Bird Field Care for Mounting & Taxidermy Required Info
Field Care Information1. Avoid having your dog retrieve your bird that you think you may want to have mounted. Retrieve the bird yourself if possible.
Not all dog's are gentle when they retrieve. It will help prevent the loss and breakage of feathers and punctures in the skin.
2. If your bird is still alive, avoid wringing its neck. Hold the bird on its belly and apply pressure with your hand. This will deflate the lungs and cause minimal damage to the plumage.
3. When out in the field make sure to get the bird cooled down and keep the air circulating around it. Don’t put the bird in the back of your vest up against your body. The bird will never cool down. Your body heat will keep it warm.
4. Do not gut the bird.
5. Always carry the bird by the feet. Avoid carrying it by the neck. Carrying it by the neck can cause damage to the feathers or loss of feathers.
6. When freezing, fold the head under the wing and fold the feet up against the body and insert the bird into the leg of a nylon stocking. Make sure to insert the bird into the stocking the direction the feathers are laying. This will prevent breaking the feathers.
My personal recommendation is to put the bird in the freezer in just the nylons over night. The next day double/triple bag the bird. Make sure you remove as much air as you can from the bag without damaging any of the feathers. This will help prevent freezer burn until you are able to get the bird to your taxidermist. Also DO NOT wrap the bird in PAPER or FOIL.
If the bird's tail feathers do not fit in the bag do not bend them. Let the tail stick out of the bag and tie the bag loosely.
Avoid storing your bird in a frost-free freezer for any length of time. This will cause freezer burn to set in a lot faster than if you use a manual defrost freezer.
Taxidermy Required InformationUpon bringing your
Waterfowl to a taxidermist you are required by USF&W and WDFW to include with it:
*Hunters Name
*Hunters Adress
*Spiecies
*Number of Birds
*Date Killed
*Location Killed
*License Numbers
*Signature of Hunter
Upon bringing in your
Upland Game Birds be prepared to include the following Information Required by WDF&W:
*Hunter/taker's name and address;
*Owner's name and address;
*County where taken (GMU if available) ;
*License, tag, permit, and seal number (Wild ID and Doc #);
Here is a link to WAC 232-12-277.
