Making study cast

[Kivatx]

I have a recently killed dove in my freeze. My wife will not let it stay there long. How can I make a study cast for futue reference?

[mark yundt]

I'm not sure how to go about casting a bird,nor what actual value it might have. They are very popular and many patterns are available for them.And the references from the dead body are pretty much gone. And it's very easy to find casts of the beaks for these pieces as that is a critical area.
The most common thing though that is used are study skins as several schools ,universities and study centers keep them on hand. The colors,size,shape of the feathers is probably the most useful information you can get from a dead specimen.
I know where your coming from though,,I used to have a freezer full of birds I found when I was doing only birds. My wife just shook her head and laughed.

[Kivatx]

Thanks for your reply Mark.

I think you are right. Whatever I were to do to it other than keep it frozen would probably not yeild as much information as is already available from other sources. I have used purchased study cast and bills before. Also, I just move to Austin and I know the University has a bird skin collection. I need to check that out too. I guess the best thing is to do some detail feather sketches and measurements and give up the freezer space.

Jerry (Kivatx)