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February 14, 2015
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After reviewing and studying Aaron’s video’s for several months I finally got the nerve to try mounting my first turkey. I was given this jake to practice skinning. Once I had it skinned I figured I may as well try mounting it rather than messing up a nice Tom on my first try. I know it has some issues compared to the beautiful mounted turkeys I have seen on this and other forums. If I learned one thing from this first try is to have the utmost respect for the guys that puts these birds together on a daily basis and have them turn out looking perfect as many of you do.
No doubt that attending a taxidermy school and learning from a taxidermist first hand would be the way to go but since that is not an option for me or a lot of people in my position I would highly recommend the online Taxidermy Insider video courses. They are jam packed with valuable information. So much information that it is hard to retain it all.
Don’t hold Aaron responsible for the mistakes you see in this bird. lol He covered it in the video I just didn’t get it right. 🙂
Now on to a nice Tom in the full strut.
I can’t speak for anyone else but to me that looks like a pretty good bird and for a first time turkey mount…fantastic. I have one in the freezer (I have never mounted a turkey either) but I am waiting until I have the time to subscribe and sit down and watch the entire series before I start. Actually I want to watch it twice; I never get all the information on the first watch! I have a video (two hours) but how can that compare to more than more than ten hours (is that about what it is?) for detailed instruction available from the insider?
I don’t know if I will be brave enough to post my pictures on here!
Good job Gary!
Vic
February 14, 2015
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Thanks Vic. Your comments are encouraging. To be honest I was hoping for a little better finished project but to be honest when I got started on putting the bird together I became overwhelmed and my mind often went blank throughout the process. I forgot to check and do a couple things that was thoroughly pointed out in the video. Some I remembered and had to go back and do them which cost me quite a bit of time. After about 7 hours of just putting the bird on the form I was totally burned out. I had my lap top set up and was checking back through the vide clips as I worked on it but was worrying that I was taking to much time and the skin was going to dry out. So I tried to limit watching the video as I worked. lol
I don’t want to make this post sound like a sales pitch for Taxidermy Insider. I don’t know Aaron, never met him, never talked to him on the phone, didn’t get a discount for joining the course and am still paying a monthly fee, however, I will tell you why I enjoy the course.
The turkey course is broken down into twenty some individual video clips which means you can start at the beginning and watch them from the beginning to the end. If you want to study one individual portion of the mounting process you can just go to that video clip and not have to go back through the entire video. The taxidermy unlimited videos are like that also and it is very nice to be able to do that.
I can’t just watch something once and comprehend it. I joined back in May and began watching them as they became available. I can’t tell you how many times I watched and studied each video clip. I worked on this jake basically a video clip at a time because I wanted to do the best job possible for my first time. I skinned it and put it back in the freezer. I took it out another day and fleshed and washed it. Put it back in the freezer. lol Cleaned the legs and attached them to the form and injected the feet one day. Painted the legs one day after they were dried. Painted the head another day. Washed the tail and prepared it for mounting on another day. I worked on it just as I had time. Basically did every step of the mounting process on a different day and had mega time each day I worked on it. A construction company could have built a high rise building in New York City quicker than I mounted this turkey. lol
Seemed like I had everything perfect until it came time to put it on the form. That’s when things kind flew off the rail. I guess that is the point no matter how much you have studied there is nothing like the experience of doing it. There is no one standing there saying don’t do that or do this or this is how this should go. Another reason why I have so much respect for the guys who are professionals and when they get done with their bird it looks like a live bird walking through the woods. Mine kinda looks like a live bird walking through the woods that has had a very rough life. 🙂
Even though this bird has some issues I would not have gotten this far without watching the video clips and being able to ask questions on the forum that Aaron answered thoroughly. I own several different turkey mounting videos and they are all good in one respect or another. But here is the problem. No one can make a video that covers everything without leaving some unanswered questions. That’s where the forum came in handy for me. I was able to get on the forum and ask a question and get it answered.
Another thing I like is being able to view the course from anywhere. I am in the legal profession and have a lot of down time sitting around waiting to get in court. I can pull the course up on my phone or ipad and watch the video clips while I am sitting waiting. Hard to do that with a video that is on a CD unless you want to do it on a lap top. You may have your lap top with you but forgot to bring the CD.
Now here is the ridiculous part of all of this. I tinkered around with taxidermy when I was a young guy forty some years ago. Took my first course from Taxidermy Success Training by Sam & Laura Touchstone back in the late 70’s. That appeared to be the best around at the time. Very tough learning taxidermy like that but I did get a basic foundation. I only took the course because some day I wanted to be able to mount my son’s or grandson’s deer head or turkey. I have mounted a few deer heads over the years for my son. Now my grandson is nine and I want to mount his first turkey.
I call this jake my thousand dollar bird. lol By the time I bought just the basic equipment to get by and various supplies I could have had a professional just mount his first turkey for him when he gets it and saved money. Hopefully by the time he gets his first turkey I will have progressed to the point he will have a decent mounted turkey by grandpa. I will be able to leave something behind that he will always remember.
Anyway, good luck with your first turkey. I am sure you will enjoy the video that Aaron put together. My advice is to get started watching. Way more information on there than you would think.
I think my biggest problem the day I mounted this jake was that I forgot to go to the store and get a six pack of bud lite before I started. I don’t believe I would have got so rattled had I calmed my nerves a little while working on it. 🙂
Question for Aaron and company! The turkey I was speaking about in my freezer was skinned with the meat removed already so I have no idea of the measurement from the carcass. With the detail you must have gone into with the insider videos I think the answer to this is yes but I can’t help myself but to ask anyways for my own piece of mind. Does your insider videos show how to measure and deal with this situation for us inexperienced folks? I tried ordering a body based on the claimed weight of the bird…hahahah…big mistake. The form is too big!
Vic
September 26, 2011
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Vic
The course does cover that in depth. I do not take carcass measurements on turkeys that I am going to buy a commercial form for. The form I choose is determined by the fit after the bird is fleshed. I show two different ways to size a form to a fleshed skin— wet sizing( after the bird is fleshed and washed) and dry sizing( after the birds feathers are dried). I never go solely by the weight on any bird when ordering a form. This is just a general guide. The problem with measuring the carcass is you are not measuring breast area expansion. Every turkey has different degrees of skin stretch from expansion. It is nearly impossible to accurately order a form off of measurement/weight alone. The company or sculptor you choose to buy your form from is also very important. I am sure you have looked at the variety of forms on the market and notice the difference in interpretation on what a turkey is supposed to look like. I go into detail on what to look for and where the expansion should be on the form, and of course give my recommendation on a good form that we use in the course.
Gary
Congrats again on completing your first turkey ! You have a lot of determination to produce a quality product, and it shows in your work. The bird turned out really nice. You picked the hardest possible bird to work with ( a small jake), in a difficult pose( standing turkeys can be tricky to get right), and you did it by watching our full strut video course, not a standing turkey video. Pretty impressive. I am confident your full strut toms are going to look great.Thank you for being a member of Taxidermy Insider.
Taxidermy Talk Administrator
Stehling’s Taxidermy LLC http://www.stehlingstaxidermy.com
Taxidermy Insider / Learn Taxidermy Online http://www.taxidermyinsider.com
920.650.5457 a.n.stehling@gmail.com
February 14, 2015
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Vic, I am in the same boat as you. I personally got to skin out the jake because a friend of mine gave it to me to practice on. I skinned it out within a couple hours of it being shot. I weighed the bird and then I took measurements of the body as soon as I skinned it out. I thought I had double coverage since I had the weight and the measurements. I then ordered a form according to the information I had. I even asked the company that I bought the form from if they thought I was buying the correct form. They agreed that according to the weight and measurements I was ordering the correct form. Aaron told me that the form I ordered wasn’t going to fit. Guess what he was right. I ended up having to order the form he suggested and it fit. lol
As far as being in the same boat as you I have two turkey skins in the freezer that I bought from reliable people on line. They had already been skinned out. I got a note with them telling me how much they weighed and that is it. I am hoping to have better luck ordering bodies for these next two birds. I have a pretty good idea what size to order this next time around since I know what to look for.
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