Couple photos and a question....

[Turkeygirl]

I saw a photo on Realtree I think it was of someone's tail display and they had the turkey legs with the spurs still on them on the tail mount. Does anyone know what you use to dry/preserve the legs? I am using Borax to dry the tail and the beard, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing the legs so I can have them whole and put them on my tail mount when it's ready??

Here's a photo of the spurs and the second photo is of a funny spot on the turkey between his one leg....I thought it was poop all dried on but it was this dried, yellow, crusty thing, had some mites on it...but it didn't smell....I thought maybe he'd gotten shot at and it was a wound but I dunno....it didn't look to have affected anything meat wise, just on the skin as the meat looked fine. Anyone ever see anything like this?

[Turkeygirl]

I'll get the photo of the weird spot posted when my computer quits being a pain,lol

[NiteRunner]

I never used anything on mine. They dry out plenty as it is and should be fine.

That spot on his leg could be a fighting wound or something, that's about all I can think of.

[Bowtech_archer07]

I never used anything on mine. They dry out plenty as it is and should be fine.

That spot on his leg could be a fighting wound or something, that's about all I can think of.

Didn't use anything on mine either. Just let them lay out in the shop, where they wouldn't be exposed to the elements. Then, the ends of the legs looked kind of nasty where I cut them off, so I cut about 3/4" of the top to clean them up a little bit.

[Turkeygirl]

How long does it take for the legs to dry? Do I need to put anything on them as like a protective finish?

By the way, a photo of the crusty thing in the leg fold:

[5SHOT]

I try to drill the bone marrow out of the legs. Just get a long drill bit and slowly drill down and carefully and slowly reverse the drill and most of the marrow should come out. I usually coat the legs and spurs with polyurethane. That will also protect and give it a shinny appearance.

Congrats on your bird! Great looking bird!

[WaCoyote]

They take quite a long time to dry, a month or more. You can form them to hold feathers, shot shells, or spread out like they're standing. On the bird I mounted this year, one leg is wrapped around the shell casing that I used. But you don't need any special prep work. I've got some legs that are 7-8 years old and although they've shrunk a lot they didn't rot. If you want a pic let me know. Otherwise I wont bother.

[toddyboman]

i agree with all that above....nothing special is need to save them

[PA_RIDGE_RUNNER]

I usually just pour borax on the tail feathers where the meat is. Since it is on a big piece of cardboard I stick the beard end in that pile along with the knuckle of the legs and let the borax draw out the moisture. How long till they are dried depends on the weather.

[Adjam5]

I have just shaped them in the form I wanted and salted them good to dry them out. The do shrink in size considerably.

VanDykes taxidermy supply sells some leg preservative, but I have used nothing special but salt to preserve the legs.

I am not sure what the yellow stuff is. I'm thinking a callous?

[Ravin R10 man]

I bet the yellow spot is from getting spurred by a Boss Tom..thats my guess