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| Deverger rifleman with pouch |
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| Tony's version and Horn By Willy Frankfort |
So I gotta keep posting now to keep
up with the Joneses. I’ll not be outposted by these upstarts in short hunting
shirts. I wont stand for it I tell ya, this aggression will not stand man. Ok
just kidding Go read the “Shirttail mess blog”. So anyway…I had all intents of
spending today weaving after watching Croatia crush Belgium in the world cup but it was a draw match and I need to let me
hand heal for another day before I start weaving. Heal from what you ask? Well
let me tell you…and that is what we call a segway in the business.
I
went out for Modern rifle season yesterday. It was probably going to be one of
the few days I got out this season because of work. I have a lot of time off
for Late Muzzleloader but not so much for modern stuff. So around 800am
yesterday after the 2nd wave of rainstorms I was able to get a shot
at an 8 point that came in to me. I grunted it stopped and Bam that was it. I
walked up on it and began to field dress it. I have to admit I was pretty pumped
with how smoothly I was getting thru the process. No blood on my boots, the
deer had run towards the truck so it was going to be a short drag and if
everything went right the deer should be butchered and I’d be home to see the
girls get off the school bus.
So
here is where it went wrong. I didn’t really cut a large hole in the diaphragm to
pull out the heart etc. reaching in with my scalping knife I was careful to
keep my left hand clear as I was holding the heart and cutting with the right.
As I was sliding my hands back out I ended up sliding my knife across my left
hand. It was a quick clean slice and it felt wrong.
So
this is why I’m telling this story here…My modern hunting stuff is really just
my 18th century gear with some modern stuff thrown in it. I carry
the same bag, I drag deer with my tumpline etc. Knowing this I quickly dug into
my bag for my first aid Kit. I got out alcohol wipes and quickly cleaned off my
hand around the wound. The cut was deep but really wasn’t bleeding that bad
yet. I put a compress on it wrapped it and then wrapped it again with a cotton
scarf. I sat back down and filled out my tag with one hand attached it to the
deer (gotta be legal) and then put the heart and liver in a bag into my pack
(dammit I got to keep them now). Then gathered up my stuff and walked to the
truck and drove to the ER. So a glued up hand and tetanus shot later I’m
sitting here writing this. Later some friends helped me get the deer to my
parents to butcher it and everything was ok.
My
point…know your pack, know when to say when and modern stuff in your gear has a
real place. Yes I was not trying to keep any type of period moment etc. But
Like I said when I carry my gear in 18th century clothes, I have the
same medical stuff stuffed into the same red wool pouch. Its bright it stands
out from my other gear and its easy to get to. If something happens you don’t want
to be trying to explain to someone to get the medium sized natural linen bag
out from between the other slightly larger natural linen bag.
feeling dumb in the ER
It
was honestly not a big deal but I think part of what made it easier was that I
knew exactly what I had and had to do. I wasn’t fumbling around trying to find
something to clean it in the truck that might have sat in my glove box for
years drying out. I solved my problem quickly and then moved to step 2.
Ok
now onto something fun and exciting…I got a new shot pouch and horn. Part of my
addiction to this stuff is constantly getting new pieces of gear to try out in
the field and destroy in an 18th century manner. My Friend Tony
Bertolino made me a pouch based off the example being worn By the “Rifleman” in the
Deverger image of American soldiers. Tony has made a few of them and they
really caught my eye so as per usual he got bored and made me one while we
talked about how much we really want to make 19th century kits or Illinois
country kits or Zeppelin landing crew kits. Tony did the dimensions based off
what you can see in the image compared to the Rifleman. So while not an exact
copy of an original its an educated guess and he used details from existing
pouches to round it out.
My collection of Tony Stuff
I’ve
been friends with Tony for years and for a while I wasn’t sure he existed
outside of the imagination of myself and the Dutchman. I’m still not 100% sure
he isn’t the Devil because of the number of bad ideas he passes onto me but he
does make a hell of a bag and is an amazing brain tanner. I’ve got a number of “tony
bags” as do most of the guys I run with. The pouch I carried my modern stuff in
is a pack Tony Made based off images of 18th century travelers’
pouches. It’s a large pouch that I often use for scouts to carry extra gear in
and I will tie off my blanketcoat to the
strap. Think Haversack but documentable in civilian hands. Between it and my
jacket pockets Ive been able to comfortably carry gear to do multiple day
scouts without a knapsack or even large wallet.
I’ve
added some pics of bags or tomahawk rigs Tony has made that I use. A double bag
based on an example owned by Jim Dresslar is now my shooting match bag, a small
divided pouch from Lacrosse’s book that I use with a smoothbore and now my
Deverger bag for my .58 rifle.
The
horn was done By Willy Frankfort and was a large shop made turned horn. Again
Willy is a guy I’ve known forever and is a phenomenal horn worker and all
around artist (I’ve also heard he is a dirty hippie). I showed him an original
I was thinking of using at the Horn Maker guild and he knocked it out of the
park. In my opinion (and its just that) this was the style horn being sold at
Fort Pitt. It’s a mass produced horn but lacking the screwtip. More along the
lines of the Forbes Road horns.
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| Tony and Me at the school of the Longhunter, and yes I'm wearing Mark Baker's hunting shirt and John Buxton's headdress...Long story |
Both
of these guys can be found on The facebook or just drop me a msg and I can
shoot you their email address. So now
back to planning out my late season and walking around the house all day
wearing my shot bag. Come on you know you do it too. You buy a new shirt brooch
ya put your whole kit on to see what it looks like then spend the next two hours
explaining to your family why it’s cool. Its ok we all get it. We’re not like
the others we’re your friends.
Speaking of friends...check out the Youtube Channel for the Shirt tail mess guys. They are trying to map out how they are preparing for an immersion event in the spring and it's a great way for new folks to see how to prepare for something like this.
Also congrats to Ethan Yazel for getting the recognition for his work in promoting this "hobby"
I noticed that the Travelers pouch that Tony has rings, is that common on bigger bags? Any idea where I can find some pictures' of this type of bag?
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