I was asked to explain the next step in the caping process from that outlined in my first instructional post in the taxidermy section. Specifically, how do you go about removing all of the meat and fat from the cape after you have skinned the bird.
Let's first address removing the head from the cape. This is very simple and takes just a minute or two. It is done by cutting along the line between the feathers of the neck and the head wattles all the way around the head. Just follow the edge of the feathers and cut the cape loose from the head. (Save the head if you are going to have it freeze-dried for a mount,...if it is too damaged, you can get a replacement head for the bird).
Removing all of the meat from the wings, leg, and tail area is probably best left for your taxidermist, unless you plan on trying to mount the bird or cape yourself. You can remove all of the meat by using a razor blade knife or single-edge razor blades and just work carefully along the bones or the wings and legs, and around the tail fan. The legs themselves can be left as they are, so just remove the meat around the drumstick as far down the leg as you can peel the skin.
You want to leave the wing bones and lower leg bones intact. You can get to the large muscle of the wings from inside the cape. Just peel the skin back to the first joint and cut the meat off around the bone. The meat on the lower wings from that point down can be removed by making an incision on the underside of the cape along that next section of meat and then carefully carving out the meat from around the two bones that are in that section. This is the hardest area to get the meat off of, and takes some care and patience. Be careful not to cut through the cape on the upper wing side when doing this. Also, leave the primary wing feathers intact where they attach to the lower of these two bones,...do not cut them loose.
There is also just a very small, football-shaped section of meat in the next joint between the two bones that can be quickly carved out by just cutting into it on the bottom side and pulling it out. Most of the remaining meat you see on the cape can be peeled off carefully. Use the razor blade or knife if you need to for stubborn areas.
The breast sponge fat is a bit of a mess to deal with. Get a box of borax from the laundry detergent section of your supermarket to use for helping with this and as a preservative for the entire cape. You will turn the skin inside out when you do this so that the skin-side is exposed and the feathers are not. I always just start peeling away the breast fat as much as I can, then pour borax on that area, rub it in a bit and then peel some more. Using a wire brush to scrape off the fat helps, too.
This process takes some time and care, but you want to get as much of that fat off as you can. Be careful not to pull the feather bases through the skin, or loosen them as you are doing this. As you get the fat off and get closer to the skin, you will see the feather bases start to show. These will have little "nodules" on them that you will just leave intact and rub borax into. Don't try to get every little bit of stuff from around the feather bases or you will start pulling feathers loose.
Some areas of the cape will have a thin layer of fat membrane that can mostly be pulled loose by rubbing the cape with borax and then grabbing and pulling of the membrane where you see it. This is easily done. You do not need to get every little bit of this membrane off,...just the obvious and heavy places.
The tail fan area needs to be cleaned out well. Just work around the fan from the underside using your razor blade and remove as much meat and fat as you can without cutting the tail feathers loose from the fan base. You can also remove the small, triangular tail bone that is in the center of the fan base (you should be able to feel this bone and just cut around it carefully). Thoroughly rub borax into the tail fan base when you are done.
Now take the borax and rub it into all of the underside of the cape and around the bones of the wings and legs.
Once again, all of this stuff will be taken care of by your taxidermist if you are using one. The only time you need to do any of this is if you are going to mount the bird yourself, or do some elaborate display with the cape other than the standard stuff,...or if you are in a situation where you cannot keep the bird thoroughly cooled or frozen for a long period of time.
