possible bag and shooting bag?

[Loyalist Dave]

Now...everybody's favorite... the "haversack" type shoulder bag.... Despite the cries that ONLY the military ever used such a thing, I do have 18th century images of genuine non-military people with haversack-type shoulder bags.

I don't dispute that bags similar in shape to the military haversack were used..., what I STRONGLY object to..., is everybody who speaks English, who has a single strap pack with a top flap secured by one or more buttons, referring to that single strap bag with a button-secured flap...as a "haversack"! When what I've found is that term in an era when terminology was often loose..., that term in English seems to be exclusively used for the name of the marked, military, ration bag, that a civilian would not have unless that person was somehow attached as part of the army.

I've found a great many references to the "haversack" and they were all referencing the military, ration bag.

Sorry..., I'm back now....

LD

 

[Zonie]

Reminds me of the story about the old man who sold a youngster a dozen golf balls for 25¢.
The boy was grateful but he said, "Thanks mister, but how am I going to get them home?"

The old man thought about if for a minute and said, "Well, my wife has collected over 50 purses over the years and I'd let you take one of them but, she would pound knots on my head if I did. Tell you what. You can use one of the bags she used to bring 'um home in.
Here you go! You can have her sack."

 

[sawyer04]

A bag is a bag in my book. If I had a separate bag for things I carry the bulk would tremendous. I always had the impression that a possibles bag was for possible things that might be needed. The whole thing of it is that it not be called a man purse. I carry a small shooting pouch because I am lazy and hate to carry much weight. I carry a small horn of powder; the big stuff, mold, extra powder and lead, extra granola bars and extra water are cached at base camp. I might get lucky and bag something. I don't want bags dragging me down.

 

[tenngun]

I don't dispute that bags similar in shape to the military haversack were used..., what I STRONGLY object to..., is everybody who speaks English, who has a single strap pack with a top flap secured by one or more buttons, referring to that single strap bag with a button-secured flap...as a "haversack"! When what I've found is that term in an era when terminology was often loose..., that term in English seems to be exclusively used for the name of the marked, military, ration bag, that a civilian would not have unless that person was somehow attached as part of the army.

I've found a great many references to the "haversack" and they were all referencing the military, ration bag.

Sorry..., I'm back now....

LD

Yeah, but....
We gots our SMR, Tennersea rifle guns, gots our Pennsylvania guns and our Marylanders, ol Virginy, we gots our tulles and our injun guns. We gots our club butts we gots our plains rifle guns, even gots our jaggers.
Back then they had guns, maybe rifle-guns.
I reckon we have a few things that we name today they didn’t say back then.

 

[tenngun]

One thing to keep in mind is eighteenth century soldiers didn’t have much. The haversack stuffers we see in the marketplace today were not really needed. A barber shaved him, he didn’t need a razor, he was in a camp he didn’t need his own fire kit, wounded or sick he went to the surgeon he didn’t need a first aid kit, he probably didn’t know how to read, harmonicas weren’t yet invented. Tobacco and a pipe were the and a comb was probably the extent of his personal wealth.
The WTBS was fought in large part by men who had a home life to leave behind. He might have a bible or a book of some sort, a journal maybe a few letters from home, all could be stuffed in his knapsack.
Soldiers didn’t need a ‘possibles bag”.

 

[Cruzatte]

OK....I'll buy it. In 18th century parlance, haversack is a soldier's ration bag.

What did civilians call a single strap, shoulder slung bag with a button flap closure in the 18th century?

 

[Stophel]

Beats me. Probably "bag".

 

[Scoper05]

Reminds me of the story about the old man who sold a youngster a dozen golf balls for 25¢.
The boy was grateful but he said, "Thanks mister, but how am I going to get them home?"

The old man thought about if for a minute and said, "Well, my wife has collected over 50 purses over the years and I'd let you take one of them but, she would pound knots on my head if I did. Tell you what. You can use one of the bags she used to bring 'um home in.
Here you go! You can have her sack."

Well that's 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back. LOL

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Beats me. Probably "bag".

HE GOT IT!

LD

 

[Cruzatte]

HE GOT IT!

LD

OK....bag it is. Works for me. :thumbs up:

 

[Stophel]

Seriously, though, people today want absolute, scientifically accurate terms for everything. Everything separated out and put into a nice, neat, cubbyhole. It don't work that way, unfortunately. 200+ years ago, they may have called a shoulder bag a "bag", they may have called it a "tote sack", they may have called it a "poke", they may have called it a "wallet", they may have called it a "budget", or any number of other things. It's the most frustrating part of researching 18th century stuff....the imprecision of so many terms!

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I have wanted to go the Beavertail bag but I also want the ability to pack my deer out in quarters, last year I drug a deer up three hill about 300 foot of elevation and through two streams one a trout stream about 3/4 to 7/8 of a mile the way the crow flies.
I hate to say it while I can still do it I turned 58 this year and I don't know how many years left I can still drag them out, Im starting to age.
So I think I will start packing them out on my back. Like I did last week North of the Brooks Range Alaska with Caribou we bagged. On a DIY hunt. I do like the idea of being traditional but not at killing my self.

 

[smo]

1100 RM,

I know what you mean,... that’s why I started hunting closer too the truck! Lol

 

[30coupe]

1100 RM,

I know what you mean,... that’s why I started hunting closer too the truck! Lol

That reminds me of the story of the young nimrod about to embark on his first moose hunt. He ran across a grizzled old-timer, and unsure of moose anatomy, asked, "Where is the best place to shoot a moose?"

The old-timer replied, "Mighty close to your pickup."

Now that I too am an old-timer, I tend to keep my hunts close to home where my Polaris Ranger can do the dragging, lol!

Sorry, for the OT post.

I made a divided leather shooting bag years ago and still have it, but I have found it is about twice as big as it needs to be and everything I need next seems to have a way of migrating to the bottom. One of these days I plan to make a much smaller version in which I will carry only the essentials for a hunt close to home. The older I get, the heavier things seem to be...including me.

 

[Cruzatte]

....It's the most frustrating part of researching 18th century stuff....the imprecision of so many terms!

AMEN!:thumbs up:

 

[Kansas Jake]

The bag I carry is possibly a shooting bag most of the time.