How to Preserve Deer Hooves
- 1). Skin the leg. Sever the hide around the top of the hoof with a taxidermy scalpel or thin-blade knife.
- 2). Cut through the cartilage around the knee with a hunting knife. Hold the upper and lower leg bones in opposite hands. Bend the leg bone at the knee. Twist your hands in opposite directions until the leg bone breaks off at the knee.
- 3). Place the lower leg bone -- with the attached hoof -- into a kettle of boiling water for five minutes. Remove the leg from the water with a pair of tongs.
- 4). Wrap a towel around the hoof, and a second towel around the leg bone. Grasp the hoof and leg bone -- around the towels -- and twist in opposite directions. Return both pieces to the kettle for another five minutes if the hoof does not easily pop off the leg bone. Remove the leg and try again to separate the hoof. Continue the process until the hoof comes loose.
- 5). Dry the hoof with paper towels.
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