Can a taxidermist fix this?

M

Mitch B.

Member
This is the nicest Hoody I’ve shot, and would like to get it mounted but my #2’s did a little damage to the head. It’s a spot that’s about the size of a pencil with no feathers just a hole where my 2’s hit. The tip of the beak took a shot also. Is this fixable or should I just hold out for another?


I’ve been hard on beaks this year, I shot my first Woodcock and was going to get it mounted but there was a big nick where my #8 shot had hit in the middle of the beak.

View attachment merg.jpg
 
Mitch, I am not a taxidermist, but I would think they could fix the bill problem. I had a taxidermist replace the ass of a drake wooduck that I "lost" during a move. The main problem I see is the blood in the white feathers. Many taxidermists have told me to keep the blood off of the white feathers, very difficult to clean up and make look good. I haven't had birds mounted in awhile, maybe they have figured out how to fix this problem by now. They are great looking birds, I have taken a few myself this year already. One of the prettiest of the divers in my opinion. dc
 
Lots of taxidermist use cast bills so you will have no problem with that. Also, with holes in the head, they can be fixed for the most part but you might notice a slight "swirl" of the feathers in the area with the hole. Nothing that will be noticed unless studied hard and most folks don't know a good taxidermist mount when they see one so I'd say you'll be perfectly fine to mount that merg.
 
For what it's worth....personally Mitch, I would wait for another one. There are plenty of them in the area in the late season and I can almost guarantee you'll get a better one in perfect shape if you set out to do so. They were running a little late this year like most everything but normally there are hundreds of them in "the area".
 
Always start with a bird that is in great shape. It's not worth starting what is essentially an art project with lousy materials or you'll never get your Mona Lisa. Just my two cents.
 
My good freind is a great bird taxidermist here, he gave me some great advise once. Stick it in the freezer and wait till the end of the season. You just never know what you'll get. If you dont get a better one, then worry about fixing it. Just my 2 cents.
Capt. John Ven Huizen
 


When going to college I used to skin for a taxidermist and do some of the mounting...All part time. Feathers are dang hard to replace..might be able to pull the skin together around that hole with a few stitches and make it look ok, and then again..it might not look ok....bills can be reconstructed and painted to look very real.

Freeze the bird as someone said.....wash any blood off gently(cold water)...dry, use a blow dryer without heat...the blood removal is only if you have a fair amount of blood..you don't want it staining stuff.....stuff the bill and down the throat with cotton (prevents blood running out the mouth and nose when thawing or during the freezing)...steal a nylon stocking from the wife or girlfriend (panty hose).....cut one leg off at about the knee....slide the bird into the stockign head first towards the toe,,,,pull the stocking tight enough to keep the feathers all laying down....wrap in saran wrap....newspaper,1/2 inch layer......then plastic bag and freeze.....can keep up to a year....6 months is better...

You can ruin a bird fairly easy with handling so be gentle.

My penny's worth

matt
 
Mitch,

I suggest you get a dead mount done on the bird within a shadow box or just hanging by some leather....There are a lot of aesthetic benefits of doing a bird this way...It gives you the full spectrum of the feather detail on the back of the bird and a perspective of the primary, secondary, and tertituary feather group of the wing...The taxidermist can fix just about anything on a bird...With a hoodie the head can be tilted slightly, one wing hanging down further, and the head opened feathers opened enough to show the hood on the bird...Collect a few more divers and make a dead mount of all the diver groups...A person I get to hunt with randomly throughtout the years, Eric Shields has a dead mount of all the puddlers on one end of the fireplace and a dead mount of all the divers on the other end...A truly spectactular display...Get a hen one day and get the pair dead mounted together or piece them together over the next few years...

It is a perspective that gives you memories of the bird hanging as if you just brought it home to clean from the hunt...

Regards,

Kristan
 
The bill will just be replaced with the plastic head. As far as the hole... Difficult to say from the picture, but problably a non issue. Either it will not be noticed... and depending on the pose, you may only have 1 presentation side, and the suspect side would be put to the wall...etc.... I would tell you to either get it to get to an artist straight away... or vacum pack it and get it in the freezer. 99% sure from what I saw in the picture... the quality of mount will not be effected by you shooting.
 
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