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First turkey ever...updated with pictures

FLTENNHUNTER1

FLTENNHUNTER1

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I shot my first bird in Tennessee yesterday after hunting public land Florida Osceola's unsuccessfully for about 4 years. Heard gobbling all day but was not able to get anything to commit, I guess they were all henned up. Then around 10 am a Jake came in to check out my decoy. He came in silent, busted me, and almost made it to cover until I dang near blew his head clean off from 20 yards. He has nubs for spurs and a 5 inch beard and didn't weigh much at all.

Today I was blessed enough to bag a big ole tom from about 35 yards. He must have weighed between 25 to 28 pounds he was a monster. He had a 10 inch beard, inch and a quarter spurs. What a beautiful day to be in the woods!

I removed the fans from both birds and was wondering what y'all do to preserve them and prep them for display?

Updated, added pictures. Top picture Jake, bottom picture longbeard.
 
Re: First turkey ever...

Clean as much meat as you can off the fan then get you some Borax. You can get it in any grocery store probably with the detergents. Liberally rub it in the meaty part of the fan then put the fan on a board, cardboard, or any flat surface and spread it open pinning it in place. Let it dry out and there you have it.
 
Re: First turkey ever...

Congrats on the firsts!

Take fans and tack them to cardboard after spreading them out and cover the base with borax. On the beard just set it out and it will dry same for feet
 
Awesome buddy! Congrats. Cut as much meat off the tail as you can and fan them out on a piece of cardboard and hold with pins. Put a generous amount of Borax on the part you removed the meat from. You can google or Youtube and find many great step by step articles.
 
Congrats on not only your first but 2 in 2 days!

To save the tail fans trim off all the meat you can from the base of the fan. You'll see the quills under the meat so don't cut into that, it will be yellow and the meat will be red, just trim away as much red as you can. Then work a bunch of borax into it all with your fingers and pin the fan out on a board so it keeps its shape. Maybe put a book or something on the fan to keep it flat. Let it dry for at least a week or so.


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