I live in rural Alaska, and have an Emperor goose I am wanting to get mounted. I have yet to select a taxidermist to mount my bird, but I am interested in what the experts on here think (and any recommendations for a taxidermist wanting to mount a "rare" bird for cheaper )...? The taxidermists in Anchorage are great, but a bit out of my price range, so just bringing it to a "local" taxidermist may not be an option for me.

I really want to mount it, but I also want to eat the meat.

Questions:
A) If I ship the whole bird on dry ice to a taxidermist, will it in any way affect the bird for mounting?
Also, I imagine I would have to pay shipping for mount and meat back to me.

B) Would you recommend I skin the bird and just ship the skin to the taxidermist? I imagine I would have to flesh the bird as well?

Thanks for your advice.

No pics, because I haven't figured out how to post pics without photobucket anymore...sorry