isn’t tough but it’s important to go about it the right way for good results.

From the time that old Tom hits the ground, every move you make can have an effect on how well the mount turns out.

After the shot

Resist the urge to step on any part of the bird. It seems as though that would make sense but, it has become the popular thing to do.

This is because hunters on television stand on the gobbler’s head to subdue it. But, should the bird attempt to flee, a follow-up shot will do a lot less damage.

The National Wild Turkey Federation used the expertise of world renowned turkey taxidermist Cally Morris to offer the following steps. It might be a good idea to cut them out and stash them in your turkey vest so that there will be no question of what you need to do should the opportunity arise.

Bring in the bird

▪  Treat the turkey delicately. Grab the turkey by the legs or handle its body. Never grab it by the head or drag it on the ground. Keep the feathers from getting bent or dirty. When transporting the turkey, place it on its belly, not its back.

▪  When you’re ready to package the gobbler for shipping, lay it on its back. Keep as much blood as possible from dripping on the feathers. Blood that spatters should be washed off immediately.

Preparing the bird for freezing and transport

▪  If the head is bleeding, put paper towels in the turkey’s mouth.

▪  Roll the head in paper towels. Fold towels over the head and tape them closed.

▪  Tuck the head inside the wing.

▪  Fold the wings tightly against the turkey’s body.

▪  Cut a piece of cardboard to fit over the tail feathers and feet. Do not tie the feet and feathers together for any reason inside the cardboard. This is one of the most important steps because kinked tail feathers are difficult to repair.

▪  Put the turkey headfirst inside a large garbage bag. Roll the bag over in a teardrop shape, handling the turkey by only its legs or main body. Tape the bag.

▪  Fit the cardboard around the tail feathers and feet. Tape or staple the cardboard into position.

▪  Lay the turkey in the freezer on its side. In 36 to 48 hours, the turkey will be frozen solid and ready to ship.

▪  Take the turkey from the freezer and wrap it in bubble wrap.

▪  Place the turkey headfirst in a box. The turkey should fit tightly to prevent a lot of movement. You can usually find a box at a grocery store or moving company. If there are old labels on the box, tear them off, or mark through them with a black marker.

Shipping tips

▪  Always ship your turkey to the taxidermist on Monday if possible. Never on a Thursday. When you send it later in the week, there’s a chance your turkey could get misdirected and sent to a terminal over the weekend, causing it to thaw and ruining your prize. A wild turkey takes about two days to thaw completely.

▪  When you ship the turkey, expect to pay for packing supplies and shipping costs.

▪  Ship only to a street address.

▪  Include in the box your name, address and phone number, and be ready to discuss the pose of your mount.

Score

Curious to know just how your trophy Tom stacks up against all of the others?

The turkey federation keeps track of all of the turkey records for each state and every turkey in its database is given a score based on several factors.

Accurate measurements taken in 1/16-inch increments are needed to come up with a score that can count toward a record book bird and it has to be witnessed by another licensed hunter or member of the organization. Other than that, it’s an easy process that requires just four steps.

▪  1. Weigh the turkey in pounds and ounces, then convert to decimal form.

▪  2. Measure the spurs. These must be measured from the outside center from the spot where the spur extends from the scaled leg to its tip. Add the measurements for each spur and multiply the combined length by 10.

▪  3. Measure the length of the turkey’s beard. This must be done from exactly where it protrudes from the skin to the tip. Convert to decimal form then multiply that number by two. If the Tom has multiple beards, measure each, add them together then multiply by two.

▪  4. Add together the weight from step 1 and the numbers derived from steps 2 and 3. This is your score.

Both a conversion chart for changing your 1/16-inch measurements into decimal form and a fill-in-the-blank scoring calculator are available on the NWTF’s website. Jump online and type in www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/turkey_score.html to use them.

All of the scores for turkeys in the South Carolina records can be found on the site as well. Just search turkey records from the top of the NWTF website and go to the listings for our state.

This story was originally published April 1, 2015 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Brad Harvey: Prepping your gobbler for a taxidermist."