Game Bag

[glrerun]

I have hunted squirrel, rabbit, pheasant, quail, etc. all my life with modern shotguns and 22 long rifle.

I always put the game in the game pouch in the back of my vest. Now that I am getting into traditional muzzleloader hunting, I am wondering what is the best method for carrying small game while hunting.

What are some of the methods others use?

 

[nwtradegun]

sgurril and birds were hung from ties or some had netted bags attached to the shooting bag.

 

[hypo]

For squirrel and rabbit ill take my knife and stab through there food then push a short pice of wood with cord tied to it through the hole and tie it to my belt loop thats how my dads dad did it how my dad did it and how I do it if its worked that long it cant be wrong.but some take cord and braid it together and tie slip knots in the end and tie it to there belt and just slip it over the feet and pull it tight.

 

[BrownBear]

We do a whole lot of snowshoe hare hunting, and most years can end up with a whole lot of them tagging along over the course of a day (no closed season and no bag limit here).

I've tried all sorts of carry, "original" and modern. Thought I had really hit on it when I built a bag with game hangers on it, like I saw in some pictures somewhere. Then I took it out in the hills and tried it.....

What a Rube Goldberg arrangement!!!!! :shocked2: You get 2 or 3 hares, much less 8 or 10 hanging from your shooting bag, and you're going to be a real unhappy camper. The load is very poorly distributed over you shoulder, and when it goes to swinging and flopping you'll feel like you're about to be hanged.

Best I've found is to hang them from your belt, leaving the shooting bag free. I don't have any pics, but the ultimate is a "sleeve" about 6" long that my belt goes through, with half a dozen hangers on the sleeve. Thread two of those sleeves onto your belt (on on each side of your bod) before you leave home and you won't even know they're there. Alternate between them when hanging hares, and the load is well balanced, and you're still pretty much unaware of packing a growing load. Meanwhile your shooting bag and horn are free and easy to use normally.

Haven't seen anything quite like that in any pics of original gear, but I recall a painting somewhere that showed a guy carrying small game with the heads simply shoved under his belt. Tried that myself, and I felt like Hansel and Gretel, but leaving a trail of snowshoe hares behind me rather than breadcrumbs. :rotf:

 

[George]

I don't have BrownBear's problem of carrying a big load of small game, so I can get by with a plain shoulder bag which I made. There is historic evidence of them in colonial days, but I have found no description.

"The Pennsylvania Gazette
October 24, 1771
JUST IMPORTED, and to be sold by NICHOLAS BROOKS, Next door to the London Coffee House, in market street,.... beautiful walking sticks of all kinds, new fashioned shot pouches , leather powder flasks, shoulder bags for dead game, ladies earrings,"





Spence

 

[Patocazador]

I use a gizmo made for carrying ducks. It's a short wide strap with 3 or 4 drops on either end with a ring or a loop in each drop. You place the head in the loop and alternate sides . Place over your off shoulder and it works real well. You can easily slip it off and hang on a tree limb while waiting for a duck or squirrel to show itself.

 

[longcruise]

I'd guess that it would not make much difference what they are shot with, just carry em like you always have!

Heres something that has not worked out for me. On several occasions I have killed small game with my bow or ml while going in to an area. Rather than carry them around, I would lay them over a branch or bush to be picked up on the way out. Sometimes something else finds them before I return and they are gone. :shocked2:

On one occasion I know it was a weasel since there was fresh snow and the perp left a clear trail. :haha:

 

[Auldgoat]

I find a game bag like that Spence uses to work best. A big advantage is no (new) fleas!

 

[arw22lr]

Besides a pouch in the back of my vest or jacket, I've used a small light canvas knapsack. It worked quite well. Unfortunately it wore out and I haven't found a similar one to replace it.

 

[arw22lr]

Spence,
What material did you use to make your bag?

 

[George]

It is a fairly tight weave light canvas, I guess, could be called burlap. It is sort of knobby like a homespun fabric would be, or so I thought. Here's a close-up so maybe you can get an idea...



Your knapsack idea is a good one, much better balance. If I ever get to do my dream hunt with BrownBear, snowshoe hares with my .30 caliber flintlock , on snowshoes, I think I'll make one for the hunt. Twenty-five hares will be quite a load. :haha: :haha:

Spence

 

[arw22lr]

Thank you, Spence. That's a nice bag you made.

 

[roundball]

I always put the game in the game pouch in the back of my vest.

I still do.
We all have various degrees of involvement in this great hobby, and mine is basically doing all my hunting with Flintlock rifles and smoothbores...but I still wear / use modern hunting clothes & boots, etc. Mainly interested in deer & turkey hunting, the only small game I hunt anymore is an occasional outing for squirrels.
For all my hunting I use an oversize upland hunting vest as an 'equipment vest' carrying everything like Flintlock items, game calls, drag strap, flashlight, gloves, glasses, rain gear, food & water, etc...and a 2.5 gallon Ziploc bag in the vest's game pouch does fine for the occasional squirrel hunt a couple times each fall.
Not terribly 'traditional' but it is what it is and I have no problems admitting it.
:grin:

 

[George]

For all my hunting I use an oversize upland hunting vest as an 'equipment vest'...

Only part of my hunting is done in period rig, the rest of the time I do something similar to what you describe. Even when going modern, though, I always use the pouch and horn, load from the pouch, cut patches at the muzzle, etc. I used to use the game pocket in the back of my modern vest or hunting coat, but I have found that game bag so handy for the way I hunt that I now use it with my modern rig, too.

Spence

 

[Paul R]

+1 on Roundball.
Back when I lived where there were 'real' squirrels to hunt, I always dressed/cleaned them on the spot & put them in a plastic bag to keep them clean. One less cleaning job when I got home.
The good part was while quietly cleaning the first one I would often have to stop & shoot another one that came out of hiding.
Unfortunately, the squirrels around here aren't much worth hunting.

Paul

 

[BrownBear]

Yeah. For long walks and big bag limits there's nothing that can beat dressing. And a good day pack with a waist band, HC/PC or not.

Our ptarmigan bag limit is 20 birds, and live weight the willows might average close to 2 pounds. You basically start at sea level and brush bust to 1300' elevation or so before you see your first. Even dressed down to around 15-20#, that turns into a hunk of meat hanging somewhere on your bod.... For the brush bust all the way back down to sea level.

Snowshoe hare are generally at the lower elevations, but that's still brush busting, creek hopping and smamp mucking in and out. Mature animals are the about the same size as big jack rabbits, weighing in the neighborhood of 5# or so, dressing down to a couple of pounds. Youngsters are smaller, but not all that much. Burden yourself with 15 or 20 of them on a long walk, and the slog back to the road will burden you bad if you don't dress them periodically over the course of a day.

I generally wait till I have 3 or 4 hanging from a belt (20# on a belt isn't as bad as 20# hanging from a bag strap), then dress that batch and move them into the day pack. Just makes sense to have dressing "session" now and then rather than stopping to dress them one at a time when hands are gonna be getting cold.

 

[Alden]

You guys are probably gonna laugh but I use an old newspapaper boy delivery bag and have recent spares. Heavy canvas, dayglo-orange strap (on the one I use right now I dyed the off-white bag a light orange -- I'm NOT going into the woods without orange). It's a foot tall, a foot-and-a-half wide, 9-1/2 inches wide at the bottom, the hanging bag conforms to your body, and it has a hanging flap top that is as long as the bag which will cover however much you could possibly stuff into this simple, strong, kind of expanding bag -- nothing's falling out. And you can wash much of any blood out though it does stain as you'd expect. I store my small hunting clothes (caps, gloves, etc.) in it and hang it in a closet off-season).

Getting as rare as newspapers and newspaper boys... They're a bargain IMO $20-delivered on eBay.

 

[Alden]

Better pics...

 

[hanshi]

I don't hunt in period dress but more often than not will still wear bag and horn. For deer hunting I'm as likely to use pre-measured charges and carry only 5 or 6 rounds of prb. For small game hunting and most any early season hunts I'll have bag and horn over one of two upland hunting jackets I own. Late season finds me wearing an insulated camo parka but without enough pockets. but if I can pocket a few pre-measured shots that's what I'll go for.

 

[Spikebuck]

I always dressed/cleaned them on the spot & put them in a plastic bag to keep them clean.

That's what I do now, just before depositing the plastic bag into an old canvas shooting bag that I now use as a game bag.