A woodsman (or mtn man for that matter) doesn't carry his gun stuff in his equivalent of a day pack any more than you would put one round in your gun and ammo for follow-up shots in your day pack today. It has to be more handy than that or you won't keep your scalp very long. The shooting pouch is the first thing to go on and the last to be thrown off because the only gear more valuable to life is your gun.

Bro did the the tanning and beadwork!

I used to make them in my Rendezvous days. But its been years...now I just make Small Medicine pouche's

CoMuleman, I will note first off that none of your sources are primary source documents so cannot be counted on to be accurate. They MAY be accurate or may not. No telling if they are not primary source documents, but lets look at what they say.

From your first reference: POSSIBLES BAG: This bag served as the carrying pouch for items the mountain man might “possibly” have needed, such as tools for the firearms, tinder to start fires, bullets and personal gear. Here you have some support for your position, but mixing tinder to start fires and personal gear with bullets and firearm tools is not what I or anyone else I know does except for those items not likely to be needed close at hand.

From your second reference: Possibles Bag - A very important piece of the trapper’s gear, the possibles bag was used for the storage of any number of items, from flints and steels, to the castoreum box, awls, and other tools used in daily trapping life. There is no mention of anything that would be needed to keep a gun working.

From your 3rd reference: A possibles bag carried the mountain man’s necessities, such as knife and flint. Again nothing there about items to keep a gun working.

Another item from your 3rd reference: The mountain man carried a leather pouch called a possible bag. A possible bag contained everything a mountain man needed to survive in the wilderness. The mountain man carried the supplies he needed in the bag. He carried: • a metal tobacco tin with a glass disk to hold tobacco or flint and steel strikers to start fires • a spoon made from cow or buffalo horn and a crude fork • Beads and trinkets for trade with the American Indians Once again, nothing there about items to keep a gun working.


I do not believe your references help you make your case. I agree that a possibles bag was used like we would now use a day pack, and I use a haversack in exactly the same way when hunting in 18th century gear, but I carry a separate shooting pouch with the items needed to run my flintlock. The shooting pouch items include tools to pull a ball and clean the bore, spare flints, compass, patching, balls, turn screw, patch knife, vent pick, and a cows knee. There is no room for "personal items" or tinder or flint and steel and char cloth, or even a ball mold. Those items go in my haversack (possibles bag). If you look at the size of the bag pictured I think you will find it of a size more appropriate for those items that are needed and will fit in a shooting pouch.

Wow...someone believes their right

Its a common theme among the living history/reenacting vs rendezvous crowd. I have been accused of being a stitch counter, oh well.

There never was an item called a possibles bag pre-1850. That term was never used in any of the old journals, that I am aware of. Did trappers, etc carry knapsacks? All the time. Haversacks were a military item and there is VERY little evidence of them being used by civilians. We also have to keep in mind that western trappers and many of the eastern frontiersmen, were mounted 99% of the time. All of their gear was carried on their horses and mules.

Not all trappers were the best prepared, like we want to believe they were. The old journals are full of people getting lost, cold, starving, running out of ammo, and all sorts of other problems.