Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6686628
12/08/19 07:57 AM
12/08/19 07:57 AM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 873 west virginia
wvmntnhick
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 873
west virginia
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Used to carry a possibles bag. But, got tired of how it draped down and snagged on things as I’d try to duck down and crawl through brush. Gave up on it and went to a fanny pack and then eventually a couple of old empty pill bottles and now I just grab 3-4 speed loaders and my capper. That’ll get me through. If I did, I’d put a bid on that one myself.
Last edited by wvmntnhick; 12/08/19 07:58 AM.
I keep desperately hoping that one day someone will call me "Sir" without adding "please calm down" or "you're causing a scene."
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: Catch22]
#6686969
12/08/19 01:54 PM
12/08/19 01:54 PM
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,662 Champaign County, Ohio.
KeithC
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trapper
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,662
Champaign County, Ohio.
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I tried to sleep but cant . So I came back to Tman and I seen this and laughed uncontrollably. Why on this green earth would you think it's kangaroo leather Keith? Good Lord lol. Well I made these in the early 90's and they are not kangaroo lol. A friend of mine, James, brought back a great deal of kangaroo leather from Australia. The texture of the leather and thickness appears identical. James uses it to make similar bags for falconry. Keith
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6686977
12/08/19 02:03 PM
12/08/19 02:03 PM
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 16,951 OH
Catch22
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 16,951
OH
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No offense intended at all Keith, it was late and kangaroo made me giggle. I used to enjoy working with leather. That bag in the front of the pic is one I made and then one year for Christmas I made all the guys in my family one just like it. Back when we had a hunting party, it was cool when we would gather for muzzle loading season and had the same possibles bag. Sure miss those days.
I wonder if tap dancers walk into a room, look at the floor, and think, I'd tap that. I wonder about things.....
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: Catch22]
#6686982
12/08/19 02:05 PM
12/08/19 02:05 PM
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Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,662 Champaign County, Ohio.
KeithC
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 15,662
Champaign County, Ohio.
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No offense intended at all Keith, it was late and kangaroo made me giggle. I used to enjoy working with leather. That bag in the front of the pic is one I made and then one year for Christmas I made all the guys in my family one just like it. Back when we had a hunting party, it was cool when we would gather for muzzle loading season and had the same possibles bag. Sure miss those days. No offense taken Jeff. Keith
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: EdP]
#6686996
12/08/19 02:27 PM
12/08/19 02:27 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,596 Green County Wisconsin
GREENCOUNTYPETE
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 18,596
Green County Wisconsin
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That's a "shooting pouch." A "possibles bag" is for carrying all the stuff you need that is NOT associated with your gun and is generally larger (like a haversack). But it's yours, you made it, and can call it whatever you want. Nice job too. It looks like deer hide to me too. I think the definition is regional. I have always heard Possibles bag used as all the things you could possibly need for your gun capper , caps , patches , turn-screw , spare flints in a flint wallet ,tiny napping hammer spar nipple if a cap lock , wedge puller & nipple wrench tool, cleaning jag , ball puller ect.. as we got to hunting closet to home I suppose it became a shooting pouch with just what you needed to hunt for the day other than your powder horn. all your non gun stuff when in your haversack, or other means of transport like saddle bags, pack basket or canoe pack.
America only has one issue, we have a Responsibility crisis and everything else stems from it.
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6687047
12/08/19 03:15 PM
12/08/19 03:15 PM
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Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 17,740 Central Oregon
AntiGov
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 17,740
Central Oregon
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Man , why not just call it what it is .........a purse ......... Just kidding fellas........somebody had to say it
Report a post club - Non member
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: GREENCOUNTYPETE]
#6687050
12/08/19 03:22 PM
12/08/19 03:22 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34 NW Colorado
COMuleman
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34
NW Colorado
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That's a "shooting pouch." A "possibles bag" is for carrying all the stuff you need that is NOT associated with your gun and is generally larger (like a haversack). But it's yours, you made it, and can call it whatever you want. Nice job too. It looks like deer hide to me too. I think the definition is regional. I have always heard Possibles bag used as all the things you could possibly need for your gun capper , caps , patches , turn-screw , spare flints in a flint wallet ,tiny napping hammer spar nipple if a cap lock , wedge puller & nipple wrench tool, cleaning jag , ball puller ect.. as we got to hunting closet to home I suppose it became a shooting pouch with just what you needed to hunt for the day other than your powder horn. all your non gun stuff when in your haversack, or other means of transport like saddle bags, pack basket or canoe pack. If you read into the history of the mountain men, a possible bag is everything you would need for everyday activity. It’s all your shooting gear plus a flint and steel. Sometimes odds and ends such as a fork or spoon and sewing needle and sinew or thread. It was they’re equivalent of a day pack essentially
When the time comes for a man to look his maker in the eye, where a better place for a meeting to be held than in the wilderness? - Dick Proenneke
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6687066
12/08/19 03:39 PM
12/08/19 03:39 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 10,404 Northeast Oklahoma
Mike in A-town
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 10,404
Northeast Oklahoma
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Here's a small one I worked on in my spare time... I finally finished it a few weeks ago. It's pretty small, but can carry just about everything needed for a day's shooting. 3-4 oz veg tan bag body, 6 oz veg tan strap. Fiebings Chocolate and Green pro dye. Hand stitched with hemp carriage thread. Heck, if anyone is interested in it I'll make you a deal on it. Lol Mike
One man with a gun may control 100 others who have none.
Vladimir Lenin
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: AntiGov]
#6687088
12/08/19 04:00 PM
12/08/19 04:00 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 873 west virginia
wvmntnhick
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 873
west virginia
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Man , why not just call it what it is .........a purse ......... Just kidding fellas........somebody had to say it Couple guys back home actually used to carry purses for their BP guns. Took ones their wives were done using. I’d shoved stuff in my pockets before I did that personally. Couldn’t stand the smell that was coming off them.
I keep desperately hoping that one day someone will call me "Sir" without adding "please calm down" or "you're causing a scene."
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: EdP]
#6687099
12/08/19 04:17 PM
12/08/19 04:17 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34 NW Colorado
COMuleman
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34
NW Colorado
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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. In most cases they only wore the possible bag and it doubled as a shooting bag. What I meant by the day pack equivalent is that it’s not just for shooting gear. A lot of times it was the shooting gear plus a few other odds and ends like fire kit and stuff they might need during a day of hunting.
When the time comes for a man to look his maker in the eye, where a better place for a meeting to be held than in the wilderness? - Dick Proenneke
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: Miley]
#6687114
12/08/19 04:37 PM
12/08/19 04:37 PM
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Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 16,951 OH
Catch22
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2015
Posts: 16,951
OH
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Bro did the the tanning and beadwork! Sexy man, I like it!
I wonder if tap dancers walk into a room, look at the floor, and think, I'd tap that. I wonder about things.....
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6687555
12/08/19 10:31 PM
12/08/19 10:31 PM
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872 meadowview, Virginia
EdP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872
meadowview, Virginia
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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.
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: EdP]
#6687572
12/08/19 10:53 PM
12/08/19 10:53 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34 NW Colorado
COMuleman
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34
NW Colorado
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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. Fair enough, just a friendly debate. I could be completely wrong, that’s just the way I’ve taken it. I’m definitely going to look around and see what good references I can find. Do you happen to have any documents that you could show? I would love to see them. I’m always for learning and not afraid to admit if I’m wrong.
When the time comes for a man to look his maker in the eye, where a better place for a meeting to be held than in the wilderness? - Dick Proenneke
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: 330-Trapper]
#6687763
12/09/19 07:56 AM
12/09/19 07:56 AM
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,411 east central WI
k snow
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,411
east central WI
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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.
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: k snow]
#6687820
12/09/19 09:25 AM
12/09/19 09:25 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 63,101 Minnesota
330-Trapper
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 63,101
Minnesota
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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. True stuff. And when reading writings of "old times" you have to know the author and time of writings. Just like they say about the internet....just because its there/ written dosen't make it fact.
NRA and NTA Life Member www.BackroadsRevised@etsy.com
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: tomahawker]
#6687908
12/09/19 12:13 PM
12/09/19 12:13 PM
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Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 10,404 Northeast Oklahoma
Mike in A-town
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 10,404
Northeast Oklahoma
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[quote=tomahawker] Buck skin pouch with muskrat flap. Although not nearly as fancy, I feel it’s much closer to what you would find 200 years ago in the back of beyond. No thread, no metal, no beads. Simply 1 muskrat, wang and pouch out of 1 deer hide. [/q Very true. Most anything made on the frontier was fashioned with what was on hand. I have a book somewhere that showed some of the items carried in a [ insert preferred technical term here ] pouch... The one item that stuck out was an awl for leather work. And a lot of early trade knives had a "Spanish Notch" for stripping sinew... So with some tawed/tanned leather, an awl, and trade knife you could fashion most anything you needed... Clothing, shelter, pouches, mocassins, etc... Mike
One man with a gun may control 100 others who have none.
Vladimir Lenin
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6688054
12/09/19 03:20 PM
12/09/19 03:20 PM
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872 meadowview, Virginia
EdP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872
meadowview, Virginia
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COMuleman, here is a resource that I believe supports my case. Shooting pouch link Once you open the link page down to the heading "Pouches, Bags and Accoutrements." There you will find numerous period paintings depicting shooting pouches (or shot bags/hunting bag/shot pouch) plus photos of surviving bags both from England and various American colonies. From their relative size I believe it is clear that only a small amount of gear can be carried in them. That, to me, would exclude a fire start kit, tinder, personal items, ect, that would have to be carried in a larger bag or in some other manner. In other words, the bags depicted were for what was needed to support shooting and little if anything else. That argument made, I will admit that it doesn't exclude a person from carrying a larger bag with all the items from the shooting pouch dumped in with whatever else was being carried. To make a more convincing argument based on historical documentation I would have to find evidence of both being carried and I haven't done that. However, it seems terribly inefficient to put all those small items in a larger bag with a bunch of other stuff when a person would want it handy.
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: Mike in A-town]
#6688187
12/09/19 06:30 PM
12/09/19 06:30 PM
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Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 82 Buffalo, SD
Wanbli
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 82
Buffalo, SD
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Beadwork available from Crazy Crow Trading Post Beaded Strip
"There is value in any experience that reminds us of our dependency on the soil-plant-animal-man food chain" Aldo Leopold
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: EdP]
#6688304
12/09/19 08:08 PM
12/09/19 08:08 PM
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Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34 NW Colorado
COMuleman
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2015
Posts: 34
NW Colorado
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COMuleman, here is a resource that I believe supports my case. Shooting pouch link Once you open the link page down to the heading "Pouches, Bags and Accoutrements." There you will find numerous period paintings depicting shooting pouches (or shot bags/hunting bag/shot pouch) plus photos of surviving bags both from England and various American colonies. From their relative size I believe it is clear that only a small amount of gear can be carried in them. That, to me, would exclude a fire start kit, tinder, personal items, ect, that would have to be carried in a larger bag or in some other manner. In other words, the bags depicted were for what was needed to support shooting and little if anything else. That argument made, I will admit that it doesn't exclude a person from carrying a larger bag with all the items from the shooting pouch dumped in with whatever else was being carried. To make a more convincing argument based on historical documentation I would have to find evidence of both being carried and I haven't done that. However, it seems terribly inefficient to put all those small items in a larger bag with a bunch of other stuff when a person would want it handy. Like I said earlier, I’m sure it was done both ways. I’ve seen estimates that say roughly 3000 men came west during the early 19th century for the fur trade era. (Again I don’t have the info of the longhunters in the eastern frontier). These were a mix match of different types of people and different backgrounds and ethnicity. Most of these are so undocumented that we don’t have a clue about, we only have the bits and pieces of those that did happen to document. Even some of the well known Mtn men, we only have the histories that have been passed on by people who heard or witnessed it. That’s why the few documents and journals we have are so valuable for the info. I’ve looked at the Alfred Jacob Miller paintings and the bags he shows from that period were a little larger than the ones in the link you showed it appears but like I said,there was hundreds of men and I’m sure they all had there own way of doing it and I don’t think one way or the other is wrong as long as it works for the person using it.
When the time comes for a man to look his maker in the eye, where a better place for a meeting to be held than in the wilderness? - Dick Proenneke
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: Malukchuk]
#6688383
12/09/19 09:06 PM
12/09/19 09:06 PM
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Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 23,644 New Hampshire
Nessmuck
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2011
Posts: 23,644
New Hampshire
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Possibly known as a Purse also. Murse.........man purse
Last edited by Nessmuck; 12/09/19 09:06 PM.
It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
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Re: Possibles bag
[Re: WakopaWalker]
#6688828
12/10/19 09:53 AM
12/10/19 09:53 AM
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872 meadowview, Virginia
EdP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,872
meadowview, Virginia
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Alfred Jacob Miller's painting "The Trapper's Bride" shows the trapper wearing a bag of size consistent with the period bags shown in my previous post. The Trappers Bride."[/url] Same for "Louis, Rocky Mountain Trapper." Louis, Rocky Mountain Trapper. Same for "Taking the Hump Rib." Taking the Hump RibInteresting exercise this research is. I knew Miller had done sketches and paintings of the era but did not recognize the quantity of the work he did.
Last edited by EdP; 12/10/19 10:01 AM.
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