I’d like to mount my daughters first Turkey tail fan. Anyone know a local taxidermist ( Twin Cites ) who does a good job and is fairly reasonable priced? The one I stopped at in my area ranged from 125-200 depending on plaque choice ( Not sure if this is the normal range or not ) Anyone ever tackled this task themselves? I watch a U-tube video and it looked like a fair amount of work.
I had a taxidermist do my daughters first one just so I knew it was done right, your price seems high, think I only paid about $60. I’ve done a couple of my own since then and the first one was a little rough, didn’t quite get opened all the way and didn’t stay perfectly flat. Last couple have been better but glad I didn’t experiment on her first one.
John’s Taxidermy in Hastings did my deer mount a couple of years ago and it looks amazing! Worth the drive. 
(651) 437-0287.
I have always done them myself. They are really quite easy to do, it just requires some time and patience!
Jason Brunell who is based in Elk River does all of my deer, and does an incredible job! His fan/beard mounts are also really good but even better, the price is right! $65 dollars for a Fan and Beard mount.
He has a studio in Fargo and in Elk River.
My 14 year old brothers each got a turkey last year, and did their own tail mounts. They looked just as good as my other brothers turkey he had done professionally.
So it must be fairly easy to do, and have turn out nice!
Do it yourself
20 mile team borax
Razor blade
Wire bush
Put fan on a large piece of styrofoam insulation. Put borax on the meat and start pulling with the small wire brush on the left over meat. With the borax the meat should come off pretty easy. After you get most the meat off. Open the fan the whole way and cut strips of card board out of a beer box and after you have the fan all the way open lay your stops on the fan and start pinning it into the styrofoam. And then after you have it pinned move the feathers around if you have any that are misplaced.
Good luck.
It’s not too bad. I did one each for Isaac’s WI and MN birds, and am now just waiting for the mounting kits to come in the mail. Expect to pay about 30 bucks for one of those. At $65, if you’re near the guy Ben B. suggested you might want to go that route.
Btw – If you have any pets, keep them away from the drying fan mounts! I’ve seen plenty of dogs and even a few cats ruin some great looking spreads.
Joel
There are some decent videos on youtube also. I’ll be doing mine and Jocelyn’s birds.
I’m currently drying my two birds fans and beards for the first time. Cleaning and using salt borax mix was easy. Now it’s time to see how they dry. From the videos I watched it doesn’t look to bad.
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