Nineteenth Century Hunting Bag by Jeff Luke

CLA artist Jeff Luke is a skilled craftsman and consistent auction supporter. His donation to this year’s fundraising auction is an attractive and sturdy hunting rig for the modern frontiersman. As Luke explains it, this bag and horn set “represents my interpretation of one that might have been crafted and carried by an early 19th century hunter or trapper, skilled in his abilities with hide and stitching.”

Luke’s pouch is a classic heart design, constructed of heavy bark tanned deer hide. It features a tapered gusset with full welt, and the flap incorporates a tanned beaver tail. The front panel, interior pocket and flap are all bound in deer hide. The pouch and accoutrements were all hand stitched with linen thread; as protection from the elements, the leather was treated with a dressing of bear grease and beeswax. 

The bag’s main strap is wool, finger woven in an arrowhead pattern by Teresa Rawle. The strap features a cowhide tongue and deer hide tabs, and uses a forged buckle and ring by John Rader. The bag also comes with a nice patch knife, forged from an antique trap spring by Jonah Cain. The blade is fixed in an antler tine handle with a poured pewter bolster. Cain’s blade rests in a rustic deer hide sheath designed to be carried in the pouch.

The rig is also accompanied by a modest, well-built powder horn. The horn incorporates a maple base plug and turned walnut stopper. The strap is vegetable tanned cowhide, with a subtle weeping heart stamped along its length for a bit of added detail.

For more information on the work of Jeff Luke, contact the artist directly: poboygear@gmail.com

Photography by David Wright

Text by Joshua Shepherd