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Looking for a great way to show off that tom? Inexpensive, easy to do, and extremely satisfying! A simple process of skinning your turkey from head to tail, cleaning and boraxing the skin and pinning it to a flat piece of cardboard is all that’s involved. 

1. To begin, hang your tom by the head. 

2. With a sharp knife, cut the skin where the feathers on the neck meet the skin of the head. 

3. Continuing down the back and toward the tail, remove the skin in an approximate two-inch wide strip. You will notice that the feathers attach to the skin in rows and the narrow strip of skin actually holds a much wider angular blanket of feathers. 

4. Remove the skin to and including the fleshy end of the tail. 

5. With knife and spoon, remove the fat and flesh. 

6. Cover wet skin in Borax. 

7. Lay Borax covered skin on large piece of flat corrugated cardboard. 

8. With straight pins, pin the head end to cardboard. 

9. Fan tail, spread to the desired width and pin each feather in place. 

10. With an ice pick, lay each feather in place. 

11. Let dry three to four weeks. 

12. Remove pins, shake loose Borax and hang. 

You may wish to mount the cape on a piece of wood cut to fit the cape.

—Rob Keck