How to Prepare Your Bird for the Taxidermist

Care of your trophy bird begins before the shot. If you are going on a hunt specifically for a bird to mount, consider not sending your dog to retrieve. Hard mouthed dogs can tear the skin or pluck out feathers.

If the bird needs to be dispatched after it is retrieved, kneel on it’s chest to suffocate it, being careful not to pull any feathers. Wringing the neck can cause the head to tear completely  off the body. “Finisher” keys cause brain matter to get in the feathers, which can cause the feathers to pull out.

As soon as possible, gently push a piece of paper towel or toilet paper into the mouth of the bird, and into any pellet holes that are bleeding. 

Don’t throw your bird in a pile in the bottom of your blind, you want it to stay as cool and blood-free as possible.  Neck straps can pull out and crush feathers, so it is best of you handle birds gently by the body or by the feet. If it is below freezing be careful that the bird doesn’t freeze down to any surfaces. This will cause feathers to pull out when you pick the bird up.

The sooner you get the bird cold the better.  If you think you may shoot a bird you want to mount and it’s a warm day, consider making an extra trip to the truck to put your trophy bird in a cooler.

Try to keep your bird dry, water speeds up the decomposition process. 

To store your bird that has cooled to “room temperature”, gather 3 wet paper towels, a dry paper towel, and a ziplock bag.  Label the bag with the hunter name, species, sex, date of kill, location of kill, and hunting license number. Wrap the head and feet in wet paper towels. Place a dry paper towel on the back of the bird and gently lay the head against the back. This prevents the neck from breaking off when it is frozen. It is not necessary to place the head under the wing or place the bird in pantyhose. This can cause the feathers to bend and can get the body feathers bloody.  Gently smooth the wings against the body and wrap in a ziplock freezer bag, squeeze all the air out of the bag and seal it. Double check that the feathers of the tail aren’t being bent in the bag. Bent feathers can have “memory” of the bends. Then place the bag in a freezer or on ice in a cooler.

If it will be more than a few days before you are able to make it to your taxidermist, you should double-bag your bird to prevent freezer burn. 

If you have any questions please feel free to Contact Me. I’m happy to help! I included a YouTube video below on how to properly store your birds to bring the the taxidermist.