You hear a wild turkey gobbling on the roost through the eerie, pre-dawn darkness. You move closer to the roost in stealth mode, set up a decoy, and settle in. Next, you softly yelp as the sun begins glowing on the horizon. The thumping sound of wildly flapping wings tells you that turkeys are flying down from the roost. A few minutes later a dark gobbler struts into view with its tail fanned out, and it parades near—and then you shoot.
Now that you have a gobbler in hand, there are several options. Each year many hunters decide to have taxidermy mounts created to adorn a home or office wall. One of the best ways to locate a taxidermist is to visit: http://www.nssf.org/hunting/taxidermy/. There you can search for taxidermists by state and get details on the business.
When you kill your wild turkey this season, the guidelines to follow for a better mount include:
- Placing the entire bird in a nylon panty hose or open large garbage bag to keep feathers from being mashed or damaged
- Placing that bird in a cooler or on ice ASAP
- Avoid field dressing the turkey because most taxidermists would rather complete this process—and the skinning—themselves.