More newbie hunting questions.

[mancill]

So today I took a cue from my long bow practice and roamed around shooting fire ant beds, me with a GPR and my 6 yr old with his 410. Well I discovered that the fanny pack I have my stuff in, well, sucks. So how do yall carry your items.

 

[Britsmoothy]

 

[Britsmoothy]

Shoulder bags sir :thumbsup:

 

[mancill]

Smooth does that bag have any dividing pockets to make things easy to find? Like a spot for balls and patches and such?

 

[Britsmoothy]

No not mine, some do though.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The key for me was to lay out my stuff on a table top, and decide on an arrangment...then make a cardboard pattern that looked like it would hold it. I then took some scrap cloth (an old pair of jeans earmarked for furniture cloths) and made it to check the fit...adjusted, and then made it out of leather.

I have a small pocket on the back that holds loose ball and a ball pouch, plus a multi-tool. The rest ride in the bag. The bottom of the bag holds a tiny skinning knife, the bullet mold, a tiny lead ladle, a small lead ingot, a compass, and a small sharpening stone. On top of that is a cinch sack with flints, extra jaw leather, some tools for servicing a lock, and cleaning tools. A strap of patching material rides on that...my powder measure and ball board are attached to the strap by leather whangs, but fit inside the bag.


You results should vary.

LD

 

[jamesthomas]

@ mancill

Sir, if you go the "The Possibles shop" they have a couple of shooting bags you might like or if you would like to make your own go to Track of the Wolf and buy the book on making them.

 

[longcruise]

The more you get experienced at carting the stuff around that you "need" the less stuff you will cart around. Finally, one day, you will realize that you don't have something that you really do need! That's when you have pretty well arrived. :haha:

Here are some pouches I have made for myself and other family members. They all have about the same capacity. I like one small pocket on the inside of the main pouch that carrys wiping patches stuffed to one side of it and shooting patches stuffed to the other. All the other stuff is pretty much just dumped in the bag and left to settle itself out. I'm now at the point where the stuff in there is pretty much limited for a big game hunt to the following "stuff".

1. a two or three balls in a bullet board
2. four or five loose balls
3. A nipple wrench
4. a lost patch retriever
5. a tin of caps with some dry patches packed in to keep them from rattleing. These are extras. The actuall shooting caps are on a lanyard in a leather capper.
6. Some dry wiping patches stuffed to one side of the inner pocket (used with spit to wipe between shots if needed)
7. a short strip of prelubed ball patch material stuffed to the other side of the inner pocket.
8. a short starter.

Anyway, here are the pics

This is the pouch I use for hunting.

This one is a very small double bag about 6.5 inches wide. A double can be quite handy.

Here is an example of overkill. My grandson insisted on a huge double bag so I helped him make it. This one would serve a mail carrier :haha:

 

[mancill]

Thanks for the info. Also I figured asking people who know more than me was a manly thing to do. In fact even Liver eating Johnson had to be shown how to make it. I read the book not just watching the movie.

 

[Supercracker]

In 10 years, when there's no new younger people interested in traditional muzzleloading, refer back to this thread.


FWIW, I've found decent, useable canvasish bags in Target and amazon being sold as hipster messenger bags.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Rifle

In the rifle bag:

Shotgun

 

[Skychief]

Mancill, another route you may consider, and one that I took, is having a custom bag made to your specs. I knew of some Amish leatherworkers in my area, stopped and talked about a possibles bag, and voila!

3 days later, I had the bag in my hands. Very reasonable cost, and quality that may outlast me.

Good luck with whatever you find that will work for you. I am glad that you asked us. :thumbsup:

Best regards, Skychief

 

[BrownBear]

...roamed around shooting....I discovered that the fanny pack I have my stuff in, well, sucks.

You're already miles ahead of the average guy who does all his shooting at the range before heading out on a hunt. At the very least you need to step away from the loading bench and your range box, stuff everything in a shooting bag, and do ALL your loading from that.

Most range rats don't discover their problems until they're out on a hunt, and then it's too late.

Got some good suggestions going here on bags. Lotsa field time will show you what you don't need in a bag, and you'll carry less and less. Before long you'll either have a great big bag with a hand full of things rattling around in it, or spending money or building a much smaller bag.

Before picking a bag, I'd get back out with your gear, and see how much of it you can get rid of and still do everything you need to do. That will eliminate a bunch of the PITA factor right off the bat. With it pared down to the minimum, you'll be able to tell just how big (or small) a bag you really need. It'll surprise you how small it can be.

The bag I've settled on may sound tiny at only 6" x 6" x 2". Just big enough to get my hand into, close my fist around something, then pull my hand back out without it hanging up. Pretty good measure of "big enough" in my life.

 

[Spikebuck]

I have a powder measure, a pan brush, and a touch hole pick on a leather strap around my neck. If small game hunting with shot, I also have one of Cutfinger's nifty turtle shaped ball/shot bags on a separate strap around my neck.

I have a couple bags, but the ones used when using shot have two or three small pockets on front right under the main flap for cards and wads. Other items are in the pouch section. Sometimes I use a powder horn/priming horn on a strap...other times a small flask in the bag.

I prefer larger bags because I usually throw a bottle of water and something to snack on right in the bag.

October Country has a very nice line up of bags of various sizes. http://www.octobercountry.com/

I have one of these canvas bags from Track of the Wolf that is really handy and would work when carrying a smoothie with shot or a rifle with ball. Decent size, pockets, not too bad of a price compared to nice leather bags.
http://www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/50/3/BAG-UPLAND-C

Shopping around for what might work for you is a good part of the fun. Like Brownbear said...getting out for "real" hunting practice should tell you what you might need or want.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Some great photos of handi work gents.

I too have developed an eye for bags when in town :redface:

 

[longcruise]

Naughty boy! :haha:

 

[longcruise]

I like canvas as an alternative. While on a two week trip in the back country with only a small tent and a fly, we minimized our equipment and a canvas over the shoulder bag from the local surplus store served to hold all my shooting supplies. Several saturations of camp dry kept everything cozy in all weather.