A boot jack, sometimes known as a boot pull, is a small tool which aids in the removal of boot

Boot

A boot is a type of footwear but they are not shoes. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece....

s. It consists of a U-shaped mouth which grips the heel of the boot, and a flat area to which weight can be applied. To operate it, the user places the heel of the boot in the mouth of the jack, stands on the back of the device with the other foot, and pulls his foot free of the front boot. The process is then repeated to remove the other boot.
The boot jack has several advantages over the removal of boots by hand. By allowing the wearer to pull his foot straight up and out of the boot, and by using his full body weight to hold the boot in place, far greater lever

Lever

In physics, a lever is a rigid object that is used with an appropriate fulcrum or pivot point to either multiply the mechanical force that can be applied to another object or resistance force , or multiply the distance and speed at which the opposite end of the rigid object travels.This leverage...

age and a much more secure grip are possible than can be achieved with the hands. In addition, the wearer is spared the inconvenience of having to bend over or sit down to remove the boots, or directly handle them if they are dirty.

The function of the boot jack can be approximated with a variety of other objects that may be on hand, ranging from a convenient piece of furniture

Furniture

Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...

 to a rifle

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile , imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the...

 butt, but these generally cannot remove the boot as easily as a proper boot jack. An adequate naturally-occurring bootjack is formed by the base of cabbage palm Sabal palmetto

Sabal palmetto

Sabal palmetto, also known as cabbage palm, palmetto, cabbage palmetto, palmetto palm, blue palmetto, Carolina palmetto, common palmetto, swamp cabbage and sabal palm, is one of 15 species of palmetto palm . It is native to the southeastern United States, Cuba, and the Bahamas...

 leaf and these leaf bases are consequently called bootjacks. Additionally, the sole of a boot still being worn can also function as an improvised jack, but the wearer using one foot to remove the opposite boot often lacks proper leverage to successfully remove a snug-fitting boot, particularly a tall boot.
In addition to simple, utilitarian models made of wood or a synthetic material, representational cast iron boot jacks are also available. The U shape of the jack is formed by artistic elements, such as the horns of a steer

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, antennae of an insect or snail, or other, often humorous or whimsical, designs.