17
Apr
2018
Reference Study: Wild Turkeys
Part II by Larry Blomquist
If you are thinking, “Turkeys—again? Breakthrough just ran a turkey head reference article last issue by Cary Cochran,” you are right. That does not mean I cannot run another one as it is “that” time of year and turkeys are king in the spring, and there is nothing that surpasses great reference of the animals we replicate. Plus, I have a pile of reference we have never published in Breakthrough and we may as well do it for the season at hand.
I know that the vast majority of taxidermists who mount their own turkeys are also turkey hunters, so this opening photo has got to give you hunting jitters and reference for the great turkey strut. The signs of spring are in the fields but the look of winter is still in the woods—the mating rituals are cranking up. These two toms are pumped and displaying the most requested pose from our customers. It is also one of the most difficult bird poses to properly replicate by a taxidermist.