Carrying out small game

[CWC]

Everytime I've hunted small game I wore one of the bird hunting vests where the entire back panel is a big pocket. I would shove anything rabbit size or smaller in that pocket and keep hunting. I'm assuming these type vests weren't around in the late 18th century. What is a PC way of hauling small game/birds around with out tying up your hands?

 

[BrownBear]

My great granpap died in 1961 after 93 years in the Kentucky hills. When we hunted together he always strung squirrels and rabbits on a stiff branch like you would trout (leave a short fork on one end of the branch and shove the pointed long end through the leg behind the achilles tendon.)

I was just a kid and asked him why he did it that way. He said it was the way his granpap taught him when he was a kid. Doin the math I bet my great granpap's granpap learned it somewhere around 1800. Been doing it that way myself ever since. PC enough for me.

 

[CWC]

That's a neat idea! I'm picturing a length of branch about finger size and a few feet long. Is that about the size that you use? I guess a length of cord would work in the same way.

 

My method is similar. I take a stick, usually hickory, about 1/4 in. in diameter and 6-8 in. long, peel off the bark and sharpen one end. On squirrels I make a slit between the tendons of one hind foot and slip the stick between the tendons. On rabbits I use a little bigger stick and slip it between the tendon on the hind leg and the meat. Same place from which you hang a deer. Has to go back at least as far as squirrel and rabbit hunting.

Vic

 

[brubincam]

i thought they tied them on the fringe at the bottom of the coat... :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

 

[bramble]

Probably not correct for the period, but I have a loop of leather cord that I sling over my shoulder opposite of my bag, and tie the squirrels on by the head. It leaves my hands free. Or you could do like my buddy and miss a lot, he has nothing to carry :haha:
bramble

 

[BrownBear]

You got the idea. I never use one more than about 18", but if you wanted to sling it over your shoulder longer would probably be better.

Cord works too when you need to keep your hands free. I usually tie loops in mine, then double the loops over the "heel" at the achilles tendond, kinda like looping on a fishing sinker. You can put lots on a cord simply by adding more loops. I tie mine to my belt, but if hunting is good, you better be wearing suspenders!

 

[CrackStock]

I have done things similar to the above two responses, but I got blood all over me. Ticks and fleas become a concern as the body cools. I began using a bag shaped a lot like a haversack in which I carried a period correct WalMart bag :hmm: to keep the blood from soaking through. I also have carried rabbits to a main trail and tied them to a tree so that I could continue to hun without carrying the rabbit along with me. However, I once saw an owl eying my dinner lustfully and decided that I would wrap the rabbit in something to remove temptation from my feathered friend.

I like the stick idea as a means of keeping blood and bugs away from me. I might try that.

CS

 

[Runner]

Squirrels I string on a stick about 10 inches long as has been described. One end thru one belt loop and the other thru another if I need my hands free. If you hang them for a few minutes after each kill, most of the blood will drain then. Rabbits are a completely different thing. Hold the back legs and step on the head. Pull and the head will come off. Squeeze the ribcage until you hear a pop. Then most of the entrails will fall out his rear end. You only take the meat and skin home. I use a bag for them.

 

[spitfire]

Your way of field dress'n a rabbit method dates back in my family to the 18th century. :winking: My greatuncle learned how for his greatgrandfather etc.The paternal lineage settle in what is now Reader W.Va. in 1741.Thanks for posting brings back memories of my great uncle Jack.

 

[Runner]

Too many of the old ways of the people who lived with the land have been lost. That one was taught to me by a man named Long that lives a short distance from Brumley Missouri. It will be passed on!

 

[Maestro]

Here's a hand forged small game hanger made by Kyle Willard, patterned after an original in Madison Grant's "The Kentucky Rifle Hunting Pouch"

 

[J.M.]

I'm pretty new to small game hunting with a flint smoothbore, but I've already tried several different methods. The stick worked Ok but I thought it was a little cumbersome in the thickets. Tried the loop method, but got tired of blood all over me and fleas hopping around. Also I felt it was distracting to have the critters banging around while you walk. This summer I picked up an oilskin haversack at a rondy for about $15, and its great. I keep a large ziplock in it for a snack and a small water bottle, and put the game in there when I get lucky (got 3 greys today). So far i like it much better than the other methods.

 

[Bearbait2]

Has anyone used one of the "possibles" bag that has the small straps and rings hanging from it that are used to carry small game?
Would appear to work quite well.
Best Wishes

 

[paulvallandigham]

Yes and no. The straps attached to the bag hang the game very low, and exaggerates the swinging of the game back and forth, bumping into your lower legs, and feet. Pretty soon, you decide either to stash the small game along a route you will take back to the car, off the ground, but high up under some tree limb so that hawks don't get a free meal, or you find some way to carry the game up around you waist, or above it. A game bag on the back of a hunting vest is the best way to carry small game, in my opinion. But, I will have to say it was neat for a few minutes to have those rabbits hanging from those loops off the strap of my bag. I suppose if you shorten the straps so that the bag rides above the hip, and then shorten the straps that carry the game so it does not hang down past your knees, it may work all right. I recently saw a picture of some shooters returning from the fields in either England or Belgium. The guy carrying the game was carrying only the game, and no guns. He was employed to help the shooters carry stuff to and from the field, according to the article. I think the story was in Double Gun Journal. Often the bag is not used to carry anything but game inside it. Its not a field bag for black powder stuff.

If I were going to carry a large leather bag into the field only to carry pheasants and rabbits, I would line it with a plastic bag, to save me from blood getting into the leather, and leaving a permanent stink to carry on future hunts. But that's just my 2 cents.

 

[BrownBear]

This is all why I like to carry mine in my hand, whether on the forked stick or looped line. You simply drop it when it's time to shoot, meanwhile minimizing swinging while walking and blood/fleas/ticks on you.

 

[playfarmers]

I have a heavy canvass bag with a wide strap over my shoulder. It carrys all I need to take in and out.

 

[chuck-ia]

I allways clean rabbits and squirrels on the spot, put the meat in a freezer bag and stuff it in my haversack. never liked the idea of carrying critters with the fur still on, fleas, ticks. flinch

 

[playfarmers]

Flinch has it bang on. I also like to clean them on the spot. Why carry all the extra weight, not to mention fleas.

 

[CrackStock]

I do not clean them on the spot although I do appreciate the cleaning method suggested by Runner. :hatsoff: I just do not want to get bloodier than necessary while walking in the woods.

Maybe I am strong or maybe I am just a poor hunter, :grin: but I would rather toss the critter into a plastic bag; tie that shut to keep blood and critters from crawling out (and then onto me) and then place this into my haversack shaped bag.

See? Paul and I do agree on a few things!

CS