I'm not a taxidermist and have no desire to be one, but I've done a few turkey tail mounts. A friend wanted me to set up a tail of a Rio Grande he shot. He got some blood on the white ends of the feathers. Is there a good way to remove the blood?

A little hidrogen peroxide. The stuff you would put on a cut. Dab some on the blood spots let it foam up and rinse. Blow dry with a hair dryer and presto. try not to get any on the dark part of the feathers.

Good luck...Max

Not sure what to do after it dries, but back when I used to hunt and mount birds, mostly ducks and geese, I used to secretly steal a couple of my wife's tampons and put them in my parka pocket. They work great for cleaning up a bird.

Hydrogen peroxide will get the blood out but be careful with the hair dryer. Make sure it is on a cool setting as heat will curl the feathers. Shop vac in reverse or air compressor (on low) work well for drying feathers also.

Thanks for the tips guys, I've got all the fat scraped out of the tail and its sitting in some salt now. I'll try the peroxide this week. I hope to get it done in the next week or so.

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Not sure what to do after it dries, but back when I used to hunt and mount birds, mostly ducks and geese, I used to secretly steal a couple of my wife's tampons and put them in my parka pocket. They work great for cleaning up a bird.

That is a new one for me but I guess whatever works....I'm not sure what your hunting buddies are like but I think I would choose discolored feathers over the ribbing I would get in the duck blind over that....quick...hand me some shells...oops!

the peroxide will work

Grafton,

I appreciate your concern, but nobody tends to rib me too much. Nor would I care much if they did.