Mountain Goat Hoof ?

In order to reduce shrinking, I cast the hoof of all the mountain goats I get in. Has anyone seen or used a commercially cast hoof for mountain goats? Or am I crazy to go to the trouble of casting them? Sometimes you just do things the way you were taught, so I am trying to think outside my box.

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What are you trying to avoid Mike?

I've always used the real hooves on everything I mount. As Jim Marsico said a few days back, it's not a bad idea to dump a little Sevin bug dust in there before you mount it, but it's a lot like freeze dried turkey heads being bug bait. IF that were true in any sense, the bugs would be eating the turkey as well. Same with the goats in my estimation. I usually carve most of the soft tissue away anyway (because that's where the rod stock comes out), but I don't know any other reason for not using natural hooves.

Mike

I have to agree with George.Nothing wrong with a cast hoof on a mount.I just don't think the time is justified by the results.If the complete toe bone is removed from the hoof,shrinking is virtually not a problem.After you get the hang of it,this can be accomplished quickly and easily-faster than molding and casting,for sure.

Thanks

Thanks guys. The first goat I ever did had huge hooves and when it cam back from the tannery and dried the hooves seemed to shrink- alot. A friend of mine always cast them so I decided to give it a try. I never have problems with sheep, just the soft mtn goat hooves.

I remove the bone all the way to the toe, after I cast them. So that is not a problem. I have a goat that came in caped and salted with the hooves still on (no reason to cast a salted, shrunk hoof.). I sent it to the tannery that way, so I will just use the real hooves and see how it goes.

Thanks for the the inout, it is appreciated. I think we all need to get outside our little boxes at times to keep learning.

Did the hooves really "shrink"

Mountain goats have what I'll call "fat feet". Their hooves, with the soft pad centers have to be pushed out to make a "fat foot". I never get L/S done any other way except wet tan.