Having searched the archives for about an hour now, I haven't found an answer to my question, so here goes... I bow-killed a WT doe last week and have the cape on salt for my second mount. I decided I wanted to try a deer foot lamp instead of wasting the feet. I skinned one of the front legs to the hoof and removed the bone where it goes into the hoof (dew claws included). My question is, do I need to remove anything below the start of the hoof? It seems that there's a lot of "stuff" still down in the toe area. I have the foot salted at this time in preparation for the tan. Thanks in advance for the assist! Patrick
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If you haven't removed the bones DOWN TO THE HOOF (that means the pointed nails of the hoof), you still have a ways to go. You have to be especially careful opening the skin down between the hooves so as not to cut into the interdigital gland. The very best thing I've found to remove the toe bones that connect into the actual hooves is a pair of curved blade fish shears. The blunt points won't puncture the skin and you can turn them with the curve going down into the toe area to snip the ligaments. You'll STILL need to bend the hoof back and snap off the nails, so wear heavy gloves.
Drill a hole with electric drill "below start of hoof". Your tanning solution will get in there and drill will remove tissue. Of course, don't go too deep with bit......
"DOWN TO THE HOOF(that means the pointed nails of the hoof)"- That says it all. None of the other posts I read mentioned or were unclear on this. Thanks for the help! Patrick
I'll try the drilling thing on another and see how they compare- Thanks