How to Preserve Pheasant Tails

[M-2]

First, I just want to say I was VERY proud of Dusty's accomplishment yesterday - two birds with a recurve!
We are having pheasant for dinner tonight.

Anyway, as he was leaving with the meat, Chunky handed him three pheasant tails, saying a lot of people used them for decoration around the house. Buff then opined: "Yeah, Mark, I know they really dress up your trailer."

So I'd like to keep the tails intact with the clump and all, instead of just using the long tail feathers. I know Cabella's sells them this way so it's obviously possible to preserve them.

How do I do this? I tried to cut out the meat left at the bottom of the clump, but all I did was lose more feathers. Do I dry them out or what?? Thanks for any advice!

[Texantax]

Coat the meaty part with salt or Borax. Position them how you want them and then pin the larger feathers individually to a piece of cardboard until dry(week or so). Very easy!

[TxAg]

Never done it with a pheasant, but I've salted many turkey fans.....lots and lots of kosher salt. Change as needed.....it will draw all the moisture out.

I just use push pins and foam board or cardboard to position the feathers in the position you like. Then pile salt on the base where the meat is. Let sit for a month or two.

[M-2]

Thanks to the both of you!
Would it be best if I immersed the meaty parts into a bowl of kosher salt and pinned the feathers to a board upright? Or just lay them down on the board with salt under,over and all around?

[Texantax]

Thanks to the both of you!
Would it be best if I immersed the meaty parts into a bowl of kosher salt and pinned the feathers to a board upright? Or just lay them down on the board with salt under,over and all around?

You can just lay them down flat. If you're gonna use salt, regular table salt works best b/c it is smaller grains and penetrates better.

[TxAg]

Thanks to the both of you!
Would it be best if I immersed the meaty parts into a bowl of kosher salt and pinned the feathers to a board upright? Or just lay them down on the board with salt under,over and all around?

Probably doesnt matter. Since turkey fans are large, I've always laid them horizontally and put salt, over and under

[fletcherfor2]

I need to make a correction here. Make that one and a half pheasants, with a final knockdown by Craig with the shotgun on the half. That's the one with the arrow falling out in the pictures.

Marty hit him across the back with a pheasant spear wire when he first flushed. He flew off about a hundred yards and Riley (the dog) found him at the end of our second sweep. He wouldn't fly when we located him and it looked like he was about to make a run for it. A couple others had done so previously rather than fly (that we had already lost). I put a field point through his face at about 12 yards (millimeters below his brain case)

It was then that he decided he'd better fly and he came up carrying the arrow with him. After the arrow fell out, he started flying horizontally and Craig was right on target to bring him down for the second time.

It all happened so fast, I couldn't clearly remember afterward if Craig had brought him down with the shotgun (and I had to ask).

[White Falcon]

Try to take any excess meat off. Rub in a mixture of 80% table salt and 20% black pepper. This will also keep the bugs off. Pin or staple the middle feather first to heavey card board or scrap ply wood and then spread the rest out left then right, to where you want them and staple or pin feathers. Staple about half way down the feather to keep them from bending when drying.
Lean on wall or something so feathers are up. Salt will cause meat to drip when drying. Every day or two turn over, add more salt mix to meat, "just pore it over it", and turn over so feathers are up again. I would let it dry for 30 days or so In this weather. Keep out of the sun.
So lets see some pics when finisher.
Grant

[M-2]

Thanks for your input, Grant! The addition of pepper seems like a good idea to keep bugs away during the curing/drying process. I'll try to remove as much meat as possible without disturbing the clump.

OK, I will get to work on this and post up the results in a few weeks.

Thanks to everyone for helping (and to Dusty for correcting my perception from 2 birds to 1.5 with a recurve )

[TxNurse]

Coat the meaty part with salt or Borax. Position them how you want them and then pin the larger feathers individually to a piece of cardboard until dry(week or so). Very easy!

Guys I hunt with in Kansas who do a lot of them use the Boraxo. Also what i use on snake skins to be used on bows.

[M-2]

Guys I hunt with in Kansas who do a lot of them use the Boraxo. Also what i use on snake skins to be used on bows.

Good to know - I found this discussion by searching for "borax vs salt for preservation"

http://forums.flytyer.com/forum/7-tools-a-material/2648-salt-vs-borax-for-skin-preservation

These folks seem to like Borax better than salt (but one uses half and half).

If no one can offer a reason why salt is better, I think I'll go with the Borax...

[White Falcon]

Most taxidermiests use Calorax, same as Boraxo. If you have it use it, but add pepper!

[Bisch]

You can just lay them down flat. If you're gonna use salt, regular table salt works best b/c it is smaller grains and penetrates better.

That's the way I did my turkey fan!

Bisch

[Draco]

You need to really work the Borax into the feathers as well. It helps to get a lot of the oils out of the feathers. My taxidermist friend douses the whole thing in gasoline to get all the oils out. With the oils out they are more bug proof and the feathers will last a lot longer, the same as with fly tying feathers.

[M-2]

You need to really work the Borax into the feathers as well. It helps to get a lot of the oils out of the feathers. My taxidermist friend douses the whole thing in gasoline to get all the oils out. With the oils out they are more bug proof and the feathers will last a lot longer, the same as with fly tying feathers.

Thanks, Draco, I'm just seeing this. Would it be OK if I did that part after the 30 days for the clumps? Here's what I did: I mixed table salt with Borax (a little heavier on the Borax, but almost 1:1) and put in some pepper, too. I set each clump onto a layer of dry mixture, then piled it all around the clump and into the feathers front and back, then set the bowls up against a chalk board spreading them out like I want them. I haven't put in any push pins yet. As it dries, will the feathers distort if I don't anchor them to the board? I really appreciate all y'all's help with this - thanks again.

What I REALLY wanted him to do was save an entire bird and get it taxidermied, but this will have to do and I don't want to mess this up.