Possibles vs. Shooting bag?

Aren't a 'possibles bag' and a 'shooting bag' two different things?

I thought a possibles bag or 'Haversack', was what held your food, flint and steel, candles, etc. and 'shooting bag' was just for your gun.

That is --- if you ran out of the house with your rifle, you'd grab your 'shooting bag' not your 'possibles bag'?

 

[J.D.]

I suspect that the term "possibles bag" is a 1950's invention for nearly any kind of bag one might use.

I have read a LOT of journals and books about the 18th and early 19th centuries and don't recall EVER seeing the term possibles bag used in any way, shape, or form.

I have seen the terms "hunting pouch", and "shooting pouch", but never possibles bag.

Haversacks, packs, budgets, market bags, and wallets are mentioned for carrying food, clothing, and other sundry items one might want, but I don't ever recall seeing a reference to a possibles bag.

I would like to see if anyone can come up with a reliable source for the term "possibles bag".

Just though I would throw in my own 2 pence.
J.D.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Once a name takes ahold and becomes generic for any item, I go with the flow. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff and tilt at windmills.

 

[2172]

Tan..you know, that's wisdom...I fell into the "possible bag" terminology when I first started muzzleloading in the early 70's..and probably spread it. While I know use "shooting bag' or "ball bag', I'm not about to correct anyone...Hank

 

[Deadeye]

DB, I use the terms just as you said, shooting bag for shooting stuff and possibles for everything else but I also realize that about 99%
say possible when they refer to shooting bags.
Probably should join the rest but can't bring myself to call a shooting bag a possibles bag.

 

Here are two period (1830-1840's) references to possibles sack/bag, which at that time was defintely not referring to the shooting bag or hunting pouch...

from George Frederick Ruxton's book "Life in the Far West", "...whars the dollars as ought to be in my possibles?".
Ruxton also references a "possibles sack" describing it as a "wallet of dressed buffalo skin" for carrying "ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deerskins for moccasins, etc."

In Captain William Drummond Stewart's fictional book "Edward Warren", based on his mountain experiences, "my gaudy cottons having confronted the glorious sun until sunk from the contest, were ready to be re-consigned to the possible sack."

still as Tanstaafl says today the name encompasses both.....

 

[Claude Mathis]

I always thought there was a definite distinction between the shooting bag and haversack or "possibles bag". I didn't think your shooting gear was considered "possibles".

At least that was the reasoning behind separating the two forums, "Shooting Accessories" and "Accouterments".

 

[Stophel]

I always just figured that a "Possibles bag" was something carried in the 1970's by gold-fringed-buckskin and fur hat clad "mountain men" all named "Griz"... :winking:

"Possibles bag"....just makes me cringe hearing the phrase!!! :redface:

 

[Claude Mathis]

I always just figured that a "Possibles bag" was something carried in the 1970's...

Apparently, the term goes back at least 100 years prior to that.

 

[Ron LaClair]

I always just figured that a "Possibles bag" was something carried in the 1970's by gold-fringed-buckskin and fur hat clad "mountain men" all named "Griz".. :winking:

HEY...I resemble that remark!! :blah: ... :rotf:

 

[AZ-Robert]

I'm chuckling here. Being a relative newcomer to the hobby, I never heard or saw the term "possibles bag" until I joined this forum and saw it in some of the posts :grin:

Thanks for the citations, Gray Wolf.

 

[roundball]

Interestingly however, if you go to Google, select the "Images" category, and type in "possibles bag" in quotes...you get are rows and rows of photos of shooting pouches

 

[Claude Mathis]

Interestingly however, if you go to Google, select the "Images" category, and type in "possibles bag" in quotes...you get are rows and rows of photos of shooting pouches

There's no accounting for what people call their stuff. :haha:

 

[Okwaho]

Here are two period (1830-1840's) references to possibles sack/bag, which at that time was defintely not referring to the shooting bag or hunting pouch...

from George Frederick Ruxton's book "Life in the Far West", "...whars the dollars as ought to be in my possibles?".
Ruxton also references a "possibles sack" describing it as a "wallet of dressed buffalo skin" for carrying "ammunition, a few pounds of tobacco, dressed deerskins for moccasins, etc."

In Captain William Drummond Stewart's fictional book "Edward Warren", based on his mountain experiences, "my gaudy cottons having confronted the glorious sun until sunk from the contest, were ready to be re-consigned to the possible sack."

still as Tanstaafl says today the name encompasses both.....

Thanks to gray Wolf for the post and cites.I had always wondered about the terms,"Possibles" as well as "Possibles Bags". I have never seen either used prior to about the second quarter of the 19th century and then primarily in the western mountainous region.Elsewhere one generally finds the term "shot bag or pouch"for those bags containing items customarily used in conjunction with the weapon.Prior to this thread I had always thought that "Possibles and Possibles Bags" referred to all the odds and ends one might carry and the bag within which these items were carried,in essence a glorified haversack.I have seen nothing to change my opinion and I am happy to have seen Gray Wolf's cites which coincide with my own thinking.I agree with other writers that the use of the terms "Possibles and Possibles Bags"as being synomonous with shooting accessories and shooting bags is historically incorrect but easy to use.I think we can blame Hollywood and some 20th century writers for these inaccurate usages but unfortunately they have become ingrained in the vocabularies of many much like the historically inaccurate term "Hawk" for tomahawk,axe,or,as was very common in the 17th and 18th centuries,"hatchet". I think,therefore, that the term "Possibles Bag" is another term for a "Haversack" containing everything except the kitchen sink.But like the terms "Hawk" and "Doglock"{a ubiquitous term applied to an ignition system which really never existed}we are probably stuck with such incorrect terminology.Alas Cest'la vie.

As to the origin of the usage of bags and pouches separate from the shot bag, it might be well to consider the use of pouches both small{neck} and larger{pipe and tobacco}by Indians who carried a variety of pouches, and it is very easy to imagine the intermarriage of the Indian's pouch and the White Man's haversack to create the Mountain Man's "Possibles Bag" within which he could carry a wide variety of items separate from the shot bag containing those items with which to service his weapon.
I think I have rambled on long enough.
Tom Patton.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Ah heck, call it a "purse"...we'll all know what you mean! :blah: :rotf:

 

[Stumpkiller]

A "Possible Bag" is the one that's too small for a haversack and too large for a hunting pouch. ;-)

 

[Claude Mathis]

Ah heck, call it a "purse"...we'll all know what you mean! :blah: :rotf:

I think this issue matters the least to people who don't reenact or consider that their gear would be used in a real life situation. In real life, if I asked someone to bring me my "shooting bag" and they grabbed my "haversack", that would not be good. It makes no sense to call two items by the same name when they are used for distinctly different purposes.

In other words, if I want a "Phillips" screw driver, I wouldn't ask you to hand me "a screwdriver". I'd be specific, because it matters.

But, then again, this is my way of thinking, based on what I've learned. If it doesn't matter to someone, I'd be the last one to tell them what to call their gear.

 

[shmrck1]

Dale,
I am as as you are... From
what I have read, and a lot of it was on this
forum, a shooting bag was to handle what you might might need for a days hunt. That would be
the only bag taken that day and for the most part
contained only what you needed for hunting.
Whereas if you had both shooting bag and
haversack bag you were ready to travel not just hunt. Haversack mite have anything in it, i.e.
jerky, hardtack,spices,clothes etc. This is what I
picked up, and if wrong I am sure I will be
quickly told so.
snake-eyes :hmm:

 

[Claude Mathis]

From what I have read, and a lot of it was on this forum, a shooting bag was to handle what you might might need for a days hunt. That would be the only bag taken that day and for the most part contained only what you needed for hunting.

Whereas if you had both shooting bag and haversack bag you were ready to travel not just hunt. Haversack mite have anything in it, i.e. jerky, hardtack,spices,clothes etc.

This is exactly what I have come to understand as well.

 

[roundball]

Hey...we ought to ask the Forum advertiser what he thinks...he named his business "The Possible Shop" (not possible"S")
:grin: