Let's see your full body turkey mounts
Turkey
Thinking about getting a bird mounted gobbling on a limb. Let's see your mounts. Thanks
As he was when I shot him.
Can't resist showing this one again.
Whatever you do, use a real head. Those plastic ones (all that I've seen) seem to look unnatural.
Semi-strut gobbling on upper left, I think that is my favorite pose.
Are the heads above real ones
Bearded hen, freeze dried head.
Flying tom, freeze dried head.
Glass Eye that is simply the best I have ever seen thats something to really be proud over.
Here's one I was working on last week.
Razza's Taxidermy Bowsite Sponsor
They take a lot of space but everyone should have at least one!
Check out the blonde stripe in the middle of the beard.
Dennis those are amazing! You are blessed with some great talent!
Mine is still in the woods. great mounts fellas.
A couple of Nebraska birds...
Thanks Jasper, I get birds shipped in from all over. It's easy and cheap to do. I have a video on the bowhunting.tv on packing and shipping. I'll see if I can find it and post a link.
I agree with rock50... 1/2 strut gobbling is a nice pose. Good Luck!
My wife's first turkey ever from kansas
My best Rio. Hope to add one more turkey mount someday, a beautiful Merriams.
Need an oscellated to complete it. My taxi won wi state champ Turkey the last few years and Iowa this year
Double sorry, not sure I got second pic off
Another one by glass eye. His taxidermy work is amazing quality!
Osceola - Hazel Creek Taxidermy
Eastern - Hazel Creek Taxidermy
Nice pics. The turkey I shot last year we made into a decoy but it is jacked up. Will try to get a pic up soon.
It does work well but it looks pathetic. I am obviously not a taxidermist.
Does anyone have one in the corner of a room? Like where the limb the bird is standing on straddles the corner and the bird is facing out of the corner?
My son killed his first bird and his spurs were only 5/8" but had an "S" beard. So I was thinking about a mount that will focus on the front of the bird. Plus...he wants it in his bedroom which isn't exactly suited for a large wall mount.
Nick...you live in Alaska now, the only state without a wild turkey season.
Therefore, please stay off this kind of stuff, and reserve your comments for boring things you are now more familiar with, like - caribou, dall sheep, sitka deer, black bears, grizzly bears, kodiak bears, moose, musk ox, wolves, lynx :-)
I guess you could go shoot a ptarmigan in full strut?
Ha - Writer - I hear ya!
"Loud & Clear"
Headed to the Big Sky state in two weeks, can't wait --- Gobble Gobble
Then game time in AK :)
And call it an albino turkey..........with wooly socks ?
Our local NWTF chapter used to do a booth at the Illinois Deer and Turkey Classic.
I don't have any pictures of my mounts but I have been using Andy Cambell of Look Alive taxidermy near Seneca Missouri. He does incredible work! We'll worth the 2hr drive for me to take him birds.
Atta man, Nick.
Marry the right woman and share living the dream.
You and Theresa Vail, (Miss Kansas) have been the most mature, level-headed mid-20-somethings I've ever met. Proud of you.
...but that pic of you with that steelhead last year still smarts, dude. I've been expecting the furry and antlered things, but fly-fishing that kind of fish...OUCH!
Amazing how wild turkey taxidermy has improved so much in the past 10-15 years. Some great mounts.
Very nice guys I never actually liked my mount was disappointed in it.LOL
bird from last year. pic isn't downloading.
I am loving the mid strut gobble poses!
Did myself few years ago. Not bad for first time ever taxidermy project.
Here is mine. I like a few of the other postures/poses on this thread a little better. Definitely some fantastic strutter taxidermy.
Some thoughts from a guy with 40 years experience looking at turkey mounts. First, what do you want and how much are you willing to spend to get it? There are plenty of guys that will charge you a couple of hundred bucks and you will regret it every time you look at it. Find someone who does only turkeys and has been in business at least ten years. Be prepared to spend six to seven hundred dollars. On the mounts themselves, most have the wrong color blue on the head, have a shiny gloss finish on the head and legs, and not all of the feathers are in place. These points show inattention to detail or lack of experience If every detail is not perfect look someplace else or settle for less
All birds done by Hazel Creek Taxidermy.
Really like the roost gobbler, Moben. You also hit the nail on the head with your comments re cost and experience.
Never been a fan of the flying tom as it just isn't how I vision turkeys.
This is how he was lookin when I arrowed him with my Son in the blind next to me. 25.6# Nebraska bird.
There are also A LOT of taxidermist that don't actually do there own birds. Hazel creek has a wholesale taxi price and they do lots of other taxidermist birds. My taxidermist does birds for a bunch of others. May be tough to get the true answer from your taxi but and not even necessarily anything wrong with them doing this. Just that you often pay a fair bit more then just going direct to the source. Just something else to consider.
Dennis, you posted 2 pics back to back of birds gobbling on the roost, the pose I want. One has the feathers on the back and in front of the fan standing more upright making the bird look bigger. I like that best but am curious if its just personal preference or which one is more natural in reference to what a gobbling bird actually looks like. Also, do you use freeze dried heads? Thanks!
Jasper, personal preference..they can gobble without shingling the back feathers. I agree, they look much better with the back shingled. I use both freeze dried and cast heads. I like a cast head over a freeze dried. I paint the heads then I take off all the hairs on the original head and put on the cast with tweezers. This will eliminate any paint on the hair. All the birds I posted pictures of are cast.
Dennis, I just put a post on taxidermy.net in the bird forums and got blasted that I was even considering putting time into a cast head! What do you use for putting the hairs back on cast heads? Do you have any pics of any closeups of cast vs freeze dried?
I wouldn't use the taxidermist that did this bird!! LOL!!!
Jims, I use tech bond and tweezers for gluing the hair on. I pull the hair out then put it in the same place on the cast.
I will post a few pics here to compare heads. There are good and bad cast and freeze dried heads out there. All I can say is when I have a top Quality freeze dried head and a top quality cast side by side in the studio my customers always pick the cast. I do offer both.
Here's a freeze dried (left) and a cast (right) unpainted.
Here's is the cast painted.
Another angle of the cast head painted.
Nice mounts! Dennis, which cast full strut heads do you normally use? The hair on the casts certainly adds a lot of realism!
Nice work on the full bodied Strut ones
Rex,
We did our own so we could use it as a decoy. It is hilarious looking but it works. I will try to remember to snap a pic of it soon so you can all laugh.
We blew a balloon up inside it and filled it with expanding foam insulation. It would have worked better had my buddy factored in that the foam would expand wayyyy more than he thought. It started to tear the hide apart. The biggest error was when I skinned the bird. I had never intended to keep the hide or to make a decoy so I was not careful.
We used a Jack head from a cheap foam decoy. lol..
Believe it or not it works great as a decoy. It looks like it has been fighting alot and lost. With a MACK truck that is. lol
If get a bird this year I am going to try again. I think after I do it a few times I could do a decent job. For a decoy I mean and not a trophy.
one of my favorite mounts, it won First Place, Best of category and the Wild Turkey Federation Award at the Michigan Taxidermist Association Competition.
the difference in quality of the heads is amazing above.
My taxidermist freeze dried this one's head. Also note the 5 nine inch beards and 1.25 inch spurs. In all my 50 years of turkey hunting I've never seen beards like this one had.
Looking at all the turkey mounts already gets me pumped for next spring! Nice mounts guys!
Trkyslam thought I recognized those birds from Chris's shop! Greta mount
Thanks bradbear. Chris does a hell of a job!
I have a flying one coming soon.
Here is my taxidermist Chris Dishler, natures own taxidermy, using his bird that win master's state champ in Ia, WI, MN as a decoy......it need a little repair work later
All of those are awesome, guys! Getting me pumped for the spring! Going to get one down this year, I can feel it!
Here is my taxidermist Chris Dishler, natures own taxidermy, using his bird that win master's state champ in Ia, WI, MN as a decoy......it need a little repair work later
Sorry double post
Finished this for a client few weeks ago.
Not a full body mount but a nice option.
Just missing one for my slam!
This is not great picture but it is my favorite turkey mount. An old bearded hen and gobbler on same roost.
