I Found the BEST way to Preserve a TURKEY FAN! DIY Taxidermy

In the last few years i've done quite a few of these....and also replaced a few!
I discovered this method and it has help up great. Figured i'd share it with you. Hopefully you can get a bird this year and mount yours with confidence!
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00:00 Introduction
01:07 Bad vs. Good Fans
02:45 Materials Needed
03:32 Layers of a Turkey Fan
04:40 Removing Feather/Cleaning Fan
11:13 Adding Borax
12:32 Flattening
14:16 Bondo
15:04 Plaque
15:45 Outro

[@tylerparker3024]

I cant understand how you let it sit in the freezer for a whole year before doing this but you did a good job. Tip for fixing jacked up feathers, boil water and hold them over the pot. The steam will make the feathers go right back to their origional shape.

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Good tip! Honestly not having enough space in the house for another fan and putting it in the freezer created the procrastination lol

[@tylerparker3024]

Haha it definitely is a thing

[@daniel1697855]

This is something guys do with their real feather fletchings on arrows to get them looking great again. Not a lot of people pay attention to the steam trick. You can also use the steam function on an iron just don't press the iron down obviously lol.

[@johnny_fins]

two things. on the front side under the first row of the iridescent feathers, there's fat under there. use your knife to ge that fat out. you'll actually be able move the iridescent feathers up and down before you set the fan, but the feathers will stay together. there's also a gland in there you can remove that will help keep the color of the feathers over time. the biggest thing you can do is wash the fan in a cooler with a little dawn dish soap. it will look like a wet mop, but put it out in the sun for 5,6 hours. it'll make it look immaculate when dried and it will actually bind most the broken feathers together

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Thanks man! Will do both of those things next time!

[@daniel1697855]

So I found your video a few days before the season opened here in MI and I am so glad I did. I hadn't ever found one that showed a way to get that bone out and man thats SOOOO helpful. I just tagged my largest bird ever this past Thursday afternoon and this will be my 2nd fan mount . Unfortunately my original 2nd mount was destroyed by mice while it was in the curing/drying process and because my house was being rebuilt due to a house fire I wasn't able to check on it in my shed when I need and when I went back it was in pieces. That was back in 2020. My 1st fan survived the fire and was kept at my neighbor's till we moved back in but I'm 100% sure this mount will turn out better because of your video.

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Love hearing that man! I have a history of fans on my wall and every year I add one and take one of the old ones and repurpose them for decoy fans. Congrats on the bird!

[@50TNCSA]

The results speak for themselves looks great

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

For sure! The extra work is worth it. Not only for hanging but if your making decoy fans it’ll be perfect

[@michaelhales5695]

Going out for my first turkey hunt next week. I'm excited. Thanks for the info!

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Good luck Michael, I hope you get one. If you have any questions I’m happy to help

[@a_beeble]

Your chickens are thinking "what did he do to my cousin tom? And why is his tail in his house"

[@TheUltraMagaDawg]

I use hot glue instead of bondo. Seems a little easier to me. You definitely need to seal it up though. Good job!!

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Great idea, I’m definitely gonna do that as well. I have 2 fans sitting around waiting for the bondo cuz I dread it

[@hookinhogswithhenry9845]

if you don’t mind me asking, what kind or brand bondo is that?

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Oof I’m not sure what kind I ended up using. I think I got it from oriellys

[@hookinhogswithhenry9845]

@@jakefromupstatefarm gotcha, thanks!

[@donaldkenne3776]

It's a good video but it's clear you're newer to the process. I actually saw this one a couple days earlier. Seems to be a cleaner setup of effectively the same process. I started drying my first fan out (Jake) with all the meat still attached. I'm actually going to go back and try and do it this way because it flat out seems better IMO. Less chance of things going wrong. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHytZqipgdSZmJIsi=oCSxZAmBYCDhkbb7

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Okay

[@tomhinkle2517]

Quills

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

That’s what I thought but apparently that is the whole feather

[@Stevehrp]

This is NOT the best way to preserve a Turkey fan. This is the old way. Looks like you left the tail bone attached and you could have taken way more wax off the ends with a pair of nips and a single sided razor. BONDO method is the best and fastest way.

[@jakefromupstatefarm]

Steve I’m confused by your comment I removed the tailbone, used nips and a blade to remove wax, and used bondo?