Turkey fan question

[LongBeard50]

Quick question boys. Just got my rio fan back from a buddy who unfortunately didn’t pin it to a board before it dried out.

Is there any way I can loosen up the meat to where it is workable? Trying to salvage this fan.

Thank you very much.

 

[sea trout]

Should just be able to moisten it back up and rework it and redry it,
What about a humidifier? Somthing like that might not mess up your feathers.
Good luck I bet the rio fan is purty! It's on my bucket list!

 

[whitetailfreak]

I use 3 heavy books (one on each end and one in middle) to spread out the fan, and they all turn out great after 3 weeks or so. Once dry, I've found them difficult to rework.

 

[Gut_Pile]

Get a good sharp knife and start cutting away as much meat as possible. Worst case is you completely remove all the feathers from the meat and just lay it out back the way it was before.

 

[LongBeard50]

Get a good sharp knife and start cutting away as much meat as possible. Worst case is you completely remove all the feathers from the meat and just lay it out back the way it was before.

Thanks a lot guys. It’s my first rio so I would love to get it looking good. I think the best bet is to cut away the meat and see if it looses up. Might call a taxidermist for any ideas as well.

 

[antharper]

Maybe cut away a little of the meat and soak it in water !

 

[Ihunt]

Not much is going to work. If it does, let everyone know what it was. Good luck.

 

[wooly]

Try this from H.S.

Should work great for you.
Good luck.

 

[Gut_Pile]

Great video Wooly.
OP, look at how much meat he cuts away. This is what you're shooting for. If you can get that main bone out, you should be okay.

 

[LongBeard50]

Try this from H.S.

Should work great for you.
Good luck.

That is a great video. I wish I would have seen it before. Regarding the dried rio fan that I was having trouble with, cutting away as much meat as possible and soaking in warm water actually did the trick and worked out very well. Having said that, I had no idea just how much meat removal was possible after seeing that video. Looking back, cutting out that main bone would have made the remainder of the meat much more accessible. The merriams and rio fans that I have done were certainly not as thorough as that taxidermist in the video did his fan. They turned out really good from an aesthetics standpoint but now I am worried that I left too much meat on. Will that cause a bug problem? I have both of the covered in borax.

Thanks.

 

[antharper]

I think u will be fine

 

[Gut_Pile]

You'll be fine most likely. Cover it in a bondo if you want to make sure

 

[Mark K]

I’ve got fans 10 years old that I just got off what meat I could and staked out in borax. Still hanging just fine with no stink or bugs, lol.

 

[Nicodemus]

This one is a little over 33 years old. I cured it and the wings with 20 Mule Team Borax. It`s still holding up good.

 

[LongBeard50]

This one is a little over 33 years old. I cured it and the wings with 20 Mule Team Borax. It`s still holding up good. View attachment 972658

That is the exact borax I used. 33 years is impressive!! Absolutely beautiful mount by the way.

 

[Mark K]

That turkey did some strutting before he checked out!

 

[Nicodemus]

That is the exact borax I used. 33 years is impressive!! Absolutely beautiful mount by the way.

Thank you. I wish I could offer some help on your predicament, but I really don`t know of anything that would help.

One thing I do know though, whether it is curing a turkey fan and wings or a snakeskin, that borax is superior to salt every time. Salt cures, but so does borax, and if a bug takes one bite out of something cured with borax, it dies. I also think bugs sense it, because this "mount" has no bug damage, and neither does a rattlesnake skin hatband I cured the same way 41 years ago.

Borax is good stuff.

 

[Buckman18]

Thank you. I wish I could offer some help on your predicament, but I really don`t know of anything that would help.

One thing I do know though, whether it is curing a turkey fan and wings or a snakeskin, that borax is superior to salt every time. Salt cures, but so does borax, and if a bug takes one bite out of something cured with borax, it dies. I also think bugs sense it, because this "mount" has no bug damage, and neither does a rattlesnake skin hatband I cured the same way 41 years ago.

Borax is good stuff.

Yep! I use Borax.

 

[longbowdave1]

Borax here too.

 

[Longbeard1975]

There’s a DIY section on OG that explains how to mount a fan meatless, removing all meat and skin. It takes a little time but might be an option in this situation or one were the meat has started to rot or smell before your able to work on it. X2 the borax vs salt