# Caping a Turkey (including wings)- PIC HEAVY!!



## rhbama3

A fellow member asked if i could show him how i caped my turkey along with showing the wings being done. I was fortunate enough to kill my first bird of the year yesterday and spent today taking care of him. I know there are many different techniques and feel free to add suggestions.
Tools needed: stickpins, paper towels, several sheets of foamboard, clippers, scalpel( or x-acto), and razor saw( or dremel with cutoff wheel. 
There are plenty of video's on youtube that show how to remove a cape. Briefly, hang the bird by the head. You will notice a distinct seperation of the feathers on the sides of the neck extending down the back, thighs, and ending at the tail. As you follow this line, you will notice that on the body you will see a strip of black, downy feathers that extend all the way to the tail. This is where you want to cut( from head to underneath the tail bone).
If you are preserving the wings, make sure to cut the skin wide( around the breast) to preserve the shoulder patch of feathers. 
Remove all fat, blood, meat, and sinew from both wings and body cape. Be very careful and try not to cut the cape. If you do, sew it back together or staple it together. If you don't the cut will widen as it dries and can distort the shape if its big enough. (If you noticed on the first pic of a bird i did before, the neck is not right. This was due to a cut in the skin which pulled to the side when it dried).  After that, i lay the cape skin side down on tin foil( or parchment paper) and straighten the feathers on the back to your liking. This is the last time you'll see the feathers till after it's dry, so make sure your happy with the look. Slide a foamboard underneath the tinfoil and then place another foamboard on top. Flip the boards over and remove the tinfoil. 
Now, look closely and you can see the midline on the cape. Pin the top of the cape and pull slowly on the fan till you get the skin taut. Now pin the skin on the rear just above the fan. Run a line of pins straight up the middle of the cape to the head. Now, every inch or so pin the side edges of the cape after pulling gently. Once you are done, it's time for the fan. Pull the outer fan feathers to open the fan. Pin both feathers, making sure to angle them so that they lay flat. Once you have the fan to shape, pin each feather and then liberally pour Borax. 
The wings are time consuming, but just go slow and you'll be fine. The outer wingbone is very difficult to remove without destroying feathers, so i like to just remove all the meat from around it. Get it like you want and then follow the same process with pins and borax as you did the cape.
I used a dremel tool with cut-off wheel to cut the spur section off the legs. A quick push with a skewer pushed all the bone marrow and tendons out. All you want is the bone and skin. Borax them as well as the beard.
Place the foamboards in an out of the way dry place and let them sit for at least 6 weeks. Check it every few days. If you see cracks form in the borax powder, stir it a little and make sure to keep fresh borax on the skin. The moisture will cause it to clump, so you want to discard those and keep powder on it. 
Here's a run of photo's to show the process i used.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Hope this helps, Robert


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## david w.

Im going to have to try this.Thanks robert.


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## Jeff C.

Looks like some tedious work there Bama!!


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## slip

Thanks for posting this Bama.


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## RUTTNBUCK

You have way more patience than I do!!.........Good job, and thanks for the time taken to post this tutorial!!


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## BgDadyBeardBustr

Nice Robert! Great work Buddy! Good Luck, Tim


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## bowtie

looks good....i did something similar last year....turned out pretty good


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## rhbama3

bowtie said:


> looks good....i did something similar last year....turned out pretty good



Now that is cool! 

Appreciate the kind words, Guys. 
Just hope it helps somebody if they want to try it.


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## boneboy96

Great job Robert!


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## Keebs

Nice Bubba!!


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## secondseason

Beautiful!!  That is how I want one done if I can lay one of the old suckers out.


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## Hooked On Quack

Wow, I'm impressed!!   And Pookie's not bleeding in any of the pics. . .


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## White Stag

That is AWESOME. You could put a Euro Deer mount on that wood plaque...talk about sweet!



bowtie said:


> looks good....i did something similar last year....turned out pretty good


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## Nitro

Real nice work Robert. 

Looked like a fine Gobbler too- nice spurs and double bearded to boot!!

Congrats!


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## rhbama3

Nitro said:


> Real nice work Robert.
> 
> Looked like a fine Gobbler too- nice spurs and double bearded to boot!!
> 
> Congrats!



Thanks, Nitro!
Hope you are having a successful season!


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## rhbama3

Thought i'd bump this for the new guys.
Got my two capes in the freezer awaiting their turn.


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## fishnfool

Thus is worthy of being stuck to the top! My next one will be caped  unfortunately it will have to be next year my season has been over for a few weeks and the birds have been stripped of meat, fans, beards and spurs.
Thanks for the post!


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## TurkeyBird

That looks great!  Thanks for taking the time to share.  Alot of good info there.  I am glad you bumped it up because I had not seen it.


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## sneaking squanto

looks great against the old boards!


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## rhbama3

yearly bump for the new guys.


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## Killdee

Nice Job guess I missed it the last couple go arounds!!


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## thc_clubPres

bout how long does it take to do that.  I was never good at model building myself


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## rhbama3

thc_clubPres said:


> bout how long does it take to do that.  I was never good at model building myself



For a straight up cape, it takes me about an hour to get it cut off the bird, fleshed out, and pinned on a board and borax poured on. 
I let it sit and dry for a minimum of a month and a half before final mounting.


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## rhbama3

This thread is now officially a sticky. I appreciate the kind words and hope you get the same satisfaction out of mounting your own capes and fans as i do.
This thread is being left open for members to add their tips, techniques, and suggestions.


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## swackinswampdonkeys

How long do you leave your salt on the cape, is it the same length of time as deer hide until all moisture is gone from the skin?


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## rhbama3

swackinswampdonkeys said:


> How long do you leave your salt on the cape, is it the same length of time as deer hide until all moisture is gone from the skin?


I don't know about deer hides, but yes, you want ALL moisture gone.
A minimum of 6 weeks and longer if you can stand it. Just make sure to check it every couple of days for the first week or so and remove clumps or bust them apart to keep fresh borax powder in contact with the skin.


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## Killdee

Notice he said BORAX not salt.


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## swackinswampdonkeys

Thanks for the good info I'll have to try this on a bird this year. If it turns out decent I'll post some pictures.


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## Randypoo6292

I got a little jake the other day, but it was very sentimental to me because it was my 2 yr old sons first hunt ever and it was on public land with no blind. 
I saw this thread and am glad I did because this is what I have done to my bird. And I am in the proscess of making a nice display for the cape to go on. I can't wait till mid march so the bird will be dry and ready for the wall. I'll post pics of finished product


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## Maduro on Point

very nice! I have caped them and have back to fan mount but never added the wings. I think it makes the whole display much better


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## Jodi

Thanks for sharing the how to, it looks fairly easy. I have been wanting to try and cape one but didn't know how. I think I will give it a try. This is a pic of a mount I done last year with my husbands bird.


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## Wayne D Davis

Very interesting thread. Can you show how to preserve the feet whole with spurs. I think that would look really good but its probably difficult. I dried some feet/spurs and put on spent shotgun shells threaded with leather strips. I have no idea if just drying them over time was the proper way or not.....lost track of them after last divorce so I dont know how or if they lasted?


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## hollandae

Nice. Easy to do yourself n looks really good.


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## tjkeehn

Ok everyone, So Saturday I killed my first bird with m good buddy.  A double beard.  I want to do the cape and everything like in this post.  The only problem is I had a family death and caused me  not be able to cape it yet, Monday night.  Is ther anything wrong with me freezing it whole and doing the cape when I get time?  I'm thinking that i have done this with a deer hide but not sure if its the same.  Need some input please.  Thank you in advance.


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## rhbama3

Hi TJ,
 First, Sympathy and thoughts for you and your family.
If it's not too late for your bird:
 I have frozen a carcass after taking the breasts and leg quarters and then caped it later. Just try to stay away from your cape line of downy feathers running down the sides of the neck, back( just above wings)and ends at the tail above the thighs. If the head is bloody, then wrap it in a paper towel to keep blood from pooling on the neck feathers while it is freezing. Try to make sure the tail fan feathers are not crowded in the freezer and keep the carcass breast down and back feathers as neat as possible.
HTH, Robert


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## 1776Flintlock

Cool beans! Next Tom, maybe do a Youtube video on your process?


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## 1776Flintlock

Very nice! Makes me appreciate my taxidermist even more!

Congrats on a great Tom and mount!


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## Son

Here's one I came up with back in my taxidermy years. Beards and spurs can be added.


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## Nicodemus

I did this one with 20 Mule Team Borax about 35 years ago. Mounted on a window shutter off an old home from the 1800s. It`s held up well.


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## Son

Even more tedious caping to mount, strut for sure. Flying not so bad.


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## herb mcclure

Nick, your gobbler has the same dark tail and dark wings like the original native gobblers in the mountains had. Seems to me all these various shades of gobblers we see today, were introduced when live trapped gobblers and hens were introduced. 
It would be interesting if turkey's stockings (releasing) could be verified like deer are, about where they came from.


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