If you tag a gobbler, fan him out

To preserve a gobbler’s beautiful fan, take these steps. First, cut the fan from the turkey’s body. Get a board or piece of stiff cardboard and use your hand to spread out the fan to its full width.

Turn a tom’s tail feathers into great trophy, conversation piece

A tom turkey carries with him three body parts that most hunters consider trophies in the same realm that a whitetail buck carries an 8-point rack — worth keeping around to remember him by.

A gobbler’s beard, his spurs and his fan are mementos of a great hunt that many hunters would like to show off, especially if there’s a man cave involved.

The fan is the biggest of the three and the one most-easily turned into a trophy. Just take these four steps:

• After using a knife to separate the fan from the rest of the tom’s body, find a board or stiff piece of cardboard that’s larger than the fan. Then, using your hand, spread the gobbler’s fan out to its full majesty.

• Take two small nails and tack them into the board, just above the veins of the gobblers’ outside feathers, to hold the fan open.

• Sprinkle the meaty part of the fan’s base with salt to dry it out. This will take two or three weeks.

•  When it’s dry, the fan is ready to be displayed on a plaque.