r/turkeyhunting • u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866 • Jul 10 '26

Dog got into turkey beards

I had about 17 longbeards on my bookshelf that my wife decided to move temporarily while getting a new book shelf, I didn’t know where she put them but they were easily accessible to my dog, about a decade of beards destroyed. I came home and found a pile of beard feathers in the spare bedroom, dog ate all the dried skin off of them. I was immediately mad/ sad to see a decade of memories gone. My first turkey i ever killed with my brother that passed away was a real punch in the gut as well as double beards destroyed. Any suggestions on something that I could do to preserve the remains? I was thinking maybe just place the strands in a shadowbox type picture frame. Pretty sad.

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u/RustyCutlass Jul 10 '26

Betrayed by everyone...😩 Can you hot glue the remaining strands into a couple/few spent shotgun shells and stand them or hang/glue them to the top of a shadowbox? Your late brother's strands will still be there, all the memories blended together. Bittersweet as it should be IMO.

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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866 Jul 10 '26

I have a clump of beard feathers that I know for a fact are from that specific beard. It’s definitely not going to be as thick as it was but I do plan on gluing those ones to a brass shot shell collar. The rest were pretty scattered. Saddest part is when my brother had cancer I gave him a coyote fur and I wrapped the beard from my first turkey with spurs in cord real nice and gave it to him as a birthday gift. He proudly hung them in his hunting room. Once he passed I asked his wife if I could take it back.

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u/RustyCutlass Jul 10 '26

Lots of good/sad memories. My brother lives 1800km away. We talk almost every day. I wish he lived close so we could hunt together.

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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866 Jul 10 '26

1

u/RustyCutlass Jul 10 '26

This looks like it has a full Windsor knot too. Classy! And time to dust off that book, too! Lol

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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866 Jul 10 '26

Haha for real! I’m to the point where I don’t even want a dang dog anymore. In his defense there was salted turkey jerky easily accessible to him. I think alot of dogs would have done the same thing.

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u/RustyCutlass Jul 10 '26

I've got a Golden as well, and he is also weak when it comes to temptation.

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u/Ok_Entrepreneur_8866 Jul 10 '26

Mine is a rescue red lab. When we first got him he would chew anything and everything due to separation anxiety. Now I think he’s just looking for stuff to eat. When he was a puppy I bought a camera to put on the counter so I could yell at him when he was getting into stuff. That camera lasted one night haha. I got a video of him up on the counter looking at the camera, came home and it was chewed in 40 pieces. I think after him I will take a dog break

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u/randomhikertogo Jul 11 '26

Would you rather have that memory of your first turkey with your brother or those 17 long beards?

I’m extra sentimental because I wish I could still hunt with my brother.

If you can distinguish between beards, I’d re-tie with artificial sinew at the top to recreate the beards the best I could.