Hunting and Trapping Tools. Part 2.

Many woodsmen, woods women, hunters and trappers chose the life they did because it enabled them to live in the wilderness. This was true right through to the end of the western fur trade era in 1840. These people traded their skins, meat and furs for necessities first, and if they had credit left, then they might buy some trinket for their wife, a ribbon perhaps. But just as it is important now, getting the necessities first was important then. And they purchased the best they could afford, because their survival depended on it.

A hunting knife was used to skin and butcher game, it could also be used to dispatch an animal that had not died outright. It was also a tool of defence and offence and it was used to eat with. It generally had a long blade. The butcher knife was a very popular design with woodsmen and hunters.

A clasp knife might be carried as a back-up blade, it was/is always wise to carry more than one knife. Clasp knives are good for doing camp chores, making a wood pot hook or gorge hook for fishing. Also good for fashioning trap parts.

When a gun is fired it is heard a long way off. A hunter had to work fast at butchering the game and move out of the area. All the while he/she was dressing out the game, they would be listening and looking for any enemy. One wrong move and a blade is dulled on a bone, it is easily done. A second knife enables you to keep going without having to stop and resharpen the blade.

A tomahawk or hatchet is needed to fashion trap stakes, construct shelters, seperate joints on game quickly. It can also be used for defence, offence, and hunting if necessary. You never use a knife to do the work that a tomahawk was made to do.

A whet stone was/is needed to keep those blades sharp.

Fishing tackle did not take up much room and fish made a pleasant change from red meat every day. Baited lines could be set up along a river bank and left overnight to work for the hunter whilst he/she slept. Also at times it may be the only game in the area.

The ability to make fire was very important, as it has been since man first learned to use fire, and aventually to make fire himself. Fire is needed to cook meat, for warmth on a cold night, to keep dangerous animals away, to melt lead to make round ball or shot. It can be used to straighten staves and arrow shafts and to melt tree sap to use as glue. To say nothing of boiling water to sterilise it and to make a nice cup of tea!

The hunter can use the lock on his flintlock gun to make fire, but to do that he must first empty the pan of gunpowder and block the vent. It is far easier to use flint, steel and tinderbox. Most hunters would carry flint and steel, even if the steel was only a piece of broken file.

Keeping your tinder dry was important, you can not make fire with wet tinder. You can of course use gunpowder rubbed into some cloth or unprepared tinder (learn how before trying this, but it is a good skill to learn). This fire bag is made of leather and it is greased to make it water resistant. In this bag is carried the tinderbox with flint and steel and some very small pieces of kindling and a beeswax candle stub used to dry out damp kindling.

This is a gunpowder wallet made of leather. It is used to carry extra gunpowder on long journeys. When it is empty it is used to contain spare tinder, as in fact this one does. This is spare uncharred tinder, but the dust from the gunpowder within this bag gets into the tinder, which in this case it fungus. Due to this, the tinder will catch a spark without having to char the tinder in a fire.

Snares come in many sizes, and can be used to trap large and small game. The two shown here are made from brass wire with leather thongs for securing them. The one on the left is a 7 strand and can be used for small game such as rabbit, hare and large game birds. The one on the right has been twisted double making it a 14 strand and this can be used for cat and fox.

Stricly speaking this housewife and awl can not I suppose be classed as hunting or trapping tools, however they are a necessity for repairing the hunter's moccasins and clothing, even for making a new pair of moccasins. Needles are carried in the pin cushion of the housewife, and you can see linen thread wound round the pin cushion and the awl sheath. Inside the pocket of the housewife is sinew for repairing the moccasins. The awl and the needles are also part of the medical equipment, and used for removing splinters and for sewing up wounds.