Proper Moonshinin' (Cow)Shoes

Was gonna put this in jokes forum but thought survival would be better fitting cuz one day some may have to revert to such crafty stealth to keep their moonshine or any other goodies hidden. I think it's genius and funny!

The cow shoe is actually a metal strip tacked with a wooden block, which is carved to look like the hoof of a cow, and strapped to a human foot. One example of the shoe was found near Port Tampa and sent to the prohibition department in Washington, thus the authorities learned about the existence of this smart invention. The same undercover gadget was described in an article in a Florida newspaper in 1922, so the world found out about the cunning of the moonshiners.

The idea probably came from a Sherlock Holmes’s story, where a villain attached fake cow hoofs to the feet of his horse to avoid detection. The same was done by the moonshiners, with the only difference being that they attached the faux hoofs onto their shoes. With those shoes on, the imprints they left on the ground resembled those of a cow. So, when policemen saw them, they would ignore the trail.

The discovery of the cow shoes by the police did not mean an end to Prohibition. The Prohibition had the opposite effect than the one planned. With its introduction, the crime rate increased by 24%, homicides by 12.7 % and drug addiction by 44.6% – the prohibition law actually brought more bad news than good. With organized crime and the black market flourishing, the bootlegging of alcohol became a very profitable business.

source

I am Southern and it "beats anything I have ever seen"

I read the title and i am like ???? I jst have to click and see what the heck this is .
And you know i expected something stupid as so much here is .
But ill have to admit this is smart very smart .

It might trick a person that doesn't have tracking skills.

originally posted by: waftist

Was gonna put this in jokes forum but thought survival would be better fitting cuz one day some may have to revert to such crafty stealth to keep their moonshine or any other goodies hidden. I think it's genius and funny!

The cow shoe is actually a metal strip tacked with a wooden block, which is carved to look like the hoof of a cow, and strapped to a human foot. One example of the shoe was found near Port Tampa and sent to the prohibition department in Washington, thus the authorities learned about the existence of this smart invention. The same undercover gadget was described in an article in a Florida newspaper in 1922, so the world found out about the cunning of the moonshiners.

The idea probably came from a Sherlock Holmes’s story, where a villain attached fake cow hoofs to the feet of his horse to avoid detection. The same was done by the moonshiners, with the only difference being that they attached the faux hoofs onto their shoes. With those shoes on, the imprints they left on the ground resembled those of a cow. So, when policemen saw them, they would ignore the trail.

The discovery of the cow shoes by the police did not mean an end to Prohibition. The Prohibition had the opposite effect than the one planned. With its introduction, the crime rate increased by 24%, homicides by 12.7 % and drug addiction by 44.6% – the prohibition law actually brought more bad news than good. With organized crime and the black market flourishing, the bootlegging of alcohol became a very profitable business.

source

It seems like it would work except cows have 4 feet and there would be problems with this unless there were many going back and forth. It would be confusing anyway to law enforcement. Thanks for the information.

Tracking skills ? well ok i guess it was the 1920s and still a few Indians around .
I can see it now ( yo chief hepum big problem . Devil in bottle must find with men who make the firewater .
tracking hu well no one had yet thought of using dogs so tahtw as out .
and unless you know somthing was fishy ( opps cowie )
most people would never think twice ( well except chochese

a reply to: Gothmog
Yea it is a simple idea, as long as the wearer doesn't gt too drunk and make suspicious tracks that form long S's. hah

a reply to: midnightstar
That's what I thought too

a reply to: butcherguy
Indeed, but I believe the police back then generally did not go that far to pursuit shiners, but yea a tracker would know the difference.

a reply to: rjbaggins
If you observe actual tracks, the stride of cows often leave prints that are close together, however the "hooves" on the shoes should be offset from left to right a bit.

Thanks for the replies and yea this caught me off guard but I thought it was cool.