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Course Content Section 1 - INTRODUCTION Section 2 - PREPARATION Section 3 - SKINNING A BIRD Section 4 - PRESERVING Section 5 - MOUNTING Attaching the mount to the anchor wood Section 6 - FINISHING 
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Setting the FeathersThe next step is to secure the feathers of the bird into position. Use your fingers and modeling tool to move the feathers, fluff them, and position them into place. Take 3" upholsterers pins and push them into the artificial body down the center of the back, the center of the breast, and the lower neck next to the wing shoulder on both wings. Leave approximately 1" to 1 1/2" inches of the pins above the feathers. If the wings do not set close enough to the body, use an upholsterers pin pushed through the secondary center of the wing into the artificial body to secure the wings into place. Use as many pins as needed. See FIGURE 5-77.
FIGURE 5-77 FIGURE 5-78 shows the bird with all of the upholsterer's pins in place. Use as many pins as needed over the entire body. Make certain the feathers are not disarranged when placing your pins.
FIGURE 5-78 Next, take your cotton string and tie a knot using the end of the string to one of the pins on the back of the bird. Begin wrapping the string around the bird's body keeping the feathers in place while doing so. Wrap the string tight enough to pull the fluffed out feathers down into place, keeping the feathers even over the body. See FIGURE 5-79. Use the pins to loop and change directions of the string to wrap the different sections of the bird in a crisscross fashion.
FIGURE 5-79 After the feathers have been secured into place, use 1" seamstress pins to position and secure the toes into place. Move the toes into the desired position, push a pin through the toe and tap into place with a small hammer. See FIGURE 5-80.
FIGURE 5-80 The last step in the mounting process is to set the tail and position feathers. Cut and bend a piece of 14-gauge wire into a "T" shape. The wire should be approximate to the size of the bird and the spread width of the tail feathers. Since standing pheasants rarely spread their tail feathers, the tail wire shown is approximately 3" in length and the "T" in the wire is approximately 2 " wide. Next, sharpen the end of the tail wire. Push the tail wire into the artificial body through the tail butt underneath the tail. The wire will support the tail is never removed. Ensure the wire does not prevent the tail feathers from laying flat. Leave approximately 1" of the "T" under the tail feathers. See FIGURE 5-81.
FIGURE 5-81 Next, position the tail feathers to the desired spread, and place two pieces of thin cardboard, 1" inch wide and long enough to reach across the width of the tail feathers, above and below the tail. Place the cardboard on the top and bottom of the tail feathers and staple the two pieces of cardboard into place using your scissor stapler. You will be stapling through the cardboard and feathers, but be careful not to staple through the shaft of the tail feathers See FIGURE 5-82.
FIGURE 5-82 FIGURE 5-83 shows the completed bird. The next step is to allow the bird to dry. Mounted birds normally dry in about two weeks time. Keep the bird in a warm dry environment at room temperature.
FIGURE 5-83 After two weeks you can check the bird to see if it is completely dry by pressing on the skin around the neck, wings and legs. The skin will be stiff and unresponsive if completely dry and the legs and wings will not move. The feathers of the wing should snap back into place if pulled slightly up and let go of. Ensure the bird has thoroughly dried before continuing with the finishing procedure. If the string wrap and pins are removed too soon, the feathers will twist out of position while drying.
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