preserving fans, spurs, beard

[2thDoc]

how would you go about making a display for a special harvest?

IMHO, cleaning the meat off the fan is a pain. I have no other issues with it other than, if you dont do it right, it will stink and rot and not last long.

I have seen others with spur necklaces and such, but we are talking about a kid's first bird. After you clean all the skin off and remove the marrow, what else do you do to the spurs to make them last? Do you bleach them or just rub some borax (and salt?) on them and leave it at that?

[Tater]

Borax the shit out of everything with meat/moisture on it. Done.

[dixiedeerslaya]

as far as spurs, i just clean all the skin and meat off and marrow out the inside, and then ill drop them in boiling water for just a minute. that will help get the rest of the meat off from around the base of the spurs or any hard to clean spots. then ill just let em dry. been doing it this way for ever and have never had one go bad. as long as you get all the meat off you are just left with bone, which aint gonna rot.

[Tater]

[2thDoc]

i had a pile of spurs done that way and the outer covering of each spur came off years later. It was odd. Kinda pissed me off because they were hard to put back together....but I reckon I will keep doing it that way. I havent googled it yet. You people are my google...

[BigBrother]

I would cape the bird out.

Salt then Borax EVERYTHING. Tack the fan spread all the way out, along with the cape.

Use the brass hull from the spent shotgun shell, (time date and location inscribed), knock the primer out, loop a piece of rawhide through it, thread the rawhide through the spurs, then tie the beard on it. Hang it on a nail, or get a piece of hardwood to hang it on.

[Highstrung]

Aren't you a doctor of some sort?

[Tater]

Stick the beard in the brass and hot glue gun in place.

[LowcountryBuck]

2th, I have never cut the meat off the fan. I cut the fan off the bird, spread it out, trim any obvious or excess meat off and salt the meat that is left. I leave this in the garage for several weeks/months, and periodically re-salt the meat area, it dries up just fine with no smell or issue. I have fans mounted that are 10 years old that were done this way. I haven't had any issues with any rotting, foul smell, or other.

Clean the spurs down to the bone. I haven't done this in forever, usually just cut the legs off and place in the freezer to clean on a rainy day.

I always pull my beards off, never cut them so there is no flesh on them. I let the beard dry and mount either with the fan or on a beard collection display mount like tater says with the brass.

[LowcountryBuck]

Stick the beard in the brass and hot glue gun in place.

this.

[BigBrother]

Stick the beard in the brass and hot glue gun in place.

Thats what I meant.

Insert that in my recipe.

Meat rots. Clean as much meat/fat out of there as you can.

[gooseaholic]

I am interested in trying this method for fan prep:

http://vanheldengamecalls.weebly.com...21st-2013.html

Spurs:
Get skinned
All the meat/connective tissue/marrow removed
The bone dipped in hydrogen peroxide
A second scraping of the bone
Stored in borax with the beard for ~ a week

I cut the hull from the brass, pop the primer out, and remove the plastic inside the brass with a propane torch. The spurs are threaded onto the paracord, cord is threaded into the brass, hot glue is used to keep cord and beard together.

Wear gloves using the torch and glue gun...

[XHailGC]

A scalpel flat against the base of the fan will take pretty much all of the meat off. There will be oil/fat between the quills. You can take a small wire brush to get it out.

Spread the fan open evenly and apply borax to the base of the quills. I always put them on a large piece of foam. I have a line marked so each outer feather is evenly spread. Then, I take pins and insert them beside each quill. Just be sure you leave the tissue that holds the fan together.

For the legs, you can just let them air dry. Once dry, spray clear on them and they will shine.

[GobblerHntr]

Check your text messages

[CAMO SNOB]

and that aint no shit neither.

[GobblerHntr]

No need for that stuff there's a better way that leaves nothing to rot or stink.

[Dook]

Yall could make cooking grits seem hard......




damn.

[benman]

I'm beginning to wonder how that beaver ever got mounted.

[Tater]

No need for that stuff there's a better way that leaves nothing to rot or stink.

The difference being I'm willing to post up what I do instead of saying "my way is better than yours" and leaving it at that.

And borax won't leave shit to rot.

[YoungBuckTX]

F&S just posted a cape video today if that's the route you go http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/...src=SOC&dom=fb

I have always just used salt to dry fans